Currently, it is very difficult to give an unambiguous and clear answer to the question of which religion appeared earlier than others. Archaeological research provides new information for further discussions on this topic.
However, we can identify at least a dozen religions whose history goes back several thousand years. Some of them have already sunk into oblivion, while others continue to attract millions of followers to this day.
Are you interested in knowing which monotheistic religion is the oldest in the world? We present to you 10 old world beliefs from India and other countries on Earth.
Hinduism
Hinduism is a religion (dharma) widely practiced in South Asia. Hindus believe that their religion is the oldest in the world, and they call it “Sanatana Dharma” (“eternal religion”).
Scholars view Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with different roots and without any founder. This Hindu syncretism began to develop between 500 and 300 BC, following the guidance of the Vedic religion (which existed between 1500 and 700 BC).
Hinduism contains very diverse doctrines, but maintains common roots: recognized rituals, cosmology and pilgrimage to sacred places. Hindu texts are classified into "ruti" ("heard" directly from the gods) and smriti ("remembered", the result of tradition).
These texts discuss topics such as theology, mythology, yoga, Agama rituals and basic mathematics for the construction of temples and altars. The main scriptures include the four Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Agama.
The sources of these texts play an important role in this religion, but there is a strong Hindu tradition that questions their authority in furthering the understanding of these texts.
Unpopular primitive religious beliefs
The types of primitive religions need to be supplemented with some beliefs that are not as popular as totemism or, for example, magic. These include the agricultural cult. Primitive people who practiced agriculture worshiped the gods of various cultures, as well as the earth itself. There were, for example, patrons of corn, beans, and so on.
The agricultural cult is well represented in modern Christianity. Here the Mother of God is represented as the patroness of bread, George - of agriculture, the prophet Elijah - of rain and thunder, and so on.
Thus, it will not be possible to briefly consider the primitive forms of religion. Every ancient belief exists to this day, even if it has actually lost its face. Rituals and sacraments, rituals and amulets - all these are parts of the faith of primitive man. And it is impossible in modern times to find a religion that does not have a strong direct connection with the most ancient cults.
Zoroastrianism
The ancient Indo-Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism (known to the natives as Mazdayasna ) - dates back to the 2nd millennium BC. e. Zoroastrianism is named after its founder. It is a denomination of religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster (Zarathustra), who recognizes Ahura Mazda as a deity and is considered by Zoroaster as the sole creator of all things.
The term “Zoroastrianism” is a modern construct that, according to the Oxford Dictionary, first appeared in 1874 in Archibald Says's Principles of Comparative Philology. The first mention of Zoroaster in the West is attributed to Thomas Browne, who briefly refers to him in his book.
The term Mazdaism probably derives from Mazdayasna, an expression consisting of avistaticism which combines the latter element of the name Ahura Mazda. The Persian king Cyrus the Great was a follower of this religion.
Shamanism
It is impossible to consider primitive religions without highlighting the clergy. This is most acutely visible in shamanism. As an independent religion, it appears much later than those discussed above, and represents the belief that an intermediary (shaman) can communicate with spirits. Sometimes these spirits were evil, but most often they were kind, giving advice. Shamans often became leaders of tribes or communities, because people understood that they were associated with supernatural forces. Therefore, if something happens, they will be able to protect them better than some king or khan, who is only capable of natural movements (weapons, troops, and so on).
Elements of shamanism are present in virtually all modern religions. Believers have a special attitude towards priests, mullahs or other clergy, believing that they are under the direct influence of higher powers.
Judaism
Being the basis for all other Abrahamic religions and the oldest monotheism that still exists today (though by no means the first - that is, considered a variation on the ancient Egyptian faith called Atenism, which disappeared in the 14th century BC), Judaism originated in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which first appeared in the Levant around the 9th century BC. e.
The religion transformed into its current form in the 6th century BC. e., evolving from the worship of a state God based on a polytheistic worldview to the One “True” God described in the Bible. If today it is followed by approximately 11-14 million people, then its two successors - Christianity (1st century AD) and Islam (7th century AD) - are the most widespread in the world, with a combined 3.8 billion adherents.
Christianity
The Christian religion, based on the doctrine of the Trinity and faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, originated in Palestine in the 1st century AD. e. But it became widespread only by the 5th century. Initially, in the Roman Empire, Christianity was persecuted and considered heresy. But over time, it began to strengthen not only in Palestine, but also spread further across the provinces and different ethnic groups.
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Today Christianity is the largest of the world's religions. There are 2.4 billion followers on Earth. The faith has a wide geographical spread - in any country there is at least a small Christian community. According to official history, it appeared in Rus' in 988.
Jainism
Jainism is a doctrine that originated in India, which was born in the sixth century BC thanks to C. Majavira. He proclaims a philosophical way of salvation that is not centered on the worship of any god. Its practice is to make efforts to direct the consciousness of the soul towards the divine state and liberation (moksha).
That being who conquers his inner enemies and achieves the highest state becomes known as the “victor” or “conqueror” (yayna). The highest state is known as siddha.
Jain philosophy deals extensively with issues of metaphysics, cosmology, ontology, epistemology and divinity. Jainism is essentially a non-theistic religion, although it is not anti-metaphysical because its followers believe in the existence of the soul. The ancient tradition of shramana continues to this day.
The hallmarks of Jain philosophy are dualism, denial of a creative and omnipotent God, karma, the eternal and uncreated universe, ahimsa (non-violence), the theory of multiple facets of truth and morality based on the liberation of the soul.
Jainism is often presented as an ascetic movement due to its strong emphasis on self-control and austerities. He has also been called a model of philosophical liberalism because of his insistence that truth is relative and multifaceted, and because of his willingness to accommodate all possible views of competing philosophies.
Jainism strongly defends the individual nature of souls and personal responsibility for one's decisions; and these individual efforts are solely responsible for liberation.
Reasons for the emergence of the first and subsequent religions
Primitive religions and their features are very similar to modern beliefs. Various religious cults have acted for thousands of years in their own and state interests, exerting a psychological impact on their flock.
There are 4 main reasons for the emergence of ancient beliefs, and they are no different from modern ones:
- Intelligence. A person needs an explanation for any event that happens in his life. And if he cannot obtain it thanks to his knowledge, then he will certainly receive a justification for what he observes through supernatural intervention.
- Psychology. Life on earth is finite, and there is no way to resist death, at least for the moment. Therefore, a person must be freed from the fear of dying. Thanks to religion, this can be done quite successfully.
- Morality. There is no society that would exist without rules and prohibitions. It is difficult to punish everyone who violates them. It is much easier to scare and prevent these actions. If a person is afraid of doing something bad, because supernatural forces will punish him, then the number of violators will significantly decrease.
- Policy. To maintain the stability of any state, ideological support is required. And only one or another belief can provide it.
Thus, the emergence of religions can be taken for granted, since there are more than enough reasons for this.
Confucianism
Confucianism is based on the teachings of one person - in this case, the Chinese politician, teacher and philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC). It is worth noting that he himself claimed to be part of a scientific tradition dating back to an earlier golden age.
Although Confucianism is the most humanistic and least spiritual creed on this list, it does embrace a supernatural worldview (it includes Heaven, the Lord in Heaven, and divination) influenced by Chinese folk tradition.
Since the teachings were first collected in the Analects one or two generations after the death of Confucius, the tradition has experienced various periods of popularity and unpopularity in China and is one of the leading teachings influencing modern Chinese folk religion. Strict Confucians are said to number about six million.
Animism
Primitive religions could not do without the participation of the human soul. Ancient people thought about such concepts as death, sleep, experience, and so on. As a result of such thoughts, the belief arose that everyone has a soul. Later it was supplemented by the fact that only bodies die. The soul passes into another shell or exists independently in a separate other world. This is how animism appears, which is a belief in spirits, and it does not matter whether they belong to a person, an animal or a plant.
The peculiarity of this religion was that the soul could live indefinitely. After the body died, it broke out and calmly continued its existence, only in a different form.
Animism is also the ancestor of most modern religions. Ideas about immortal souls, gods and demons - all this is its basis. But animism also exists separately, in spiritualism, belief in ghosts, essences, and so on.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a “philosophical and spiritual teaching” that has no theistic affiliation with the dharmic family, which is derived from Brahmanism. It includes many traditions and beliefs. Religious and spiritual practices mainly refer to Gautama Buddha.
Buddhism originated in India between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, from where it spread to much of East Asia. There are two main branches of Buddhism: Theravada (school of elders) and Mahayana (great path).
Buddhism is the fourth most important religion in the world: it has more than 500 million followers. Now Buddhism suffers greatly from syncretism with traditional Chinese religion.
Currently, Buddhism is followed by 7-15% of the world's population. Truly, there are over 300 million followers of this religion, although this number may be among non-syncretistic Buddhists in China.
Today there are 450 - 500 million Buddhists living in the world
As of 2010, the number of Buddhists was estimated at 450 - 500 million people. According to one estimate, 360 million Buddhists are Mahayana, 150 million Theravada, and about 18 million Tibetan Buddhism.
7 million
so many Buddhists live outside of Asia
At the same time, the number of Buddhists living outside Asia is estimated at 7 million people. The number of monks among all Buddhists is about 1 million.
The main number of Buddhists live in the countries of South, Southeast and East Asia: Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, China (as well as the Chinese population of Singapore and Malaysia), Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, Sri Lanka Lanka, Japan.
Ulan-Ude datsan "Khambyn Khuree". In Russia, Buddhism is widespread in Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tyva. Photo: upload.wikimedia.org
Buddhism in Russia is traditionally practiced by residents of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva.
In recent years, Buddhist communities have emerged in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara and some other major Russian cities not associated with traditional Buddhist regions.
1%
this is how many adherents of Buddhism live in Russia
The number of Buddhists in these cities, according to surveys, is about 1% of their residents.
The same percentage is the number of Buddhists throughout the country. This is due to the fact that in the 20th century Buddhism began to spread throughout the world, leaving its natural boundaries.
Taoism
Taoism (in simplified and traditional Chinese: literally "way teaching") is a philosophical and religious tradition of Chinese origin that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (in simplified and traditional Chinese: "the way", also referred to as harm). The Chinese word "tao" (or "dao", depending on the romanization used) is usually translated as "way", although it has countless nuances in popular Chinese philosophy and religions.
The Tao is a fundamental idea in most of the schools that are part of Chinese philosophy; however, for Taoism it is referred to as the principle of absolute unity and at the same time variability, which forms the ultimate reality and the cosmogonic and ontological principle of all things. Thus, for Taoists, the Tao constitutes the Source, structure and essence of all that exists.
The Tao Te Ching, also known as the Tao Te King or Tao Te Ching, is a book that summarizes the teachings attributed to the philosopher Lao Tzu (also called Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu, Laozi (in simplified and traditional Chinese: literally " old master") or Laosio. Although the historical existence of such a figure is still debated, the book is considered the key to the Taoist tradition.
Islam
This world religion is considered the youngest of the monotheistic ones - those in which people believe in one god. Islam dates back to the 7th century. It originated on the Arabian Peninsula in the tribes of Western Arabia. It was founded by the Prophet Muhammad - he created the first community, which became the basis of the Arab Caliphate as a state entity.
Islam is divided into 2 parallel currents - Sunnis and Shiites. The former make up the majority of Muslims. Believers follow a set of hadiths and adhere to accepted rules of behavior in all life situations. For people, this is not just a tradition, but a principle of life. Sunnis elect community leaders.
Shiites believe that only the descendants of Muhammad can rule, and not those who are chosen. The Sunnah - a set of rules - is not accepted unconditionally, like the Sunnis. Shiites make additions to it, which come as instructions from imams - intermediaries between people and Allah.
Sumerian religion
The religion of the Sumerians was almost entirely based on polytheism. Not a single god of this people was endowed with the status of the supreme deity. Sumerian mythology had several supreme deities, where there were certain “favorite” gods of the people, but nothing more. At the same time, this religion had striking local differences.
Each more or less large region had its own representatives of the pantheon, rituals and holidays. The Sumerians' faith, simply put, was based on the unquestioning fulfillment of the will of the gods and the teachings about life after physical death.
Which religion was one of the last to appear?
The concept of “young” is very relative, because when counting over millennia, several centuries does not matter much. That is why the earliest faith, “Islam,” seems to us to have been known and widespread for a long time.
The basis of belief is service to Allah; a Muslim places the teachings of God above his own desires. Nowadays, Islam is quite popular; Muslims live in 50 countries around the world. Almost a quarter of the world's population is Muslim. This religion appeared in the seventh century AD, when the prophet Mohammed received the first verses of the Koran. The widespread teaching is more than thirteen centuries old, but younger religions of our time are not known.
The popularity of this belief is due to its strict rules and righteous lifestyle. Many children are born into Muslim families, which is why there are more and more adherents of Islam. The mullah serves as a means of communication between God and man. He conducts rituals and reads prayers, be it nikah, verse or other ceremonies.
Religion of Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptian religion is designated as polytheistic, despite the fact that in Ancient Egypt there were a number of cults that had a clear henotheistic character. In addition, in that era, for some time, there was a cult of atonism, which has signs of monolatry.
This phenomenon sometimes leads to disputes among historians: some researchers build theories about the hidden monotheism of the religion of Ancient Egypt, and also draw clear patterns between the beliefs of Egypt and Israel.
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Totemism
The types of religions of primitive man and their description should begin with totemism. Ancient people lived in groups. Most often these were families or their association. Alone, a person would not be able to provide himself with everything he needs. This is how the cult of animal worship appeared. Societies hunted animals to obtain food without which they could not survive. And the emergence of totemism is quite logical. This is how humanity paid tribute to its livelihood.
So, totemism is the belief that one family has a blood relationship with a particular animal or natural phenomenon. People saw them as patrons who helped, punished if necessary, resolved conflicts, and so on.
There are two features of totemism. Firstly, each member of the tribe had a desire to look like their animal. For example, some Africans knocked out their lower teeth to look like a zebra or antelope. Secondly, the totem animal could not be eaten unless the ritual was followed.
The modern descendant of totemism is Hinduism. Here some animals, most often the cow, are sacred.
New Rome: the modern Roman pantheon
Where else could the “New Rome” originate if not in Italy?
In the sixties, a Roman traditionalist movement arose in Italy, which fought for the return of the traditions of its Roman ancestors - including the worship of Jupiter.
Attempts to revive the ancient faith have taken many different forms. There are organizations all over the world with different ideologies, united by the desire to bring back the Roman deities. In the United States, such an organization became “New Rome”. Its members celebrate ancient Roman festivals and pride themselves on being as historically accurate as possible in recreating the religion.
Romuva: a religion that was hidden for a thousand years
Romuva - religion of worship of fire, eternal and sacred
A thousand years ago, on the territory of modern Lithuania, there lived a tribe of Balts who worshiped fire as something eternal and sacred. They built altars on the highest hills, where their priests guarded the ever-burning flame. Every house had its own eternal flame - it burned inside the sacred hearth.
Religion returned in 1967, when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union. It was called the Romuva movement, which connected Lithuanians with their roots. The Soviet government did not approve of this - the country's government tried to destroy religion. After the fall of the Soviet Union, adherents of the religion were again able to practice it freely.
Currently, Romuva has acquired such proportions that it has been called the unofficial religion of Lithuania. It has spread to other countries. Congregations are available all over the world - even in Chicago, Boston and Toronto.
