ABSTRACT
How did religion begin and how has it developed through the ages? Here we scrutinize how what we call religion existed among primal hunters and gatherers, including still-extant features of religion such as initiation and shamanism. After many centuries, their religious world was significantly changed by the invention of agriculture, and finally by the emergence of ancient empires along great waterways like the Nile and Tigris/Euphrates. Then came what is often called the Axial Age and its aftermath, the time of the emergence of the great founders of religions: the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, and the scriptures and practices that came with them. We will explore the characteristics of this transition, noting how it profoundly changed the religious world. Then we will consider stages in the development of the world’s largest religions.
