Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Response paper - Essay Example Apart from certain borrowing between some of them, like Judaism, Christianity and Islam on the one hand, and Hinduism and Buddhism on the other, these religious cults have developed a sophisticated vision of the creation, which definitely and firmly departs from the realm of mythology and appertain to the realms of divine and/or philosophy. Given the major differences, in terms of monotheism and polytheism, between those religions, as well as the fact that all of them claim – quite understandably indeed – the divine high ground, it does rather beg the question of how one can discern their true value. Their concepts of the creation could present us with all-important clues in regard to this question. Due to the borrowings between some of those religious cults, as stated earlier, and for the sake of brevity, the following sections discuss only two of them, which are considered prototypes – Judaism and Hinduism. With its stunning array of traditions, which are not embraced by a single holy book or subjugated to a universal dogma, Hinduism hardly resembles an orderly religious cult, but rather a miscellany of things that Hindus consider essential to practice their religion – from astronomy to music and dance1. The four Vedic collections – Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva – which are believed to have been composed between 1750 BCE and 1500 BCE as a revealed scripture, consist of four sections each, namely hymns (Samhitas), directions for the performance of the sacred rituals (Brahmanas), the so-called ‘compositions for the forest’ (Aranyakas), and the Upanishads2. The latter are believed to have been composed around 600 BCE and are considered philosophical works which contain truths about the universe and the place of humanity in it3. The beginning of the world, according to Rig-Veda and Atharva-Veda, is seen as follows: â€Å"In the