Comparative Religions in the Classical World 200 BCE - 500 CE — Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Indigenous Mesoamerican Religion, African Traditional Religions — All Living Today

Recite Three Promises. Pivot announcement: today we compare 7 living religious traditions across the 200 BCE - 500 CE period. CRITICAL FRAMING: every one of the 7 is LIVING today. We refuse the framing that any of them is 'ancient' or 'past.'

• Recite Three Promises
• Explicit framing: all 7 religions are LIVING traditions today
• Display MG-21

Display MG-21 Comparative-Religions Matrix. Walk through 7 living religions and their 200 BCE - 500 CE developments: (1) BUDDHISM — founded by Siddhartha Gautama / Buddha c. 5th century BCE in north India; Theravada / Mahayana split c. 1st century BCE - 1st century CE; Ashoka's missions to Sri Lanka c. 250 BCE (Mahinda); Buddhism spreading along Silk Road to Han China during 1st-2nd century CE; Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya (the place of Buddha's enlightenment) is the holiest Buddhist site, currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site; ~520 million adherents today. (2) HINDUISM — developed from Vedic religion c. 1500 BCE - 500 CE in a millennium-long transformation; Bhagavad Gita compiled c. 200 BCE - 200 CE within the Mahabharata epic; Upanishadic philosophy ongoing; Gupta-era temple architecture at Dashavatara Deogarh; ~1.2 billion adherents today. (3) JUDAISM — destruction of Second Temple 70 CE by Roman general Titus; rabbinic Judaism develops in the post-Temple diaspora; Mishnah compiled c. 200 CE under Judah ha-Nasi; ~15 million adherents today globally with unbroken diaspora continuity. (4) CHRISTIANITY — Jesus of Nazareth c. 4 BCE - 30 CE in Roman Judea; Pauline letters c. 50-60 CE; Gospel composition c. 70-100 CE; spread across Mediterranean by 4th century; Theodosian establishment as Roman state religion 380 CE; ~2.4 billion adherents today globally. (5) ZOROASTRIANISM — founded by Zarathushtra c. 1000 BCE (date contested 1500-600 BCE); Avesta compiled across centuries; Sasanian state religion 224-651 CE under Shapur I onward; ~110,000-200,000 adherents today including Iranian Zoroastrians + Indian Parsi communities. (6) INDIGENOUS MESOAMERICAN RELIGION — Classical Maya religious cosmology preserved in Popol Vuh (Kʼicheʼ Maya creation narrative — pre-Columbian oral tradition, alphabetic written text 1550s CE); pre-contact Maya religion of Tikal-Palenque-Calakmul stelae and codices; modern Maya communities preserve traditions often syncretized with Catholicism but with distinctive Maya religious knowledge; living today across 30+ Mayan languages. (7) AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS — pre-Christian Aksumite polytheism transitioned to Christianity under Ezana 350 CE (Aksum is unusual among African civilizations in adopting Christianity early — most sub-Saharan African religious traditions continued pre-monotheistic forms much longer); broader African Traditional Religions ~100 million practitioners today plus diaspora forms (Vodou, Santería, Candomblé). CRITICAL FRAMING: all 7 traditions ARE LIVING today; none is presented as 'past.' We honor every tradition as a living practice with billions of practitioners in some cases (Christianity 2.4B, Islam not in this unit but 1.8B for G7-Fall, Hinduism 1.2B, Buddhism 520M, African Traditional Religions 100M, Judaism 15M, Zoroastrianism 200K) and as a body of philosophical-ethical-cultural inheritance.

• Notice: 'religion' and 'civilization' overlap but are not the same. Both have living descendants we honor.

  model Because every one of the 7 traditions has practicing communities today, with sacred texts in continuing use, rituals continuing, communities organizing around them. To call any of these 'ancient' or 'past' would erase living people. The MG-8 Living-Descendant Promise applies to RELIGIONS as well as to civilizations.

  prompt Why is the framing 'living traditions today' the unit's core stance on religion?
• Notice: religions evolve. 'Ancient X' is rarely the same as 'modern X' even for the same named tradition.

  model Because Hinduism as practiced today is a centuries-long development from Vedic religion + Upanishadic philosophy + Bhakti devotional traditions + Tantric traditions + regional + sectarian + reform traditions. The Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE) is part of Hinduism's heritage but Hinduism is NOT identical to Vedic religion. Per Wendy Doniger and Upinder Singh — Hinduism is a living, evolving tradition.

  prompt Why do we describe Hinduism as developed-FROM Vedic religion rather than as ancient Vedic religion?

• Cold Call: Name 3 of the 7 living religious traditions we surveyed today + 1 fact about each from MG-21.
• Cold Call: Why is the unit's framing 'living traditions' the core stance?
• Cold Call: When was the Second Temple destroyed? (70 CE by Roman Titus)

MG-7 6-Question Source Card applied to ONE primary-source religious text (student choice from 7 options per culturally_responsive_sources). MG-7 with explicit dual-framing — academic-historical AND living-tradition reading.

M-6-S-CUL-11-A Chart

MG-21 11x17 inch educational matrix with 7 religions as rows × 6 question-columns. Each cell is a 2-3-line summary. Critical framing: ALL 7 traditions ARE LIVING today. Side note panel: 'Hinduism: ~1.2 billion adherents today. Buddhism: ~520 million. Christianity: ~2.4 billion. Judaism: ~15 million. Zoroastrianism: ~110,000-200,000. Indigenous Mesoamerican religion: living among Maya communities. African Traditional Religions: ~100 million practitioners plus diaspora forms.' Style: clean educational, full color, dignified.

MG-21 Diagram

11x17 inch educational diagram with 7 religions as rows (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism developed-from-Vedic, Judaism diaspora, Zoroastrianism, indigenous Mesoamerican / Classical Maya religion, African Traditional Religions including Aksumite pre-Christian + indigenous-African polytheism) × 6 question-columns (Founder or origin-tradition / Foundational text or oral-tradition / Geographic origin / 200-500 CE development arc / Modern living-descendant communities and approximate global adherents today / Lesson where introduced in this unit). Each cell is a 2-3-line summary. Critical framing: ALL 7 traditions ARE LIVING today; none is presented as 'ancient' or 'past-tense.' Side note: 'Religions are living traditions today. Hinduism: ~1.2 billion adherents today across South Asia and diaspora. Buddhism: ~520 million adherents today across East/Southeast Asia and diaspora. Christianity: ~2.4 billion adherents today. Judaism: ~15 million adherents today across global diaspora. Zoroastrianism: ~110,000-200,000 adherents today across Iran and Indian Parsi communities and diaspora. Indigenous Mesoamerican religion (often syncretized with Catholicism): living among Maya communities. African Traditional Religions: ~100 million practitioners today, plus diaspora forms (Vodou, Santería, Candomblé).' Style: clean educational, full color, dignified presentation. 11x17 print resolution.

• In pairs, choose ONE primary-source religious text (from 7 options) and apply MG-7 Moves 1 + 5 + 6 — sourcing + living descendants + whose translations / whose silences.

  scaffold Each pair chooses 1 of 7; MG-7 short-form available; sentence frames for the religious-dual-framing question
• Complete one row of MG-21 Comparative-Religions Matrix for the religion your pair chose.

  scaffold MG-21 partially filled available

M-6-S-CUL-11-B Photograph

Modern photograph (or high-resolution image of museum display) of Dura-Europos synagogue frescoes (now in National Museum of Damascus) and Dura-Europos church frescoes (now in Yale University Art Gallery) — c. 230s CE, the only contemporaneous archaeological evidence for early Christian + Jewish coexistence in a Roman frontier town. Caption: 'Dura-Europos c. 230s CE — the only place where we have synagogue AND church frescoes from the SAME CITY at the SAME TIME. Living evidence of early religious pluralism.' Style: high-resolution archaeological-art photograph.

• Name 3 of the 7 living religious traditions + 1 modern-descendant-community fact for each.
• Why is calling any of the 7 religions 'ancient/past' a problem? (one sentence)

• Show Call — display one strong MG-21 matrix row + MG-7 source-card response
• Preview Lesson 12 (Pivot to Han China arc — Qin antecedent under Shi Huangdi)

• Find one modern news article (within last 12 months) about a CONTEMPORARY religious community of one of the 7 traditions we surveyed. Write 2-3 sentences applying LIVING-DESCENDANT framing — these traditions ARE today.