Faiths across Time [4 volumes]: 5,000 Years of Religious History

2502 Pages·2014·37.03 MB·English

by  J. Gordon Melton

Faiths across Time
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Faiths across Time
5,000 Years of Religious History
V 1:
OLUME 3500 BCE–499 CE
J. Gordon Melton
Copyright 2014 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the
inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Melton, J. Gordon.
Faiths across time : 5,000 years of religious history / J. Gordon Melton.
pages cm
Volume 1. 3500 BCE-499 CE — Volume 2. 500-1399 — Volume 3. 1400-1849— Volume 4. 1850-2009.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I SBN 978-1-61069-025-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61069-026-3 (ebook) 1. Religion—History.
2. Religions—History. I. Title.
BL80.3.M45 2014
200.9—dc23 2013024419
ISBN: 978-1-61069-025-6
EISBN: 978-1-61069-026-3
18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
ABC-CLIO, LLC
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This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
About the Author
J. Gordon Melton is the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History
at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In ad-
dition, for the last 45 years, he has headed the Institute for the Study of American
Religion, which he founded in Evanston, Illinois, in 1968, and has overseen the
publication of its hundreds of scholarly texts and reference works on religion, a
number of which he authored. Among his recent texts are the Encyclopedia of
American Religions (8th edition, 2009), Religious Celebrations: An Encyclope-
dia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations
(2011), and Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Belief and
Practice (2010).
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Contents
Introduction, ix Volume 2: 500–1399 CE, 451
500–599 CE, 453
Volume 1: 3500 BCE–499 CE, 1 600–699 CE, 490
Ancient World 3500–1200 BCE, 3 700–799 CE, 533
3500–3000 BCE, 3 800–899 CE, 576
2999–2600 BCE, 15 900–999 CE, 620
2599–2100 BCE, 22 1000–1099 CE, 659
2099–2000 BCE, 34 1100–1199 CE, 721
1999–1800 BCE, 39 1200–1299 CE, 792
1799–1500 BCE, 42 1300–1399 CE, 872
1499–1200 BCE, 53
Index, I-1
1199–1100 BCE, 70
1099–1000 BCE, 76
999–900 BCE, 82 Volume 3: 1400–1849 CE, 949
899–800 BCE, 88 1400–1499 CE, 951
799–700 BCE, 96 1500–1599 CE, 1025
699–600 BCE, 109 1600–1699 CE, 1153
599–500 BCE, 123 1700–1799 CE, 1270
499–400 BCE, 150 1800–1849 CE, 1369
399–300 BCE, 170
Index, I-1
299–200 BCE, 191
199–100 BCE, 217
99–1 BCE, 242 Volume 4: 1850–2009 CE, 1479
1–99 CE, 272 1850–1899 CE, 1481
100–199 CE, 305 1900–1999 CE, 1597
200–299 CE, 331 2000–2009 CE, 1928
300–399 CE, 362
Selected Bibliography, 2017
400–499 CE, 417
Contributors, 2021
Index, I-1 Index, I-1
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Introduction
Faiths across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History What we think of as history emerges in the Nile
attempts a rather ambitious task—to trace the devel- River Valley some 5,500 years ago. Here we initially
opment of religion as it emerges out of prehistory in encounter individuals who meet the basic criteria—
the fourth millennium BCE and to place the major they have names (or at least titles), they leave a record
events over the centuries from various places around of their particular actions, and they interact with other
the world in a sequential order, from 3500 BCE to people who have names, or at least titles. By defini-
2009 CE. These four volumes have been produced in tion, history ties itself closely to the development of
the knowledge that no similar work has previously writing; and while history by no means limits its study
been attempted, certainly to this extent, but that the to that particular human artifact, it is difficult to think
processing of so much information on religion in the of it doing its work in the absence of texts and docu-
last few decades makes such a work both possible and ments it can consider. It is in writing that knowledge
desirable. of individuals and their acts first becomes known,
Not only is it a huge task, far beyond the scope and it is in relation to writings that other artifacts
of any one person no matter the breadth and depth acquire their roles in expanding historical knowledge.
of one’s knowledge, the mastery of which this author In a practical manner, history and the history of reli-
makes no pretense to, but the effort must at every step gion are tied to the origin and development of writ-
encounter and resolve numerous theoretical questions ing. Ancient history develops in Egypt, southwestern
on the nature and origins of human religious quests Asia, and China and expands from there as writing
with which the scholarly community still wrestles. emerges among different peoples in other parts of
Thus, as Faiths across Time was assembled, these the world. Prior to writing, we have knowledge of
questions had to be faced and resolved in a manner peoples, their movements, and even many things they
that did justice to the ongoing debates in the academy did, and we can estimate, often with great accuracy,
while at the same time allowed for completion of the when they made their moves or built their places of
task in the best manner possible. habitation, but always with a degree of estimation.
The discipline of history deals with particulars And, from what we know of religion in the histori-
of human life, with individuals with names interact- cal era, we can make a number of assumptions about
ing in particular times and places with other indi- the religious life of prehistorical people, even though
viduals with names. While history often attempts to those religious events that also qualify as historical
reach more generalized truths, it is this particularity events almost always elude us. Often we can put
that separates it from associated disciplines, such as events among a group of people in sequence but have
archeology and anthropology, with which it actively trouble dating any specific action, much less correlat-
interacts, especially in its consideration of the ancient ing it with events in other parts of the world.
world. The further back in history one goes, the more By the time the historical era begins, what we term
difficult it becomes even for specialists to separate the religion has already become a commonplace element
tasks assigned to them. of human society, meaning that the question of the
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