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Austin Yaldo

08/16/2019

HIST 134

M12: Portfolio Reflection

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

with different religious beliefs.

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

comes from Buddhism roots.

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. “Christianity from Judaism to Constantine,” 5 April 2012,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG55ErfdaeY Accessed 15 August 2019.

Green, John. “Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars: Crash Course” 19 April 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpcbfxtdoI8 Accessed 15 August 2019.

McNeill, William. “Why study history.” American Historical Association, 15 August 2019,

https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/historical-

archives/why-study-history-(1985) Accessed 15 August 2019.

Patheos. “Buddhism Origins, Buddhism History, Buddhism Beliefs.” Patheos, 15 August 2019,

https://www.patheos.com/library/buddhism.html Accessed 15 August 2019.

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