Smith claims that Western Religions are “historical” religions, in a way that the Eastern Religions are not. What I believe Smith has in mind when he calls them “historical” is the fact that Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the Western religions) base their religious beliefs on “historical” events (history pertinent to each religion). These events display extreme importance to those who follow the religion, and affect the follower even now.
Smith tells us that in Judaism history is of extreme significance. It’s important, according to Smith because Jews saw it as a “field of opportunity… that Jews believe that nothing in history happens accidentally.” The belief was that God was present through every event, from the Garden of Eden, to the great flood and etc. Smith states that each of these religious events shapes into a teaching experience for God’s people. In Judaism, 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 outcome. Harris tells us of the Hebrew slaves and how their desire to “rise above” wasn’t dependent on the extent in which they individually tried to “rise above”, but rather how they stood up collectively and broke for the desert. Another factor is because life’s opportunities are not monotonously alike. Smith states that all of the religion events are significant but are all not of equal importance. Within Judaism, 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.” Harris looked at the individual opportunities as God’s divine intervention. In Judaism, 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.”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. I also believe that the followers of Jesus use his parables, although not actual historical events, in the same manner-as historical events to learn from. Much like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is also considered a historical religion. Everything within the Islam religion “centers on its religious Ultimate, God or Allah. God is immaterial and therefore invisible, much like Judaism and Christianity.
The Eastern Religions of Buddhism and Hinduism are not considered historical religions. These polytheistic religions base their religious beliefs on the present and not the past like most Western monotheistic religions. The goal of both religions is of intrinsic examination, extremely different from western religions. 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.” The Hindu attitude according to Smith is “the apprehension of an order of reality unaffected by the unpredictable fortunes of mankind.” 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.
In conclusion, Smith’s idea of referring to Judaism, Christianity and Islam as historical religions is due solely to the idea that the three monotheistic religions base their religious beliefs on significant historical events. Each religions believes, to a certain extent, that one's 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 one's desires. The emphasis that Judaism, Christianity and Islam put on history differs greatly from the concepts within Hinduism and Buddhism. This polytheistic 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 we observe history within a religion as a mere illusion “at stake us our whole attitude towards the social order and collective life within it.” 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.”