Chapter 4: Culture and Religion

       Many well-known philosophers and religions were born during the classical era. Such philosophers as Confucius and Socrates. Confucius is a Chinese teacher who believes in the power of education and looking for to create a harmonious society through moral examples. Similar to Confucius, Socrates is also a teacher. He focused more on the  “explanation of nature and human life” (150) From what we have read so far that “Chinese and Greek thinkers focused more on the affairs of this world and credited human and rationality with the power to understand the reality. (148) Many of the ideas from these seminal thinkers still benefiting our societies until today.
       By contrast, Indian, Persian, and Jewish intellectuals tended to “explore the unseen realm of the Divine and the relationship of Gpdorthe gods to human life. All these traditions sought an alternative to an earlier polytheism, in which the activities of various gods and spirits explained what happened in this world.” (148) For examples, in Hinduism, people believe there are karma and rebirth after death. The goal of its religion participants is to be free from the karma and reincarnation. Jainism believes “all creatures have souls.” (150) And, we can purify ourselves through practice non-violence. They also against the caste system. Judaism argued that there is a Transcend High God who has the agreement with chosen people. The chosen people are the prophets who speak God's words and will. Christianity sees the  “importance of love based on an intimate relationship with God. a religion for all, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”(150)
      No Matter how different these philosophy and religions sound like, they all share the same root which is humanity. They are all about discovering the purpose of life and try to figure out how the world works.