World religions

Rogier van der Weyden, The Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, 1445-50 (Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) — Could you buy your way out of purgatory? Martin Luther said no, believing in faith alone.

Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 1 ...

Luther and a map of Europe — After the Diet of Worms, Luther escaped to a castle and translated the Bible into German.

Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 2 ...

The Protestant Reformation: Marburg Colloquy — Luther’s ideas quickly spread across Europe, inspiring new interpretations of the Bible—and new conflicts.

Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 3 ...

The five major world religions — […]

The five major world religions

Round face, almond eyes and long arms of Shiva surrounded by circle of fire (detail), Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), c. 11th century, Copper alloy, Chola period, 68.3 x 56.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction

Stories of the modern pilgrimage — Watch and listen as several British Muslims recount their journeys to Mecca.

Stories of the modern pilgrimage

Peter Paul Rubens. The Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Altarpiece, c. 1617-18 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) — Protestants largely rejected the visual culture of Catholicism, going so far as to whitewash and destroy its art.

Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 4 ...

Budai (Ho t'ai)/Maitreya, The Laughing Buddha (detail) — […]

Four Buddhas at the American Museum of ...

Dürer, The Four Apostles — These monumental figures concentrate their attention on the word of God, which Dürer writes into the painting.

Albrecht Dürer, The Four Apostles

Bust of a Bodhisattva Shakyamuni, 3rd-4th century (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

The historical Buddha

Stupa 3, 1st c., Sanchi, India — […]

The stupa

Lucas Cranach, The Law and Gospel, c. 1529, oil on wood, 72 × 88.5 cm / 28.3 × 34.8″ (National Gallery, Prague) — How did heaven get to be so controversial? This painting was a defining image of the Protestant Reformation.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel ...

Saint Peter's Basilica- detail — The greatest minds of the High Renaissance worked on this vast church. Construction took more than a century.

Saint Peter’s Basilica

Dome of the Rock — While not a mosque, the Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world.

The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra)

The Kaaba, granite masonry, covered with silk curtain and calligraphy in gold and silver-wrapped thread, pre-Islamic monument, rededicated by Muhammad in 631-32 C.E. — Located in Mecca, this square shrine is the holiest site in Islam. Muslims direct their prayers toward it.

The Kaaba

Great Mosque at Damascus (Photo: G. Lewis) — Islam, one the world’s main monotheistic faiths, was founded in the 7th century by Muhammad, a merchant from Mecca.

Introduction to Islam

Moses and Aaron come before Pharaoh, from the Golden Haggadah, c. 1320, Northern Spain, probably Barcelona (British Library, MS. 27210, fol. 1o verso) — No splashes of wine stain this luxurious book! Its 56 miniatures illustrate the story of Passover.

The Golden Haggadah

Panel from a Torah Shrine from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, 11th century, wood (walnut) with traces of paint and gilt, 87.3 x 36.7 cm (The Walters Art Museum). The patterns of vine scrolls and lozenges shows the influence of Islamic art. — After the Roman world embraced Christianity, Jews faced persecution, mob violence, and Crusaders.

Jewish history to the middle ages

Hebrew Bible, Italy, 13th century, decorated opening to the Book of Isaiah, Harley 5711, f.1r. (The British Museum) — […]

Judaism, an introduction

View down the nave toward the apse with altar, Basilica of Santa Sabina, c. 432 C.E., Rome (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) — Liturgy provided the script, architecture the set—and the altar sat center stage.

Architecture and liturgy