• A. Period in history which saw significant changes in religion and philosophy, roughly 700BC-300BC
• B. Main Features
  • 1. Increasing emphasis on internalizing a sense of right and wrong
    • a. earlier religions and philosophies had depended more strongly on punishment and reward to get people to behave morally
    • b. Axial Age beliefs put more emphasis on developing an internal conscience
  • 2. Increasing spiritualization
    • a. earlier religions had placed greater emphasis on ritual and sacrifice to please and placate the gods, get things from them
    • b. Axial Age religions and philosophies place more emphasis on answering questions about the nature of the divine, humanity, and morality. Examples include:
      • i. what is the divine, and what is our relationship to it?
      • ii. what does it mean to be human, and why am I here?
      • ii. what is good, what is true, and why?
• C. Many cultures exhibit this transition, with the appearance of new religions and philosophies and the transformation of old ones
  • 1. Monotheistic Zoroastrianism appears in Persia, 600s BC
  • 2. Hebrews develop into true monotheists, become what we think of as Jews, 500s BC
  • 3. Jainism and Buddhism appear in India, 500s BC, as a kind of revolt against Brahmanism
  • 4. With the appearance of the Upanishads, Brahmanism transforms into Hinduism, 500s BC
  • 5. Confucianism and Daoism appear in China, 500s-400s BC
  • 6. Greek philosophy develops a number of new concepts, 400s-300s BC

II. Hebrews

• A. History
  • 1. Nomadic people - probable origins in Sumeria
  • 2. settle in modern Israel c. 1200 BC
  • 3. found independent kingdom c. 1000 BC
  • 4. splits in two c. 930 BC - Israel in north, Judah in south
  • 5. Israel destroyed by Assyrians 722 BC
  • 6. Judah destroyed 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
  • 7. Hebrews exiled to Babylon until 538 BC - Persia defeats Babylon
• B. Three major contributions of Hebrews to modern society
  • 1. Monotheism
  • 2. Covenant - moral responsibility, contract with God
  • 3. Linear time
  • 4. Also contribute significantly to individualism

• 1. founded by Zoroaster, also called Zarathuster, born c.660 BC
• 2. Sought to end what he called the lie of ritualistic, idol-worship religion
• 3. monotheistic - Ahuramazda ("Wise Lord")
• 4. All must follow program of good thoughts, good deeds, good words
• 5. world as dualistic struggle between good and evil
• 6. struggle will end in in final judgment - individual judgment of souls
• 7. Became the official religion of Persian Empire under Darius (522-486BC)
• 8. Fire used in temples as symbol of truth, life, inspiration, righteousness, and more.