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{{About||the journal of that name|History of Religions (journal)|the academic study of religion in general|Religious studies|the history of religions school|History of religions school}}
{{Not to be confused with|historiography of religion}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2025}}
{{History of religion}}
The '''history of religion''' is the written record of human [[religious]] feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the [[invention of writing]] about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrtg/hd_wrtg.htm |title=The Origins of Writing &#124; Essay &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History &#124; The Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=Metmuseum.org |access-date=2018-03-11}}</ref> The [[Prehistoric religion|prehistory of religion]] involves the study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records. One can also study comparative religious chronology through a [[timeline of religion]], or the interrelationships and historical diversification of religious ideologies through the use of evolutionary philosophy and broad comparativism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Grande, Lance|title=The Evolution of Religions. A History of Related Traditions|year=2024|publisher=Columbia University Press|pages=1–680}}</ref> Writing played a major role in standardizing religious texts regardless of time or location and making easier the memorization of prayers and divine rules.<ref>{{cite book|author=Humayun Ansari|title=The Infidel Within: Muslims in Britain Since 1800|year=2004|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |isbn=978-1-85065-685-2|pages=399–400}}</ref>

The concept of "religion" was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref name=Nongbri1>{{cite book |last1=Nongbri |first1=Brent |title=Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept|page=152 |quote=Although the Greeks, Romans, Mesopotamians, and many other peoples have long histories, the stories of their respective religions are of recent pedigree. The formation of ancient religions as objects of study coincided with the formation of religion itself as a concept of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.|date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300154160}}</ref><ref name="Religion enlightenment1">{{cite book|last1=Harrison|first1=Peter|title='Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=1|isbn=978-0521892933|quote=That there exist in the world such entities as 'the religions' is an uncontroversial claim...However, it was not always so. The concepts 'religion' and 'the religions', as we presently understand them, emerged quite late in Western thought, during the Enlightenment. Between them, these two notions provided a new framework for classifying particular aspects of human life.}}</ref> Sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nongbri |first1=Brent |title=Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept |chapter=2. Lost in Translation: Inserting "Religion" into Ancient Texts |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300154160}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths about Religions|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=9780470673508|page=13|quote=Many languages do not even have a word equivalent to our word 'religion'; nor is such a word found in either the Bible or the Qur'an.}}</ref>

The word ''religion'' as used in the 21st century does not have an obvious pre-colonial translation into non-European languages. The anthropologist Daniel Dubuisson writes that "what the West and the history of religions in its wake have objectified under the name 'religion' is ... something quite unique, which could be appropriate only to itself and its own history".<ref>Daniel Dubuisson. ''The Western Construction of Religion''. 1998. William Sayers (trans.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. p. 90.</ref>

==History of study==
The school of religious history called the {{lang|de|[[History of religions school|Religionsgeschichtliche Schule]]}}, a late 19th-century [[Germany|German]] school of thought, originated the systematic study of [[religion]] as a [[society|socio]]-[[culture|cultural]] phenomenon. It depicted religion as evolving with human culture, from [[polytheism]] to [[monotheism]].

The {{lang|de|Religionsgeschichtliche Schule}} emerged at a time when scholarly study of the [[Bible]] and of [[church history]] flourished in Germany and elsewhere (see [[higher criticism]], also called the ''historical-critical method''). The study of religion is important: religion and similar concepts have often shaped civilizations' law and moral codes, social structure, art and music.

In order to better understand the origin and current diversity of religious belief systems throughout the world, recent studies have attempted to focus on historical interrelationships and diversification of all major organized religions, applying modern evolutionary philosophy to the comparative analysis of putative ideological groups.<ref>{{cite book|author=Grande, Lance|title=The Evolution of Religions. A History of Related Traditions|year=2024|publisher=Columbia University Press|pages=1–680}}</ref> These studies take an agnostic, pluralistic approach in the hope of moving beyond chauvinistic cultural tribalism, which is increasingly interfering with our ability to understand "other" cultures and address growing global challenges.

==Origin==
{{Main|Prehistoric religion|Paleolithic religion}}
{{Further|Behavioral modernity|Evolutionary origin of religions|Timeline of religion}}
{{see also|Matriarchal religion}}

The earliest archeological evidence interpreted by some as suggestive of the emergence of religious ideas dates back several hundred thousand years, to the [[Middle Paleolithic|Middle]] and [[Lower Paleolithic]] periods: some archaeologists conclude that the apparently intentional burial of [[Early Homo sapiens|archaic humans]], [[Neanderthal]]s and even ''[[Homo naledi]]'' as early as 300,000 years ago is proof that religious ideas already existed, but such a connection is entirely conjectural. Other evidence that some infer as indicative of religious ideas includes symbolic artifacts from [[Middle Stone Age]] sites in Africa. However, the interpretation of early Paleolithic artifacts, with regard to how they relate to religious ideas, remains controversial.{{citation needed||date=September 2023}} Archeological evidence from more recent periods is less controversial. Scientists{{which|date=July 2017}} generally interpret a number of artifacts from the [[Upper Paleolithic]] (50,000–13,000 BCE) as representing religious ideas. Examples of Upper Paleolithic remains that some associate with religious beliefs include the [[löwenmensch figurine|lion man]], the [[Venus figurines]], and the elaborate ritual burial from [[Sungir]].{{cn|date=September 2024}}

In the 19th century, researchers proposed various theories regarding the origin of religion, challenging earlier claims of a Christianity-like [[urreligion]]. Early theorists, such as [[Edward Burnett Tylor]] (1832–1917) and [[Herbert Spencer]] (1820–1903), emphasized the concept of [[animism]], while archaeologist  [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]] (1834–1913) used the term "[[fetishism]]". Meanwhile, the religious scholar [[Max Müller]] (1823–1900) theorized that religion began in [[hedonism]] and the folklorist [[Wilhelm Mannhardt]] (1831–1880) suggested that religion began in "naturalism" – by which he meant mythological explanations for natural events.<ref>"Religion". ''Encyclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana'', 70 vols. Madrid. 1907–1930.</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2017}} All of these theories have been widely criticized since then; there is no broad consensus regarding the origin of religion.

[[Pre-pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA) [[Göbekli Tepe]], the oldest potentially religious site yet discovered anywhere<ref name="ArchMag">{{cite web | url= http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html| title= The World's First Temple| work= Archaeology magazine |date= Nov–Dec 2008 | page= 23}}</ref> includes circles of erected massive T-shaped stone pillars, the world's oldest known [[megalith]]s<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qR5TCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|title= The Archaeology of Malta|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9781107006690|page= 47|language= en|last1= Sagona|first1= Claudia|date= 25 August 2015|access-date= 25 November 2016}}</ref> decorated with [[Abstract art|abstract]], enigmatic [[pictogram]]s and [[sculpture|carved]]-animal reliefs. The site, near the home place of original wild wheat, was built before the so-called [[Neolithic Revolution]], i.e., the beginning of [[agriculture]] and [[animal husbandry]] around 9000 BCE. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organization of an advanced order not hitherto associated with [[Paleolithic]], [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A|PPNA]], or [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic B|PPNB]] societies. The site, abandoned around the time the first agricultural societies started, is still being excavated and analyzed, and thus might shed light on the significance it had, if any, for the religions of older, foraging communities, as well as for the general history of religions.{{citation needed||date=August 2024}}

The [[Pyramid Texts]] from ancient Egypt, the oldest known [[religious texts]] in the world, date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SieAmOiyGQMC&q=the+pyramid+texts+oldest+religious&pg=PA9|title=An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Literature|last= Budge|first= Wallis|date=January 1997|isbn=0-486-29502-8|page=9|publisher=Courier Corporation |author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6VBJeCoDdTUC&q=2353+-+2323+%22pyramid+texts%22&pg=PA1|title=The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts|last= Allen|first=James|year=2005|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |isbn=1-58983-182-9}}</ref>

The earliest records of [[Indian religion]] are the [[Vedas]], composed {{c.|1500–1200 BCE}} during the [[Vedic Period]].

Surviving early copies of religious texts include:

* The [[Upanishads]], some of which date to the mid-first millennium BCE.
* The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], representing fragmentary texts of the Hebrew [[Tanakh]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abegg |first1=Martin G. |author-link1=Martin G. Abegg |last2=Flint |first2=Peter |author-link2=Peter Flint (religious scholar) |last3=Ulrich |first3=Eugene |author-link3=Eugene Ulrich |year=1999 |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmm8Mvjw2WQC |publisher=Harper Collins |publication-date=2012 |page=xvii |isbn=9780062031129 |access-date=18 November 2019 |quote=The Dead Sea Scrolls include more than 225 'biblical' manuscripts [...]. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions [...] almost all these manuscripts are in fragmentary form. Parts of every book of the Jewish and Protestant Old Testament are included, with the exception of Esther and Nehemiah.}}</ref> 
* Complete Hebrew texts, also of the [[Tanakh]], but translated into the [[Koine Greek|Greek language]] ([[Septuagint]] 300–200 BCE), were in wide use by the early 1st century CE. 
* The Zoroastrian [[Avesta]], from a [[Sassanian]]-era master copy.

==Axial age==
{{See also|Axial Age}}
Some historians have labelled the period from 900 to 200 BCE as the "axial age", a term coined by [[Germany|German]]-Swiss [[philosopher]] [[Karl Jaspers]] (1883–1969). According to Jaspers, in this era of history "the [[spirituality|spiritual]] foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today." Intellectual historian [[Peter Watson (intellectual historian)|Peter Watson]] has summarized this period as the foundation time of many of humanity's most influential philosophical traditions, including monotheism in [[Persia]] and [[Canaan]], [[Platonism]] in Greece, [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]] in India, and [[Confucianism]] and [[Taoism]] in China. These ideas would become institutionalized in time – note for example [[Ashoka]]'s role in the spread of Buddhism, or the role of [[Neoplatonism and Christianity|Neoplatonic philosophy in Christianity]] at its foundation.

The historical roots of Jainism in India date back to the 9th century BCE with the rise of [[Parshvanatha]] and his non-violent philosophy.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=30}}{{sfn|Zimmer|1953|p= 182–183}}{{request quotation|date=July 2017}}

==Middle Ages==
[[File:Medieval-World-Religions.png|thumb|Medieval world religions]]
[[World religion]]s of the present day established themselves throughout [[Eurasia]] during the [[Middle Ages]] by:

* [[Christianization]] of the [[Western world]]
* [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Buddhist missions to East Asia]]
* the [[decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent|decline of Buddhism]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]]
* the [[spread of Islam]] throughout the [[Middle East]], [[Central Asia]], [[North Africa]] and parts of [[Europe]] and India

During the Middle Ages, [[Muslim]]s came into conflict with [[Zoroastrian]]s during the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]] (633–654); [[Christians]] fought against Muslims during the [[Arab–Byzantine wars]] (7th to 11th centuries), the [[Crusades]] (1095 onward), the [[Reconquista]] (718–1492), the [[Ottoman wars in Europe]] (13th century onwards) and the [[Inquisition]]; [[Shamanism]] was in conflict with [[Buddhism|Buddhists]], [[Taoism|Taoists]], Muslims and Christians during the [[Mongol invasions and conquests]] (1206–1337); and Muslims clashed with [[Hindus]] and [[Sikhs]] during the [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent]] (8th to 16th centuries).

Many medieval religious movements continued to emphasize [[mysticism]], such as the [[Cathars]] and related movements in the West, the Jews in Spain (see [[Zohar]]), the [[Bhakti movement]] in India and [[Sufism]] in Islam. [[Monotheism]] and related mysticisms reached definite forms in Christian [[Christology]] and in Islamic [[Tawhid]]. [[Hindu views on monotheism|Hindu monotheist]] notions of [[Brahman]] likewise reached their classical form with the teaching of [[Adi Shankara]] (788–820).

==Modern Ages==
From the 15th century to the 19th century, European [[colonisation]] resulted in the spread of Christianity to [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], and the [[Americas]], [[Australia]] and the [[Philippines]]. The invention of the [[printing press]] in the 15th century played a major role in the rapid spread of the [[Protestant Reformation]] under leaders such as [[Martin Luther]] (1483–1546) and [[John Calvin]] (1509–1564).  [[European wars of religion|Wars of religion]] broke out, culminating in the [[Thirty Years' War]] which ravaged [[Central Europe]] between 1618 and 1648. The 18th century saw the beginning of [[secularisation]] in Europe, a trend which gained momentum after the [[French Revolution]] broke out in 1789. By the late 20th century, religion had declined in most of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide|last=Norris|first=Pippa|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Columns-start|num=4}}
* [[Christianity and politics]]
* [[Growth of religion]]
* [[Historiography of religion]]
* [[Judaism and politics]]
* [[List of founders of religious traditions]]
* [[List of religions and spiritual traditions]]
* [[List of religious movements that began in the United States]]
* [[Political aspects of Islam]]
* [[Religion and politics]]
* [[Women and religion]]
* [[Women as theological figures]]


===Shamanism and ancestor worship===
* [[Ancestor worship]]
* [[Animism]]
* [[Prehistoric religion]]
* [[Shamanism]]
* [[Tribal religion]]

{{Column}}

===Panentheism===
* [[Eastern Orthodoxy]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.profligategrace.com/documents/Grant/Ware_God%20Immanent%20yet%20Transcendent.pdf | title=Profligate Grace }}</ref>
* [[Neoplatonism]]
* [[Sikhism]]

===Polytheism===
{{See also|Polytheism|Pantheon (gods)|Paganism}}
* [[Ancient Near Eastern religion]], [[Egyptian mythology]]
* [[Ancient Greek religion]], [[Ancient Roman religion]]
* [[Germanic paganism]], [[Finnish Paganism]], [[Norse paganism]]
* [[Maya religion]], [[Inca religion]], [[Aztec religion]]
* [[Neopaganism]], [[Polytheistic reconstructionism]]

{{Column}}

===Monotheism===
{{See also|Monotheism|Abrahamic religions}}
* [[Aten]]
* [[Baháʼí Faith]]
** [[History of the Baháʼí Faith]]
* [[History of Christianity]]
** [[History of the Catholic Church]]
** [[History of Protestantism]]
** [[History of Jehovah's Witnesses]]
** [[Mormonism]]
*** [[History of the Latter Day Saint movement]]
*** [[History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
* [[History of Islam]]
* [[Judaism]]
* [[Mandaeism#History|History of Mandaeism]]
* [[Neoplatonism]]
* [[Zoroastrianism]]

===Monism===
{{Main|Monism}}
* [[History of Buddhism]]
* [[History of Hinduism]]
* [[History of Jainism]]

===Dualism===
* [[Gnosticism]]
* [[Manichaeism]]

{{Column}}

===New religious movements===
{{Main|New religious movements}}
* [[Adventism]]
* [[Ahmadiyya]]
* [[Bábism]]
* [[Bahá'í Faith]]
* [[History of Spiritism]]
* [[History of Wicca]]
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]
* [[Mormonism]]
* [[Nation of Islam]]
* [[Pentecostalism]]
* [[Rastafari movement]]
* [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]]
* [[Thelema]]
* [[Timeline of Scientology]]
{{Columns-end}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation |last = Dundas |first = Paul |author-link = Paul Dundas |title = The Jains |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ |edition = Second |year = 2002 |orig-year = 1992 |publisher = [[Routledge]] |isbn = 0-415-26605-X |location = [[London]] and [[New York City|New York]]}}
* {{cite journal |last=Stausberg |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Stausberg |date=March 2021 |title=The Demise, Dissolution, and Elimination of Religions |journal=[[Numen (journal)|Numen]] |editor1-last=Feldt |editor1-first=Laura |editor2-last=Valk |editor2-first=Ülo |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=68 |issue=2–3 – ''Special Issue: The Dissolution of Religions'' |pages=103–131 |doi=10.1163/15685276-12341617 |doi-access=free |issn=1568-5276 |lccn=58046229|hdl=11250/2977936 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{citation |last = Zimmer |first = Heinrich |author-link = Heinrich Zimmer |title = Philosophies of India |year = 1953 |orig-year = April 1952 |editor-first = Joseph |editor-last = Campbell |editor-link = Joseph Campbell |publisher = [[Routledge]] & [[Kegan Paul]] Ltd. |location = London |url = https://archive.org/details/Philosophy.of.India.by.Heinrich.Zimmer |isbn = 978-81-208-0739-6}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* [[Karen Armstrong|Armstrong, Karen]]. ''A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam'' (1994) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345384563/ excerpt and text search]
* Armstrong, Karen. ''Islam: A Short History'' (2002)  [https://www.amazon.com/dp/081296618X excerpt and text search]
* [[John Bowker (theologian)|Bowker, John Westerdale]], ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0198662424/  excerpt and text search] 1126pp
* Carus, Paul. ''The history of the devil and the idea of evil: from the earliest times to the present day'' (1899) [http://www.sacred-texts.com/evil/hod/index.htm full text]
* Eliade, Mircea, and Joan P. Culianu. ''The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religion: The A-to-Z Encyclopedia of All the Major Religious Traditions'' (1999) covers 33 principal religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Shamanism, Taoism, South American religions, Baltic and Slavic religions, Confucianism, and the religions of Africa and Oceania.
** Eliade, Mircea ed. ''Encyclopedia of Religion'' (16 vol. 1986; 2nd ed 15 vol. 2005; online at Gale Virtual Reference Library). 3300 articles in 15,000 pages by 2000 experts.
* Ellwood, Robert S. and Gregory D. Alles. ''The Encyclopedia of World Religions'' (2007), p 528; for middle schools
* Gilley, Sheridan; Shiels, W. J. ''History of Religion in Britain: Practice and Belief from Pre-Roman Times to the Present'' (1994), p.&nbsp;590.
* {{Cite book | year = 2010 | last1 = James | first1 = Paul | author-link = Paul James (academic) | last2 = Mandaville | first2 = Peter | title = Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions | url = https://www.academia.edu/4416072 | publisher = Sage Publications | location = London}}
* [[Paul Lacroix|Lacroix, Paul]]. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73559  Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance]''  (London: Bickers & Son, 1870)
* Marshall, Peter. "(Re)defining the English Reformation," ''Journal of British Studies,'' July 2009, Vol. 48#3 pp 564–586
* Rüpke, Jörg, [http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/backgrounds/religion/joerg-ruepke-religion?set_language=en&-C= ''Religion''], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO – European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History], 2020, retrieved: March 8, 2021.
* Schultz, Kevin M.; Harvey, Paul. "Everywhere and Nowhere: Recent Trends in American Religious History and Historiography," ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion,'' March 2010, Vol. 78#1 pp.&nbsp;129–162
* Wilson, John F. ''Religion and the American Nation: Historiography and History'' (2003) p.&nbsp;119.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130607065259/http://historyofreligions.com/ Historyofreligions.com]
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/DicHist/analytic/anaVI.html The history of religious and philosophical ideas, in ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'']
* [http://mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html History of Religion as flash animation]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130312154553/http://www.religionstree.com/ The history and origins of world religions depicted as a navigable tree]}}

{{History of religions|state=expanded}}
{{New Religious Movements}}
{{Religion topics}}
{{philosophy of religion}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Religions}}
[[Category:History of religion| ]]
[[Category:Religious studies]]