Introduction Philosophy of Religion: Textbook
Resources
Timeline
Ancient World
| Dates | Event/Description | Relevant People |
|---|---|---|
| c. 2600 BCE |
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| c. 1500–1200 BCE |
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| c. 1300 BCE | Moses and the Ten Commandments | Moses |
| c. 1000 BCE | Kingdom of Israel begins | David/Solomon |
| c. 800–400 BCE | Likely composition of early Hindu Upanishads | |
| c. 800–200 BCE | Axial Period* | |
| c. 660–583 BCE | Founder of Zoroastrianism | Zoroaster |
| c. 640–546 BCE | Western philosophy begins | Thales |
| c. 599–527 BCE | Founder of Jainism | Mahavira Jeni |
| 586–587 BCE | Fall of Jerusalem/Jews taken into captivity in Babylon | |
| c. 570–510 BCE | Founder of Taoism and author of early form of the Tao-Te-Ching | Lao Tzu |
| c. 570–495 BCE | Ionian (Greek) mathematician and philosopher and developed the Pythagorean theorem | Pythagoras |
| c. 551–479 BCE | Founder of Confucianism | Confucius |
| 566–486 BCE | Founder of Buddhism | Sidhartha Guatama (Buddha) |
| c. 500–450 BCE | Greek philosopher, chief representative of the Eleatic school | Parmenides |
| c. 500 BCE | Founding of Shintoism (Japan) | |
| c. 469–399 BCE | Greek philosopher | Socrates |
| 427–347 BCE | Greek philosopher | Plato |
| 384–322 BCE | Greek philosopher | Aristotle |
| c. 372–289 BCE | Confucian philosopher | Mencius |
| 341–270 BCE | Founder of Epicurean philosophy | Epicurus |
| 334–331 BCE | Alexander the Great spreads Greek culture, philosophy and religion throughout the Eastern Mediterranean | |
| c. 333–264 BCE | Founder of Stoic philosophy | Zeno the Stoic |
| c. 300 BCE | Likely final composition of Tao-Te-Ching | |
| c. 200 BCE | Early portion of Bhagavad Gita written (completed in 400 C. E.) | |
| 200–100 CE | Buddhism divides into Theravada and Mahayana | |
| c. 4 BCE-c. 30 BCE | Founder of Christianity | Jesus of Nazareth |
| c. 10–c. 68 | New Testament apostle and author of many New Testament letters | St.Paul |
| c. 30 | Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth | |
| 50–100 | Likely composition of Christian Scriptures | |
| 70 | Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans | |
| c. 150–200 | Founder of Madhyamika school of Buddhism (India) | Nagarjuna |
| 205–270 | Founder of Neoplatonism | Plotinus |
| c. 215–276 | Founder of Manicheanism | Mani |
| 325 | Christian Council of Nicaea (focuses on Trinitarian doctrine) | |
| 354–430 | Last Christian Church Father | St. Augustine |
| 410 | Fall of Rome | |
| 451 | Christian Council of Chalcedon (focuses on Christocentric issues) | |
| c. 480–524 | Christian Roman philosopher | Boethius |
Medieval World
| Dates | Event/Description | Relevant People |
|---|---|---|
| 570–632 | Founder of Islam | Mohammed the Prophet |
| c. 788–820 | Founder of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism | Adi Shankara |
| c. 800–866 | Islamic philosopher | Al-Kindi |
| c. 870–950 | Islamic philosopher | Al-Farabi |
| 980–1037 | Islamic philosopher | Ibn Sina (Avicenna) |
| 1017–1137 | Founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Hinduism | Ramanuja |
| 1033–1109 | Christian monk; developed the ontological argument | St. Anselm of Canterbury |
| 1058–1111 | Islamic philosopher | Al-Ghazali |
| 1126–1198 | Islamic philosopher | Ibn Rushd (Averroës) |
| 1135–1204 | Jewish philosopher/theologian | Moses Maimonides |
| 1200–1253 | Japanese Zen master (founder of Soto school) | Dogen Kigen |
| 1225–1274 | Christian philosopher/theologian | St. Thomas Aquinas |
| 1266–1308 | European philosopher, logician, and Franciscan theologian | John Duns Scotus |
| c. 1285–1349 | English philosopher and Franciscan friar | William of Ockham |
| 1400s | European Renaissance | |
| 1473–1543 | Polish astronomer who offered the first modern formulation of a heliocentric solar system | Nicholas Copernicus |
| 1483–1546 | Protestant Reformer | Martin Luther |
| 1469–1539 | Founder of Sikhism | Guru Nanak Dev |
| 1496–1561 | Founder of Anabaptist Protestant movement | Menno Simons |
| 1500–1600 | European Scientific Revolution | |
| 1509–1564 | French theologian, Protestant Reformer, and founder of Calvinism | John Calvin |
| 1515–1582 | Christian mystic | St. Teresa of Avila |
| 1517 | Protestant Reformation begins with Luther's ‘95 Theses’ | |
| 1542–1591 | Spanish Carmelite friar | St. John of the Cross |
| 1545–1564 | Council of Trent | |
| 1560–1609 | Dutch theologian and founder of Arminianism — the anti-Calvinistic school in Reformed Protestant theology | |
| 1564–1642 | Italian astronomer, physicist, and philosopher | Galileo Galilei |
Modern World
| Dates | Event/Description | Relevant People |
|---|---|---|
| 1596–1650 | French rationalist philosopher (founder of modern Western philosophy) | René Descartes |
| 1623–1662 | French physicist, mathematician, and religious philosopher | Blaise Pascal |
| 1632–1677 | Jewish rationalist philosopher from Amsterdam | Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza |
| 1643–1727 | English physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and natural philosopher | Sir Isaac Newton |
| 1646 | Westminster Confession | |
| 1646–1716 | German rationalist philosopher | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz |
| 1685–1753 | Irish bishop and empiricist philosopher | George Berkeley |
| 1694–1778 | French Enlightenment philosopher | Voltaire |
| 1703–1758 | American theologian and Congregational pastor | Jonathan Edwards |
| 1711–1776 | Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist | David Hume |
| 1724–1804 | German philosopher | Immanuel Kant |
| 1743–1805 | Christian philosopher and apologist | William Paley |
| 1770–1831 | German philosopher | Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel |
| 1809–1882 | British naturalist who established evolution by common descent | Charles Darwin |
| 1813–1855 | Danish philosopher | Søren Kierkegaard |
| 1817–1892 | Founder of Baha'i | Baha'u'llah |
| 1818–1883 | German philosopher and political economist | Karl Marx |
| 1844–1900 | German philosopher | Friedrich Nietzsche |
| 1893 | World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, Illinois |
Contemporary World
| Dates | Event/Description | Relevant People |
|---|---|---|
| 1842–1910 | American pragmatist philosopher | William James |
| 1804–1872 | German philosopher | Ludwig Feuerbach |
| 1856–1939 | Austrian neurologist and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology | Sigmund Freud |
| 1861–1947 | British mathematician and philosopher | Alfred North Whitehead |
| 1870–1945 | Japanese philosopher who attempted to assimilate Western philosophy into the Oriental spiritual tradition | Kitaro Nishida |
| 1870–1966 | Japanese Zen Buddhist philosopher and author who was instrumental in bringing Zen to the West | Daisetz Teitaro (DT) Suzuki |
| 1872–1970 | British logician, mathematician, and philosopher | Bertrand Russell |
| 1879–1955 | German-born theoretical physicist and author of the general theory of relativity | Albert Einstein |
| 1888–1975 | Indian philosopher and second president of India | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1889–1951 | Austrian philosopher | Ludwig Wittgenstein |
| 1889–1976 | German philosopher | Martin Heidegger |
| 1898–1963 | Cambridge Medievalist, novelist, and Christian apologist | C. S. Lewis |
| 1905–1980 | French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and dramatist | Jean-Paul Sartre |
| 1886–1968 | Reformed Christian theologian and a leader of the neo-orthodox movement | Karl Barth |
| 1908–1986 | French author and philosopher | Simone de Beauvoir |
| 1919–2001 | British analytic philosopher | Elizabeth (G.E.M.) Anscombe |
| 1922–1996 | American philosopher of science | Thomas Kuhn |
| 1922– | Philosopher of religion and Christian theologian | John Hick |
| 1923– | British philosopher and former atheist (now a deist) | Antony Flew |
| 1926–1984 | French post-structuralist philosopher | Michel Foucault |
| 1929– | Scottish moral philosopher | Alasdair MacIntyre |
| 1930–2004 | French literary critic and deconstructionist philosopher | Jacques Derrida |
| 1932– | American philosopher of religion | Alvin Plantinga |
| 1934– | British philosopher of religion | Richard Swinburne |
| 1935– | Supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism | Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama |
| Feminist philosopher of religion | Pamela Sue Anderson | |
| 1963–1965 | Second Vatican Council | Pope John XXIII |