Buddhism arose on the northern border of India around 500 B.C. in response to the Hinduism of its day. Like the Judaism around the time of Christ, Hinduism was a religion of rituals, with an elite priesthood who administered a multifaceted theology. It supported a society in which people were strictly divided into a caste system of statue, role and power.

Like medieval Christian reformers, Buddha proposed drastic changes to the religion of his day, which in many ways resembled the ideals of...


Continue reading ...