History
Friedrich Creuzer put forward the notion of a monotheistic primeval religion in 1810 - an idea taken up by other authors of the Romantic period, such as J. J. Bachofen, but decidedly opposed by Johann Heinrich Voss. Goethe in a conversation with Eckermann on 11 March 1832 discussed the human Urreligion, which he characterized as "pure nature and reason, of divine origin". The final scene of his Faust Part Two (1832) has been taken as evoking "the 'Urreligion' of mankind".
Often used in the sense of natural religion or indigenous religion, the religious behaviour of pre-modern tribal societies such as shamanism, animism and ancestor worship (e.g. Australian aboriginal mythology), the term Urreligion has also been used by adherents of various religions to back up the claim that their own religion is somehow "primeval" or "older" than competing traditions. In the context of a given religious faith, literal belief in a creation myth may be the base of claim of "primality" in the context of creationism (e.g. Biblical literalism, or literal belief in the Hindu Puranas).
In particular, Urmonotheismus comprises the historical claim that primeval religion was monotheistic. Some have rejected this hypothesis, although certain Christian apologetics circles still defend it.
Nineteenth-century Germanic mysticism sometimes claimed that the Germanic runes bore testimony of a primeval religion. Some more recent new religious movements that claim to restore primeval religion include Godianism and Umbanda.
In the context of organized religion, especially monotheism, claims of an "oldest religion" may also be attached to a positive dating claim of a founding figure rather than a notion of absolute "primality". Thus, Vyasa, the "splitter of the Vedas" is dated to the remote Dvapara Yuga in the Puranic Hinduism. Jainism dates Rishabha to a similarly remote period. Some classical sources date Zoroaster as early as "6,000 years before Plato", and Jewish tradition (following Maimonides) puts Abraham ca. 1800 BC.
Read more about this topic: Urreligion
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