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Life, the Universe and Everything. Professor Robert Winston examines the roots of religious beliefs in prehistoric societies and how humanity's sense of the divine developed in different ways in different societies. We will describe particularly the divergence between religions that appear to tolerate a range of deities and those that present strict monotheism. In this light we look at the emergence ofthe Hindu concept of Brahman as the supreme being with the many different forms that this can take, and also the ideas of karma and reincarnation central to both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. We further explore Zoroastrianism, perhaps the first explicitly monotheistic religion.
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