Urreligion

Urreligion (ur- being a Germanic prefix for original, primitive, elder, primeval, or proto-) is a notion of an "original" or "oldest" form of religious tradition. The term contrasts with organized religion, such as the theocracies of the early urban cultures of the Ancient Near East or current world religions. The term originates in German Romanticism. The Oeconomische Encyclopädie of J. G. Krünitz (1773–1858) defines it as: