This study will compare and contrast Christianity, Hinduism,
and Buddhism, focusing on their origins and basic beliefs as
presented in the historical context of The Heritage of World
Civilizations, by Albert Craig, et al. In general, Hinduism and
Buddhism, religions of the East, are more similar to one another
than to Christianity, a religion of the West. Both Hinduism and
Buddhism are much older historically than Christianity, while
Christianity, unlike the other two, is monotheistic. Both the
Eastern religions believe in reincarnation, while Christianity
holds that the individual has one earthly life and thereafter
experiences an eternal existence in either hell or heaven.
Hinduism is the major religion of India, traceable to "the
second millennium before our common era." Craig adds that today
the term Hinduism "has become a catchall term used for all the
Indian religious communities that looks upon the texts of the
Vedas as eternal, perfect truth." The Hindu "vision of existence"
holds that there is a fundamental connection between the Brahman,
or Ultimate Being, and the "inmost self" or atman. The atman, or
the rough equivalent of the Christian soul, is "enmeshed in
existence, but not ultimately of it." Samsara is the rule of
being--"unending becoming and change, a ceaseless round of cause
and effect determined by the inescapable consequences of karma,
or 'action. Moksha is release from this otherwise endless
reincarnation, samsara and karma, and "may be gained through
knowledge, action or devotion" (Craig 132) .
This stands in stark contrast to the tenets of Christianity
in which God in the person of Jesus Christ has intervened in the
existence of humankind and released human beings from what would
be an endless cycle of sin and suffering (akin to Hindu and
Buddhist karma), if the individual accepts Jesus Christ as his or
her Savior and re...