What factors lead to the diffusion of universalizing and ethnic religions? Explain what factors lead to the diffusion of universalizing and ethnic regions. Religions have distinct places of origin through which they are diffused to other locations through different processes.
Practices and belief systems
impacted how widespread the religion diffused.
How are major religions diffused?
Relocation diffusion, often through missionary work
, brings “great leaps forward” by crossing space to secure footholds in far-away places. Contagious diffusion is most often seen in a religious context as the result of direct proselytizing. All these forms of diffusion produce patterns of diffusion that are complex.
What is diffusion in religion?
Relocation diffusion happens
when a group of believers moves to a new location, where they then spread the teachings of a religion that are often not yet widely known or practiced in the region
. So let’s look at how universalizing and ethnic religions have spread across the globe. Diffusion of Universalizing Religions.
What makes a religion universal and what makes it ethnic?
Geographers distinguish two types of religions: universalizing and ethnic. Universalizing religions attempt to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or loca- tion. An ethnic religion appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place.
Why do you think universalizing religions usually have a wider global distribution than ethnic religions?
Universalizing religions usually have a wider global distribution because
they try to appeal to a wider range of people
. Ethnic religions appeal to one specific group of people.
Stimulus, contagious, and hierarchical diffusion
are all kinds of expansion diffusion. Expansion diffusion is when innovations spread to new places while staying strong in their original locations.
Hinduism originated in Southern Asia and is predominantly practiced in India, with 94% of the world Hindu’s living in India. Describe the ways universalizing and ethnic religions differ.
Universalizing religions are spread across their world as they seek followers in many countries on a global scale.
Based on the images shown, which of the following best explains the process of diffusion in relation to the religious history of Spain?
Southern Spain was once under Muslim control, as indicated by the Islamic architecture of the palace in the images.
Over the centuries,
Christianity
grew in numbers as it spread around the world, often through missionaries and colonizers. The second most widely practiced religion is Islam, with an estimated 1.8 billion followers worldwide.
Hinduism originated in the Indus River Valley in Pakistan and through contagious diffusion it spread into the Indian Subcontinent. Traders spread Hinduism into Southeast Asia and Bali. Through Relocation Diffusion it also spread as
hindus migrated in search for better opportunities
. 80% of Hindus are located in India.
Cultural diffusion spreads
as cultures interact with each other
. Cultural diffusion can also happen through migration. If a large group of immigrants emigrates to a new country, they will bring their culture with them to the new location. Also, culture can spread through trade.
IMPACTS OF CULTURAL DIFFUSION
‘The effect of cultural diffusion is
changing local cultural features (dressing style, food) and traditions, creating new products, services and jobs; changing belief and ideas and improving quality of life
.
Hinduism spread by
contagious diffusion (person to person contact)
from its hearth in the Punjab (Northern India/Pakistan) southward throughout the Indian subcontinent and into SE Asia. East Africa through the forced migration of Indian workers during the British colonization of India.
Although religions are by themselves complex cultural institutions, the primary method for categorizing them is simple. In essence, there are two main groups:
universalizing religions, which actively invite non-members to join them, and ethnic religions, which are associated with particular ethnic or national groups
.
Explanation: A cultural hearth is a location at which new ideas arise and are then spread. The religion of Christianity began in Jerusalem, making Jerusalem the cultural hearth of the religion.
After starting in Jerusalem, Christianity spread through the region by hierarchical diffusion
.
Geography does not only affect where particular religions or belief systems, such as the world’s major faiths, are located but
it can affect how specific beliefs are practiced and behaviors that it encourages
.
Relocation, expansion, contagious, hierarchical, and stimulus diffusion
.
- Cause # 1. Degradation of Vedic Religion:
- Cause # 2. Dominance of Priestly Class:
- Cause # 3. Sacrifices:
- Cause # 4. Caste System:
- Cause # 5. Difficult Language of Vedas:
- Cause # 6. Belief in Mantras:
- Cause # 7. Contradictory Theory Regarding Deliverance:
Ehrman attributes the rapid spread of Christianity to five factors: (1)
the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to Roman religions
; (2) stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one Christian God was more powerful than the many Roman gods; (3) Christianity …
