Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
08/16/2019
HIST 134
Portfolio Reflection
I believe religion and moral traditions played a huge role in the acts of contributing towards
society. What individuals believed in the ancient world influenced the actions of society back
then and ultimately what people believe to be true today. The three religions I am going to focus
on are Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. More specifically, I am going to focus on individuals
who impacted the ancient world. Those individuals are Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha. I believe
understanding the contributions these individuals had on society and their times leading groups
of people, will help me understand people who are different than me and what my beliefs are. It
will help me make a better understanding of who people are and better my actions towards others
The religion of Islam was brought up from Muhammad. He believed he was continuing
the message of God. The article on Islam, The Quran, and the Five Pillars: Crash Course
discussed how in less than 200 years Islam went from being nonexistent to being one of the
largest religious and political empires in the world. Muhammad did this by guiding Muslims
through their faith. He taught Muslims to live a certain way that included believing Muhammad
was Allah’s profit, praying 5 times a day, fasting during Ramadan, giving a percentage of their
income to the poor, and taking a pilgrimage to the Mecca (Green, 2012). As I stated before,
Muhammad created a religion that many people follow today. Understanding his contributions to
the Islam religion, will help me understand Islam people better and what Muhammad did for
Islam. I also discussed what makes a person Muslim by conducting the 5 pillars. Being able to
understand shared beliefs with other traditions supports the article on why we study history. The
article explains how knowing a different religion can help us be knowledgeable and social with
others by understanding their beliefs (McNeill, 1985). You are more aware and compassionate to
make conversation with different viewpoints than you and that comes from knowing their
history.
The next individual who played a huge role in the ancient world was Siddhartha
Gautama, or more popularly known as Buddha. Buddha created Buddhism. The article on
Buddhism from patheos explains how his moral teachings involved creating mindfulness through
meditation. He believed through meditation we can be cured from sufferings. Buddhism roots
appeared in India and spread to many parts of the world. The article explains how many people
all over the world have adopted the teachings of Buddha. It talks about how even though many
people don’t consider themselves as being identified as the Buddhism religion, they identify with
many of Buddha’s practices and teachings (Patheos, 2019). Learning how Buddha helped place
ideas like meditation and mindfulness into the world goes along with myself making better
decisions for society. For example, the article on why we study history explains how history is a
constructed memory., (McNeill, 1985). Whenever I am having a conversation with someone who
meditates daily, I won’t be ignorant to the history aspect of it. It will help me understand that this
The rise of Christianity came from Jesus of Nazareth who created a new faith that is
known worldwide now. The article on Christianity from Judaism to Constantine explains how
Jesus split from the Jews and created his own religion, Christianity. He had many non-Jew
followers and at first the Roman empire wasn’t for this religion, but the religion continues to
spread. Overtime, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire. Christianity
was about spreading the teachings of Jesus and how he was the son of God (Green, 2012). I think
it’s important to understand the history of Christianity and how Jesus wasn’t accepted by the
Roman empire at first. The article on why we study history explains how we need critical turning
points in the past to reflect on. For example, the turning point of the Roman empire turning to
Jesus’s teachings is an important part of history to know. The article explains how it isn’t good to
abandon the efforts of a meaningful part of history, which is very true (McNeill, 1985). As an
individual it is important to know all the parts of history, including the good and the bad.
Overall, I believe the three individuals Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha played a huge role
in the ancient world and the world I live in today. Their teaching are what billions of people
follow today. This class made me more knowledgeable on different religions and how to better
interact with other people in my society with other religions and viewpoints. I can now be more
aware of what I say to others of a different religion since I am a better historian now. If I have a
friend who meditates, I can understand where those roots come from. This class has taught me to
be more aware of others and how history has impacted many people’s decisions in this world.
Work Cited
Green, John. “Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars: Crash Course” 19 April 2012.
McNeill, William. “Why study history.” American Historical Association, 15 August 2019,
https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/historical-
Patheos. “Buddhism Origins, Buddhism History, Buddhism Beliefs.” Patheos, 15 August 2019,