List Of Founders Of Religious Traditions
This article lists historical figures credited with founding religions or religious philosophies or people who first codified older known religious traditions. It also lists those who have founded a specific major denomination within a larger religion.
In many cases, one can regard a religion as a continuous tradition extending to prehistoric times without a specific founder (Vedic Religion precursor of Hinduism, folk religion, animism), or with legendary founding-figures whose historicity cannot be established (such as Abraham, Lord Rishabha). This notwithstanding, the various historical denominations of such religions will still have founders, such as St. Peter and St. Paul (who formed what is now known as Pauline Christianity), Nestorius (who codified Nestorianism), or Martin Luther (who taught Lutheranism) – all exemplifying denominations of Christianity. Religion often develops by means of schism and reform (motivated by theological speculation), and it becomes a matter of subjective judgement at what point such a schism or reform assumes the quality of a "foundation" of a new religion.
Chronologically, foundations of religious traditions may sub-divide into:
- the Axial Age, with the earliest known major founding figures such as Zoroaster, Confucius, and Buddha.
- Hellenism to Late Antiquity, with foundations of classical religious traditions and schools such as various sects of Early Christianity, Stoicism, Gnosticism.
- the medieval to early modern period, with the rise of Islam, classical (Puranic) Hinduism, the Bhakti movement, Zen Buddhism, and the Protestant Reformation.
- new religious movements, since ca. 1800.
Read more about List Of Founders Of Religious Traditions: Ancient (before AD 500), Medieval To Early Modern (500–1800 AD), New Religious Movements (post-1800)
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, founders, religious and/or traditions:
“Do your children view themselves as successes or failures? Are they being encouraged to be inquisitive or passive? Are they afraid to challenge authority and to question assumptions? Do they feel comfortable adapting to change? Are they easily discouraged if they cannot arrive at a solution to a problem? The answers to those questions will give you a better appraisal of their education than any list of courses, grades, or test scores.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Every morning I woke in dread, waiting for the day nurse to go on her rounds and announce from the list of names in her hand whether or not I was for shock treatment, the new and fashionable means of quieting people and of making them realize that orders are to be obeyed and floors are to be polished without anyone protesting and faces are to be made to be fixed into smiles and weeping is a crime.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)
“A spot whereon the founders lived and died
Seemed once more dear than life; ancestral trees,
Or gardens rich in memory glorified
Marriages, alliances, and families,
And every bride’s ambition satisfied.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“In an age robbed of religious symbols, going to the shops replaces going to the church.... We have a free choice, but at a price. We can win experience, but never achieve innocence. Marx knew that the epic activities of the modern world involve not lance and sword but dry goods.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
“And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)