Contents
At present, it is very difficult to give an unambiguous and clear answer to the question which of the religions appeared earlier than others. Archaeological research provides more and more new information for regular discussions on this topic.
However, it is possible to identify at least a dozen religions, whose history spans several millennia. Some of them have already sunk into oblivion, while others continue to attract millions of followers to this day.
Are you curious to know which monotheistic religion is the oldest in the world? We present you 10 old world beliefs from India and other countries of the Earth.
10 Hinduism
Hinduism is a religion (dharma) widespread 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 guidelines of the Vedic religion (which existed between 1500 and 700 BC).
Hinduism contains very diverse doctrines, but maintains common roots: recognized rituals, cosmology, and pilgrimages to sacred places. Hindu texts are classified into “ruti” (“heard” directly from the gods) and smriti (“remembered”, result of tradition).
These texts discuss topics such as theology, mythology, yoga, Agama rituals, and basic mathematics for building 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 terms of furthering the understanding of these texts.
9. Zoroastrianism
Ancient Indo-Iranian religion zoroastrianism (known to the natives as It is clear) – 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 regarded by Zoroaster as the sole creator of all things.
The term “Zoroastrianism” is a modern construction which, according to the Oxford Dictionary, first appeared in 1874 in Archibald Sayce’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 is probably derived from Mazdayasna, an expression consisting of an astatistic that combines the last element of the name Ahura Mazda. The Persian king Cyrus the Great was a follower of this religion.
8. Judaism
Being the basis for all other Abrahamic religions and the oldest monotheism that still exists (although by no means the first – that is, it 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 11th century BC. e., evolving from the worship of the state God, based on a polytheistic worldview, to the One “True” God described in the Bible. If today it is followed by approximately 14-1 million people, then its two successors – Christianity (7st century AD) and Islam (3,8th century AD) – are the most widespread in the world, with a combined XNUMX billion adherents.
7. Jainism
Jainism is a doctrine that originated in India, which was born in the sixth century BC thanks to C. Majavir. He proclaims a philosophical path of salvation, not centered on the worship of any god. His 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 attains the highest state becomes known as the “conqueror” or “conqueror” (yayna). The highest state is known as siddha.
Jain philosophy deals extensively with problems 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, the 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 take into account all possible views of competing philosophies.
Jainism strongly advocates the individual nature of souls and personal responsibility for one’s decisions; and these individual efforts are entirely responsible for liberation.
6. 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 provide for 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 a generation or two after Confucius’ death, the tradition has gone through various periods of popularity and unpopularity in China and is one of the leading teachings influencing modern Chinese folk religion. It is said that there are about six million strict Confucians.
5. Buddhism
Buddhism – this “philosophical and spiritual teaching”, which does not have a theistic affiliation to the dharmic family, which is derived from Brahmanism. It includes many traditions and beliefs. Religious and spiritual practices are mostly related to Buddha Gautama.
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 way).
Buddhism is the fourth most important religion in the world with over 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. Indeed, there are more than 300 million followers of this religion, although this number may be among Buddhists without syncretism in China.
4. Taoism
Taoism (in Simplified and Traditional Chinese: literally “road teaching”) is a philosophical and religious tradition of Chinese origin that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (simplified and traditional Chinese: “path”, also referred to as damage). Chinese word “tao” (or “given”, depending on the romanization used) is usually translated as “path”, though it has countless nuances in popular Chinese philosophy and religions.
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. So for Taoists Tao is Source, structure и сущность everything that exists.
Dao De Czin, also known as Dao 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, Lao Tzu (in Simplified and Traditional Chinese: literally “old master”) or Laosio. Although the historical existence of such a person is still debated, the book is considered the key to the Taoist tradition.
3. Shintoism
Shintoism is the name of a local religion in Japan. It is based on the worship of kami or nature spirits. Some kami are local and known as the spirits or geniuses of a particular place, but others represent basic natural objects and processes.
2. Sumerian religion
Sumerian religion based almost entirely on polytheism. Not a single god among 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 no more. At the same time, this religion had bright local differences.
Each more or less large region had its own representatives of the pantheon, rituals and holidays. Faith among the Sumerians, simply put, was based on the unquestioning fulfillment of the will of the gods and the teachings about life after physical death.
1. Religion of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian religion 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.
A similar 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.