Focal Points of Religion

As we move on from our study of Hinduism to monotheistic religions like Christianity, I think it is interesting to reflect on the difference in structure between the two types of religion.  Hinduism, while incorporating many deities, is so abstract and idea-centric that it almost seems more like a philosophy than a religion per say.  In stark contrast to this, Christianity (and its close cousins, Islam and Judaism) is focused on a single god more than on any one code of morality.  Hinduism certainly includes elements of deity-centric thinking (as in the Bhagavad Gita's use of Sri Krishna to illustrate various principles - although one can not believe in the existence of Krishna and still very well be part of the religion), and Christianity includes elements of idea-centric thinking (the ten commandments, etc. - although these, too, are somewhat flexible depending upon which branch of Christianity one belongs to) but in general the focus appears to be quite different.  It will be interesting to compare and contrast the two different types of religion.