Understanding Religious Communities
at Yale
Religious and spiritual life at Yale is lively and varied. This page contains information about the many religious traditions found at Yale. We hope it will be of help to you in finding your place within the spectrum of religious and spiritual life and practice.
The entire staff of the Chaplain’s Office will be happy to be of service to you. In addition, the staff and students of Yale’s religious groups are eager to welcome you to their groups or simply to answer your questions and help you learn more about their religious practices and traditions. See the Yale Religious Ministry page for contact information for various groups and organizations around Yale.
Bahá’i Faith
The Bahá’i Faith is the youngest of the world’s independent religions. From its obscure beginnings in Iran during the mid-nineteenth century, it has now spread to virtually every part of the world, has established its administrative institutions in well over two hundred independent states and territories, and has been embraced by believers from virtually every cultural, racial, social and religious background.
The central teachings of the Bahá’i Faith are the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, and the oneness of mankind. Bahá’u’lláh (“Glory of God”) the prophet-founder of the Bahá’i Faith wrote that, “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.” Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed that divine revelation is a continuous and progressive process; that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin; and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society. Bahá’i’s believe that with Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation humanity has reached spiritual maturity, a maturity that will enable it to raise up a global civilization marked by peace, cooperation and unity among all the peoples and nations of the world.
Buddhism
Buddhism refers to that panoply of faith traditions and practices that trace their origin to the life and teaching of Sakyamuni (Gotama Buddha), born in northern India in c. 563 BCE. Throughout its many and various manifestations, the primary focus of Buddhism has been practical, informing the life of the individual and the community. The practice of Buddhism centers around what is taken to be the unusual opportunity each human being has to wake up to who they are, gain first-hand insight into the origin of suffering, and cultivate their own innate capacity to exercise compassion.
Over the centuries, Buddhism evolved several major branches, traditions with many and various schools, translated and transformed by the cultures through which they passed. Buddhism traveled south and east to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia (the avadan tradition); north into the Himalayas, Mongolia and Siberia (the Tibetan tradition); and west, north and east along the silk route to China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam (the Mahayana tradition).
In time, Buddhism was brought to the West by teachers and practitioners of each of these major traditions, as well as by the writings, translations, and research of scholars and students of religion. Here, as before, the interplay of various cultures and the interpretations of various texts, tempered by first hand life experience of practitioners, has continued the transformation of Buddhism, a tradition rooted in the teachings of Gotama Buddha and realized in the everyday experience of each new generation of students.
Christianity
Christianity is a way of life, a confession of faith, and an historical religion, centered on the worship of the one God as revealed to the world in Jesus Christ. The revelation of God in Christ, known as the Incarnation, is the distinctive characteristic of Christian faith. Christian life and practice is embodied in the Church, the mystical body of Christ, which confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior of humanity. Christians look to the life and teachings of Jesus, who proclaimed the presence of God’s Spirit in this world and beyond, who alleviated human suffering, and who established a new social order based on the love of God and all people, as exemplary and worthy of emulation. The sacred texts of Christianity are in the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, which give testimony to God’s relationship to this world, and to Jesus of Nazareth, a Palestinian Jew who was crucified to death in 33 CE and resurrected to new life three days later. The Bible testifies, as well, to the gift of the Holy Sprit to Christians, and the establishment of the Church, as the ongoing instruments of God’s activity in this world. Most Christians proclaim the one God as experienced through the Trinity—God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer; or God as Father (or Parent), Son (Jesus Christ, the “Son of God”), and Holy Spirit. Christian faith asserts the forgiveness of sins and salvation with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of each Christian to love others as one loves oneself. Christians look to Jesus’s good deeds, new teachings, and glorification of God (in his life, death, and resurrection) as indications of God’s presence in and through Jesus.
Christianity is a global religion of rich diversity and of great differences in practice and opinion. From its beginnings in ancient Palestine, the Christian faith has spread throughout the world through missionary activity and the sharing of the story of Jesus Christ (known as the Gospel) through teaching, preaching, and personal testimony by one person to another (known as evangelism). Most Christians honor Sunday as the holy day of each week, and observe the feasts of Christmas (the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, preceded by a time of spiritual preparation known as Advent), Easter (the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus to new life following his Crucifixion on Good Friday, preceded by a time of spiritual preparation known as Lent), and Pentecost (the celebration of the birth of the Church, in the giving of the Holy Spirit to Christians after the Ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven). Among the many rituals (or sacraments, or rites, or 13 14 ordinances) used regularly in the worship practices of the Church, the two most common are Baptism (which marks one’s initiation as a Christian, and membership in the Christian family) and the Lord’s Supper (or Communion, or Eucharist, or Mass)—a simple meal of bread and wine eaten in remembrance of Jesus Christ and conveying God’s grace to the Christian believer. The main branches of the Christian Church are the Roman Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Protestant. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches of the Church became distinctive in 1054 A.D., and the Protestant branch became distinctive through the Protestant reformation of the 16th century A.D. The Protestant branch of the Church includes Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, among others.
Hinduism
Hinduism holds a unique place in the spiritual world as the oldest known formal religion practiced today, dating back to the pre-Indus Valley civilizations circa 2–3,000 BCE. It is interesting to note that the religion does not hold one holy book as its guiding force, rather, it draws upon a multitude of texts compiled over time with different cultural and philosophical foci, depending upon what spiritual voids the periods in religious evolution called for. The smriti and shruti, or written and oral traditions, have been passed down over the centuries, predominantly in South Asia, shaping the beliefs, value systems, and cultural practices of the subcontinent. Therefore, the term Hindu Tradition may be a more accurate term to describe the place that Hinduism holds in both religious and cultural life.
This tradition, then, finds its basis in the ideals of the original Vedic texts, cultivating a meshwork of various gods and goddesses representing different aspects of the One, or omnipresent spiritual force permeating our universe, known as Brahman. Popular religion has built upon these ideals over time with various didactic texts and stories, including the famous epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
One may find, within Hinduism, a spectrum of religious thought that encompasses the beliefs of the world’s religions. But behind the plethora of rituals, deities, and beliefs is a scientific, intellectual philosophy called Vedanta, a summary of the final conclusion in the Vedas. The philosophy claims that all people are on the same mission and seek the same end in every action he or she may do; a quest for happiness and peace of mind.
In essence, Vedanta states that man (or woman), at the peak of his achievements, love, and purity, is a reflection of God Himself. Vedanta provides man with a method to live his day-to-day experiences in life in a systematic way that minute by minute, through his won self-effort, he can remove his weaknesses to reveal a vibrant and dynamic personality. The philosophy of Vedanta is simple, but it’s not simplistic, universal yet intensely personal, and combines the ideals of love and service with the deals of achievement and duty. Universal in its application, it is the peak of Hindu thought, a spectrum that covers polytheistic deities to absolute non-duality with God.
Hinduism is characterized by a great diversity of familial, geographic, and inter-cultural traditions, that may choose different gods, texts, and practices to reach this realization; however, the paths share a common philosophical ground and ultimately converge. It may be likened to aspects of the day; whether one refer to it by the dawn, 23 afternoon, evening, or nighfall, they are all part of the same whole, it is merely their vehicle through which one wishes to live in it and to achieve knowledge of the Self.
Islam
The literal meaning of Islam is peace; surrender of one’s will i.e. losing oneself for the sake of God. The message of Islam was revealed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings on him) 1, 400 years ago. It was revealed through angel Gabriel (on whom be peace) and was thus preserved in the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran carries a Divine guarantee of safeguard from interpolation and it claims that it combines the features of the earlier scriptures.
The prime message of Islam is the Unity of God, that the Creator of the world is One and He alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad (peace and blessings on him) is His Messenger and Servant. The follower of this belief is thus a Muslim–a Muslim’s other beliefs are: God’s angels, previously revealed Books of God, all the prophets, Qur’n mentions the names of more than twenty prophets, the most significant of them being Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be on them both), the Day of Judgement and indeed the Decree of God. A Muslim has five main duties to perform, namely; bearing witness to the Unity of God and Muhammad (peace and blessings on him) as His Messenger, observing the prescribed prayer, payment of Zakat, keeping the fasts of Ramadhan and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca known as Hajj.
In Islam virtue does not connote forsaking the bounties of nature that are lawful. On the contrary one is encouraged to lead a healthy, active life with the qualities of kindness, chastity, honesty, mercy, courage patience and politeness. In short, Islam has a perfect and complete code for the guidance of individuals and communities alike. As the entire message of Islam is derived from the Holy Quran and indeed the Sunnah and Hadith (the traditions and practices of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings on him) it is immutable in the face of change in time and place. It may appear rigid to the casual eye, in actual fact it is most certainly an adaptable way of life regardless of human changes.
Islam teaches that the path to spiritual development is open to all. Any individual who searches the One Creator can seek nearness to God through sincere and earnest worship; it is central to establishing a relationship with the Almighty. This positive message for humanity fills hearts with hope and courage.
Judaism
Judaism, the world’s oldest, continuous monotheism, combines fidelity to the One universal God with membership in one, particular, historically conditioned people. To be a Jew then is to combine ethnos with ethos, people-consciousness with God-consciousness. A Jew today is a person who believes her/himself to be the lineal descendant of the Biblical Israelites, the Hellenic Judeans, the European Yiddish folks, and/or those expelled from Spain in 1492. While the Hebrew Bible is the Holy book of Judaism, Jews believe that the Bible can only be understood Jewishly through the lens of the Talmud and its commentaries.
The foundation of Judaism is fourfold: 1. God of Israel (Creator of the Universe), 2. Torah of Israel (Old Testament or Hebrew Scripture plus all subsequent commentaries including the Talmud up to Buber, Rosenzweig, and Soloveithick), 3. People of Israel (the flesh and blood, multifarious, multilingual, multiracial, dispersed and focused folk known as the Jews and the metaphysical entity known as k’nesset yisrael, God’s dialogical partner), 4. Land Of Israel (aka promised land, Palestine, Canaan, State of Israel). In Biblical times (2000-586 ???), the foundation of Judaism was God. In Talmudic and Medieval times (300bce-1750 ??), the foundation was Torah. In modern times, the foundation has been Jewish people and Jewish land. From any one of these foundations, it is possible to arrive at the remaining pediments.
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion born of the Jewish and Christian traditions. We keep our minds open to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion. In the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. We uphold the free search for truth. We do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. We say ours is a noncreedal religion. Ours is a free faith.
We seek to act as a moral force in the world, believing that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion. The here and now and the effects our actions will have on future generations deeply concern us. We know that our relationships with one another, with other peoples, races and nations, should be governed by justice, equity and compassion.
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