Religions and Philosophies

I found the emergence of philosophical and religious life in Chapter 5 very interesting. I have studied Various philosophies and religions from both a comparative religions standpoint as well as a philosophical Standpoint but never based on what was happening historically at the time. The Chinese philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism were interesting because they both involved a very secular approach to society. Confucianism relied on human relationships and social harmony while Daoism focused on Human relationships with nature and man's independence. Neither, however, incorporated a supreme being or any Gods into these relationships. Likewise, Buddhism did not rely on external Gods but stressed the search for inner peace and enlightenment. It seems to me that Zoroastrianism and Judaism were the earliest religions to introduce the idea of monotheism. While Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism developed in the Far East Zoroastrianism and Judaism developed In the Middle East. I was especially interested in studying the chart on page 127 of our book. All the major Philosophies and religions of the world developed within nine hundred years of each other, beginning with the Hebrew prophets in the nineth center BCE and ending with Christianity in the first century CE.