REL205_Module 3_Lecture 3_Persia
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Apr 3, 2024
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LECTURE 3
ZOROASTRIASNISM IN PERSIA
In lectures 1 and 2, I introduced you to some of the neighbors who had a direct or indirect influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in their understanding of life and death: Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks.
In this lecture, you will meet the Persians and the religion that emerged in Iran, roughly in the 6
th
-7
th
c. BCE: Zoroastrianism. Some scholars advance that Zoroastrianism, a religion still practiced today, influenced the development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: in particular, their understanding of evil and the end of times.
Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion. It challenged the native Iranian religion which was an animistic polytheism.
The one God (Ahura Mazda, the “Wise God”) spoke to the prophet Zarathustra (known in the West as Zoroaster) as his messenger. Zarathustra probably lived in the sixth or seventh century BCE (or even earlier)
The center of Zoroastrianism today is the Parsi (Persian) community in Mumbai (Bombay), India. They descend from Persians who migrated to India over a thousand years ago. There are about a quarter of a million Zoroastrians today, including many in immigrant communities in Great Britain, Canada, and the US.
In Zoroastrianism, the Creator, Ahura Mazda, has revealed a path of goodness for humans to follow. This knowledge was made available to humans through the Avesta, the sacred Zoroastrian liturgical text. Avesta means book of the Law. It contains hymns of Zarathustra to God (Ahura Mazda) and rituals against demons.
Zoroastrianism teaches that humans are free to choose between the competing forces of good and evil in the world. These forces are personified as two eternal spirits:
* Spenta Mainyu (a good spirit)
* Angra Mainyu (an evil spirit, “the destructive spirit”). It has another name, Satan. Sounds familiar?
Both spirits emanate from the one God, Ahura Mazda. They exist in a balance and are both necessary for life. As in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, humans have only one life in which to choose the path of righteousness. Zoroastrianism emphasizes human accountability. By good deeds humans win the eternal reward of possessing Wholeness and Immortality in paradise. By evil deeds they merit pain in hell. After death the individual soul remains within its body for three days. On the 1
fourth day the soul goes to a place of judgment. The image of a scale is used. If deeds of evil outweigh good deeds, then the person is sentenced to hell.
All 4 religions (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are advocates of eschatological doctrine (eschatology is a reflection on the end of times). In Zoroastrianism, when the world comes to an end, Ahura Mazda wipes away all evil. The conflict between God and Satan is portrayed as apocalyptic. It is a final battle between evil and good. The dead will be resurrected to fight on one side or the other. A new age will begin. In this new age, there will be no evil, death, or disease. Angra Mainyu will be destroyed.
In all four religions, the goal is the restoration of the relationship with God. What brings about this restoration? Each religion has its own distinct prescription. What they share is the image of a “way” revealed by God. The “way” is revealed through a prophet, and it includes the concept of living in obedience to God. In each religion, sacred writings play a central role in making known God’s way to salvation. In Zoroastrianism, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds are to be practiced.
Keeping with the sacredness of elements of nature is important. One should farm wisely without unnecessary damage to the earth. One should also care for animals. Zoroastrians do not offer sacrifices of animals or even vegetables. Their priests in the Fire Temples offer sandalwood to the sacred fire. The fire symbolizes God’s presence, power, and purity. The priests are dressed in white to symbolize purity and wear masks to avoid polluting the sacred fire. Many Zoroastrians maintain a sacred flame in their homes.
To avoid the contamination of the elements, the corpse of a deceased person is neither buried nor burned. Instead, it was traditionally exposed in a special enclosure called a dakhma (“tower of silence”), a round structure open to the sky. Vultures that stayed near the tower quickly stripped the body. In urban areas, alternatives have developed: the body is placed in a special sealed casket or cremated with an electrical heat that does not involve a flame.
All four religions understand time from a perspective that is opposed to the cyclical view of time in the religions of South and Southeast Asia. Zoroastrianism was the first religion to introduce the linear understanding of time. 2
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