World religions Religions Paradigm" as "a particular way of thinking about religions which organizes them into a set of discrete traditions with a supposedly 'global' import." It typically consists of the "Big Five" religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. As noted by Cotter and Robertson, the "Big Five" religions are often listed in an "Abrahamocentric order" which places the largest three Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—before the non-Abrahamic religions Hinduism and Buddhism. The category is sometimes also extended to include other religious groups, namely Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and the Bahá'í Faith. The inclusion of Judaism in the Big Five raises some issues;
Split of Christianity and Judaism Jewish-Christian and Rabbinic movements from the mid-to late second century CE to the fourth century CE. Philip S. Alexander characterizes the question of when Christianity and Judaism parted company and went their separate ways as "one of those deceptively simple questions which should be approached with great care." According to historian Shaye J. D. Cohen, "the separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event," in which the church became "more and more gentile, and less and less Jewish." According to Cohen, early Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect when it ceased to observe Jewish practices, such