Smith claims that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are each “historical” religions, in a way that Hinduism and Buddhism are not. What Smith has in mind when he speaks of “historical” is the fact that each Judaism, Christianity and Islam all base their religious beliefs on historical events. Each monotheism religions attribute historical events to the outcome of a person’s life both physical and social.
Smith tells us that in Judaism history is a towering significance. History was important to Jews because they are “convinced that the context in which life is lived affects that life in every way, setting up its problems, delineating its opportunities, and conditioning its outcomes.”(283) History is also important in the Judaism religion, according to Smith because Jews saw it as a field of opportunity. Smith tells us that Jews believe that “nothing in history happens accidentally.”(283) God’s or Yahweh’s hand was at work in every event including in Eden, the Flood and other historically significant religious events. Smith states that each of these religious events shapes into a teaching experience for God’s people. In the Judaism religion, history marks more significance because sometimes to achieve a certain goal or a desired result it can not be obtained individually. There are times when a group will work or has to work collectively in order to achieve the desired. Harris tells us of the Hebrew slaves and how their desire to “rise above” was not depended on the extent in which they individually tried to “rise above”, but rather how they stood up collectively and broke for the desert. History is also important within the Judaism religion because life’s opportunities are not monotonously alike. Smith states that all of the religion events are significant be are all not equally important. Smith tells us that in within the Judaism religion it is not “the case that anyone, anywhere, and at any time, can turn to history and find awaiting an opportunity equivalent to all others in time and place, each opportunity is unique. Therefore history must be attended to carefully, for when opportunities pass they are gone forever.”(284) Harris tells us that “this uniqueness of events is epitomized in the Hebrew notions of God’s direct intervention in history at certain critical points and of a chosen people as recipients of God’s unique challenges.” (284) In Judaism, Harris tells, “by contrast, history is in tension between its divine possibilities and its manifest frustration.” It has developed a tension between the ought and the is. “When things are not as they should be, change in some form is in order.” Harris states that the Jewish historical perspective has affected the land and this perspective has to some degree influenced Christianity and Islam.
Christianity is considered a historical religion, according to Harris, because “it’s founded not on abstract principles but in concrete events, actual historical happenings.”(317) The most important of these historical events according to Smith is the life of Jesus, the son of God in the Christian religion. Christians celebrate the life and the death of Jesus as two of the holiest days of the year. Much like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is also considered a historic religion states Harris. Everything within the Islam religion “centers on its religious Ultimate, God. God is immaterial and therefore invisible, much like Judaism and Christianity.
Buddhism and Hinduism are not considered historical religions in the way that the monotheism religions are thought to be. These polytheism religions base there religious beliefs on the here and now and not the past like most Western monotheism religions. Both Hinduism and Buddhism ask their followers to look within oneself in find their desired answers whereas the Western monotheism religions like Judaism and Christianity believe that ones desired answers have been given by God through significant historical events. Harris tells the “ultimate reality is disclosed when man, either by rational contemplation or mystic ascent, goes beyond the flow of events which we call history.” (282) The Hindu attitude according to Smith is “ the goal is the apprehension of an order of reality unaffected by the unpredictable fortunes of mankind.”(282) Smith goes on to write that, “In Hinduism,…the world of sense experience is regarded as maya, illusion; the religious man, therefore , seeks release from the wheel of life in order that his individuality may fade out into the World-Soul, Brahma. This all means that in the Hindu religion history is seen as a mere illusion. Hindu followers must look further than history and deeper within oneself to obtain their desires answers. Smith tells us that this view is very different from the Biblical claim that tells its followers that God is found within the boundaries of the world of change and struggles, and “especially that he reveals himself in event which are unique, particular and unrepeatable.” (283) Smith tells us that in the Bible, history is not an illusion it is the “arena of God’s purposive activity” (282) Smith goes on to tell us that Hindus in India believe that the destiny of humans lay outside of history altogether. This belief differs from the belief of Jews, in that Jews believe that human destiny lay within history, but in history as currently constituted, not as it might become. Smith goes on to tell us that the Jews of Israel historical outlook differed from that of Hindus of Israel and other polytheism religions because they have a different outlook on God. According to Smith, Jews would argue that God would not have created people as material beings if matters were adventitious to their destiny. Judaism established history, states Smith, as both important and subject to critique. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In conclusion we see that Smith’s idea of referring to Judaism, Christianity and Islam as historical religions is due solely to the idea that the three monotheism religions base their religious beliefs on significant historical events. Each religions believes to certain extents that ones life both physically and socially can be explained by some historical religious event and that one should seek answers from history in order to obtain ones desires. The emphasis that Judaism, Christianity and Islam put on history differs greatly from the concepts within Hinduism and Buddhism. This polytheism religions core concept teaches their followers to look within oneself to obtain their desires. In the Hindu religion specifically, history is thought of as an illusion otherwise known as Maya. Smith tells us that if observe history within a religion as a mere illusion “ at stake us our whole attitude towards the social order and collective life within it.” (283) Smith also notes that if we decide that history has no meaning, “it follows that the social, political and cultural contexts of life do not warrant active concern” (283)