Discuss how the spread of Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam transformed the imperial worlds of the Roman Empire, Japan and Korea, and the Middle East and Central Asia. Use evidence to show whether religion strengthened or weakened these empires
What will be an ideal response?
Answers will vary but correct responses should include: By around 1000, all three religions had demonstrated their adaptability to different cultures and climates. They transformed the imperial worlds by spreading the influence of the empires and states as religions spread. Buddhism had big followings in China, Japan, Tibet, and Southeast Asia and had spread into Central Asia along the Silk Roads. Christianity had a near monopoly in Western Europe and was spreading east and north into Scandinavia and the Slav lands, while retaining the allegiance of communities scattered through Asia. Islam, dominant in Southwest Asia and North Africa, spread by conquest, conversion, and migration among Turkic peoples and around the trade routes of the Indian Ocean and the Sahara. While religions brought influence and unified kingdoms, differing visons and beliefs within the religions began to cause division. New religions changed in their turn, compromising with vested interests, modifying their messages to suit mighty patrons, serving the needs of warriors and kings, even becoming organs of the state, instruments of government, and means of training bureaucrats and communicating with subjects. A further consequence of expansion was that different traditions in each of the religions lost patience or touch with each other, weakening the strength and unification brought about by the world religions.
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