In: Psychology
what are the problems in knowing and understanding the religions that existed before the development of written language
Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.
(Answer) Most religions of the world are fundamental in nature. This means that there has been some official written text, a prophet, saints, a messiah, a miracle or some kind of general awakening that has formed a foundation. This foundation is fundamental in forming the basic ideology that the people will live by.
Even when one might have to analyse and understand a religion from a religious point-of-view, it is necessary to refer to records of such occurrences. When written language wasn’t developed, symbolism and illustrations were used. These were generally drawn out on walls or stone tablets. The integrity of such structures and objects hasn’t entirely stood the test of time, causing it to disintegrate in some areas.
Secondly, language through symbols was sometimes an exclusive way of interpretation. In other words, if a picture of wings meant “flying” to one person, a picture of a bird might have meant flying to another person. This is how ancient stories and beliefs might get lost in translation. Therefore, if a language wasn’t properly established, it becomes difficult to interpret religions.