Throughout the history of religions the same themes and ideas, even the same images, appear over and again. To what is this to be attributed? Revelation, diffusion, cultural borrowing, or something else? Could all three have played a part? Does one have precedence or authority over another?
From my own studies in world religions, cultural borrowing seems to play a significant role in themes and ideas. Just looking at the Middle East alone, the birthplace of at least four monotheistic traditions, Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all hold a similar "Creation Story" - Ahura Mazda (Zoroaster's), and the Genesis stories for the Jews and Christians (and similar verses in the Qur'an for Muslims talk about a 6-day creation period).
ReplyDeleteBut is cultural borrowing the only contributing factor, or is their something else that may be going on, whether diffusion or revelation?
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