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As the early religions evolved,
their ceremonies and cosmologies
became increasingly sophisticated.
Primal religions of the nomadic and
seminomadic peoples of prehistory
gave way to the religions of the
ancient and, in turn, of the classical
civilizations. Their beliefs are now
often dismissed as mythology,
but many elements of these ancient
narrative traditions persist in
today’s faiths. Religions continued
to adapt, old beliefs were absorbed
into the religions of the society
that succeeded them, and new
faiths emerged with different
observances and rituals.
Ancient to modern
It is hard to pinpoint the time when
many religions began, not least
because their roots lie in prehistory
and the sources that describe their
origins may date from a much later
time. However, it is thought that
the oldest surviving religion today
is Hinduism, which has its roots
in the folk religions of the Indian
subcontinent, brought together in
the writing of the Vedas as early
as the 13th century BCE. From this
Vedic tradition came not only the
pluralistic religion we now know
as Hinduism, but also Jainism,
Buddhism, and, later, Sikhism,
which emerged in the 15th century.
Other belief systems were
developing in the east. From the
17th century BCE, the Chinese
dynasties established their nation
states and empires. There emerged
traditional folk religions and
ancestor worship that were later
incorporated into the more
philosophical belief systems
of Daoism and Confucianism.
In the eastern Mediterranean,
ancient Egyptian and Babylonian
religions were still being practiced
when the emerging city-states
of Greece and Rome developed
their own mythologies and
pantheons of gods. Further east,
Zoroastrianism—the first major
known monotheistic religion—had
already been established in Persia,
and Judaism had emerged as the
first of the Abrahamic religions,
followed by Christianity and Islam.
Many religions recognized the
particular significance of one or
more individuals as founders of
the faith: they may have been
embodiments of god, such as Jesus
or Krishna, or recipients of special
divine revelation, such as Moses
and Muhammad.
The religions of the modern
world continued to evolve with
advances in society, sometimes
reluctantly, and often by dividing
into branches. Some apparentlynew religions began to appear,
especially in the 19th and 20th
centuries, but these invariably
bore the traces of the faiths that
had come before.Elements of religion
Human history has seen the rise
and fall of countless religions,
each with its own distinct beliefs,
rituals, and mythology. Although
some are similar and considered
to be branches of a larger tradition,
there are many contrasting and
contradictory belief systems.
Some religions, for example,
have a number of gods, while
others, especially the more modern
major faiths, are monotheistic;INTRODUCTION
There is no use disguising
the fact, our religious needs
are the deepest. There is
no peace until they are
satisfied and contented.
Isaac Hecker,
Roman Catholic priest