Religious cosmology

A religious cosmology (also mythological cosmology) is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the cosmos or universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon.

Biblical cosmology

The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below.[1] Humans inhabited earth during life and the underworld after death, and the underworld was morally neutral;[2] only in Hellenistic times (after c.330 BC) did Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven.[3] In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the centre of a number of concentric heavens.[1]

Christianity/modern Judaism

Around the time of Jesus or a little earlier, the Greek idea that God had actually created matter replaced the older idea that matter had always existed, but in a chaotic state. This concept, called creatio ex nihilo, is now the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism and Christianity. Most denominations of Christianity and Judaism believe that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos.[4]

Mormon cosmology

The Earth's creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing matter. The faith teaches that this earth is just one of many inhabited worlds, and that there are many governing heavenly bodies, including a planet or star Kolob which is said to be nearest the throne of God. According to the King Follett discourse, God the Father himself once passed through mortality like Jesus did, but how, when, or where that took place is unclear. The prevailing view among Mormons is that God once lived on a planet.[5][6]

Buddhism

In Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions (karma) of its inhabitants. Buddhists posit neither an ultimate beginning nor final end to the universe, but see the universe as something in flux, passing in and out of existence, parallel to an infinite number of other universes doing the same thing.

The Buddhist universe consists of a large number of worlds which correspond to different mental states, including passive states of trance, passionless states of purity, and lower states of desire, anger, and fear. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, and passing out of existence into other states, or dying. A world comes into existence when the first being in it is born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies. The universe of these worlds also is born and dies, with the death of the last being preceding a universal conflagration that destroys the physical structure of the worlds; then, after an interval, beings begin to be born again and the universe is once again built up. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are higher planes of existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into and pass out of existence.

As well as a model of universal origins and destruction, Buddhist cosmology also functions as a model of the mind, with its thoughts coming into existence based on preceding thoughts, and being transformed into other thoughts and other states.

Islam

Map of the world according to Zakariya al-Qazwini showing his view of how the universe is structured and how sky and earth are supported. The Earth is considered flat and surrounded by a series of mountains—including Mount Qaf—that hold it in its place like pegs; the Earth is supported by an ox that stands on Bahamut dwelling in a cosmic ocean; the ocean is inside a bowl that sits on top of an angel or jinn.[7]

Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God.[8]

Below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology.

"And the heavens We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander." 51:47 Sahih International

"Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?" 21:30 Yusuf Ali translation

"The day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed),- even as We produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it." 21:104 Yusuf Ali translation

Hinduism

The Hindu cosmology indicates that the present cycle is not the beginning of everything but preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.[9]

The Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in Nasadiya sukta:

Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet. What was concealed?
 And where? And in whose protection?…Who really knows?
Who can declare it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation?
The devas (demigods) were born later than this world's creation,
so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where
creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it.He who surveys
it in the highest heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know." [1]

  1. ^ Rig Veda 10. 129
Large scale structure of the Universe according to one Hindu cosmology.

The dominant theme in Puranic Hindu cosmology, state Chapman and Driver, is of cycles and repetition. There are multiple universes, each takes birth from chaos, grows, decays and dies into chaos, to be reborn again. Further, there are different and parallel realities. Brahma's one day equals 4.32 Billion years which is a Kalpa and is close to current scientific estimate of the age of earth 'i.e' 4.5 Billion years.[10] Each Kalpa is subdivided into four yuga (caturyuga, also called mahayuga)).[11] These are krita (or satya), treta, dvapara and kali yugas. The current time is stated to be one of kali yuga. The starting year, length of each, or the grand total, is not consistent in the Puranas. According to Ludo Rocher, the total of four yugas is typically 4,320,000 years, off which 432,000 years is assigned to be the duration of the kali yuga.[12][13][note 1]

Multiverse in Hinduism

The concept of multiverses is mentioned many times in Hindu Puranic literature, such as in the Bhagavata Purana:

Every universe is covered by seven layers — earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false ego — each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited (Bhagavata Purana 6.16.37)

[17][18]

Analogies to describe multiple universes also exist in the Puranic literature:

Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis, following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You as their final conclusion (Bhagavata Purana 10.87.41) [19]
The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination (Bhagavata Purana 3.11.41)[20][21]
And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes side by side, each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its Shiva? Who can count the Indras in them all--those Indras side by side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those others who passed away before them; or even the Indras who succeed each other in any given line, ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing away. (Brahma Vaivarta Purana) [22]

Jainism

Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having no beginning or an end.[23] Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.[24]

Mahāpurāṇa of Ācārya Jinasena is famous for this quote: "Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression."

Chinese mythology

There is a "primordial universe" Wuji (philosophy), and Hongjun Laozu, water or qi.[25][26] It transformed into Taiji and multiplied into everything.[27][28] The Pangu legend tells a formless chaos coalesced into a cosmic egg. Pangu emerged (or woke up) and separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. After Pangu died, he became everything.

Yoonir, symbol of the Universe in Serer religion.[29][30]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Aune 2003, p. 119
  2. ↑ Wright 2002, pp. 117,124–125
  3. ↑ Lee 2010, pp. 77–78
  4. ↑ One of the severest critics of religious cosmologies from the standpoint of physics was Adolf Grünbaum, 'The Poverty of Theistic Cosmology' (2004), now in his Collected Works (edited by Thomas Kupka), vol. I, New York: Oxford University Press 2013, ch. 7 (pp. 151-200); some earlier papers on the same subject can also be found in this volume
  5. ↑ "An explanation of Mormon beliefs about God", BBC – Religions, 2009-10-02.
  6. ↑ Jana Riess and Christopher Kimball Bigelow, Mormonism for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, 2005, ISBN 978-0-7645-7195-4) ch. 3.
  7. ↑ Zakariya al-Qazwini. ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt (The Wonders of Creation). Original published in 1553 AD
  8. ↑ http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e459?_hi=10&_pos=2
  9. ↑ Andrew Zimmerman Jones (2009). String Theory For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 262. ISBN 9780470595848.
  10. ↑ James G. Lochtefeld. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 180.
  11. ↑ Graham Chapman; Thackwray Driver (2002). Timescales and Environmental Change. Routledge. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-1-134-78754-8.
  12. ↑ Ludo Rocher (1986). The Purāṇas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 123–125, 130–132. ISBN 978-3-447-02522-5.
  13. ↑ John E. Mitchiner (2000). Traditions Of The Seven Rsis. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 141–144. ISBN 978-81-208-1324-3.
  14. ↑ Robert Bolton (2001). The Order of the Ages: World History in the Light of a Universal Cosmogony. Sophia Perennis. pp. 64–78. ISBN 978-0-900588-31-0.
  15. 1 2 Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1915). Mythology of the Babylonian People. Bracken Books. pp. 310–314. ISBN 978-0-09-185145-3.
  16. ↑ Robert Bolton (2001). The Order of the Ages: World History in the Light of a Universal Cosmogony. Sophia Perennis. pp. 65–68. ISBN 978-0-900588-31-0.
  17. ↑ Bryan E. Penprase. The Power of Stars. Springer. p. 137.
  18. ↑ Mirabello, Mark. A Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife: Traditions and Beliefs on Death, Dying, and What Lies Beyond. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 23.
  19. ↑ Amir Muzur, Hans-Martin Sass. Fritz Jahr and the Foundations of Global Bioethics: The Future of Integrative Bioethics. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 348.
  20. ↑ Ravi M. Gupta, Kenneth R. Valpey. The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition. Columbia University Press. p. 60.
  21. ↑ Richard L. Thompson. The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana: Mysteries of the Sacred Universe. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 200.
  22. ↑ Joseph Lewis Henderson, Maud Oakes. The Wisdom of the Serpent: The Myths of Death, Rebirth, and Resurrection. Princeton University Press. p. 86.
  23. ↑ “This universe is not created nor sustained by anyone; It is self sustaining, without any base or support” “Nishpaadito Na Kenaapi Na Dhritah Kenachichch Sah Swayamsiddho Niradhaaro Gagane Kimtvavasthitah” [Yogaśāstra of Ācārya Hemacandra 4.106] Tr by Dr. A. S. Gopani
  24. ↑ See Hemacandras description of universe in Yogaśāstra “…Think of this loka as similar to man standing akimbo…”4.103-6
  25. ↑ 《太一生水》之混沌神話
  26. ↑ 道教五方三界諸天「氣數」說探源
  27. ↑ 太一與三一
  28. ↑ 太極初探
  29. ↑ Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation sereer : Pangool", vol. 2, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal, (1990) pp 20-21, 149-155, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1
  30. ↑ Clémentine Faïk-Nzuji Madiya, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, International Centre for African Language, Literature and Tradition (Louvain, Belgium). ISBN 0-660-15965-1. pp 5, 27, 115

Bibliography

  1. ↑ The concept of four cosmic periods (yuga) is also found in Greek, Roman, Irish and Babylonian mythologies, where each age becomes more sinful and of suffering.[14] For example, the Roman version found in the early 1st-century Metamorphoses of Ovid calls it Silvern (white), Golden (yellow), Bronze (red) and Iron (black) ages.[15] Plato too divides the concept of universal time into ages, and suggests time being cyclic.[16] The total number of years in the Babylonian mythology is the same 432,000 years (120 saroi) as the Indian mythologies.[15]
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