How historians study history using religion (Essay Sample)

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How historians study history using religion
History can be defined as a combination of facts about what happened and an interpretation of these facts linking what happened to why it could have happened. History, as word, comes from the Latin word Historia which means a narration of past events. Considering that it is narration of pat events, it, therefore, means that history consists of a narration of facts and an interpretation of these facts. This paper tries to study how historians study history using religion: religious facts and occurrences, and the interpretation of historical facts using religious backing. Facts are things, events or even people believed to have occurred, or believed to be trueCITATION Bil03 \p 12 \l 2057 (Bryson 12). History is far much beyond the interpretation of past events. This is so as historians will always try to interpret pat events in a manner that seems meaningful to the current situation. History also has great limitations. There is a great loss of evidence. It is not possible to understand the past without the existence of historical evidence. Interpretation will also be highly distorted.
Just like any other academic discipline has its subject matter and methodology, history too has. The subject matter of history is the past. Historians will always keep in mind the historical setting of every studied event without necessary comparing events across without regard to individual time setup.
Religious, cultural and ethnic differences affect people's perception of the world today. There are basically five major religions in the world. These are Christianity, Hindu, Judaism Buddhism, and Islam. Though there are many others, these five form the major religionsCITATION Dia10 \p 67 \l 2057 (Henningfeld 67). Religion. Culture and rationalism are three things that are very interrelated. Culture is termed as the customs of a persons or nation, religion involves belief in supernatural beings while rationalism is the ability to base opinions on knowledge and reason rather than on religion. Religion would mean you either believe in a certain god or you do not. What you believe in forms your religion and affects your interpretation of historical events. Religious history forms the major differences in the religions of today. The major differences in these religions are not the gods but rather the true belief in the true prophets.The role played by religion in the modern society, and the traditional society seem quit very different. In the traditional society, change is often seen as a social evil and thus people always turned to religion to make sense of the occurrences within their surroundings. In the modern society, people will always turn to science first in an attempt to make meaning of events happening within their vicinities. Change in the modern society is rapider and more accepted than in the traditional society. People see change in a more positive way. Most people in the traditional societies assumed similar religious beliefs; religion was used highly in the interpretation of key eventsCITATION Jon03 \p 17 \l 2057 (Berkey 17). Religion has been attributed to a cause of many conflicts in the world today. There have been so many historical religious differences in almost all parts on the world. The conflicts between the Palestinians and Israelis are seen as a religious conflict. There is also battle between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Religion has played a key role in many societies. However, to achieve a full understanding, these roles have to be examined both in the modern society and in the traditional society. The change in the role of society over this time periods need be noted to understand how time has changed the role of society. Religion has resulted into playing a more secondary role in the provision of answers to different events. This had led to a greater degree of religious pluralism in today's society. Multiple religions coexist today.
The five major religions are very important: one for their historical importance and secondly for the size of their membership. He five religions may be broken down into two groups based on their historical developments. The first group comprise of the three Western religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They all share many beliefs and have contributed greatly to the historical development of western civilizations. The second division comprise of Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism: they both have contributed greatly in the development of eastern civilizations. Western civilizations dominate the Middle East, eastern civilizations dominates India and spreads throughout Asia and to the rest of the world. Judaism was initially not a large religion. It was a religion of a smaller number of people sharing a common cultural and ethnic characteristic. Tribal religions had no intention to convert non-believers. This can be used to explain why Judaism has not, at all, been able to penetrate to some parts of the world. It later switched to become a universal religionCITAT...