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The bulk of the human religious experience pre-dates written history, which is roughly 70,000 years old. [1] A lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of pre-historic religion being derived from archaeological records and other indirect sources, and from suppositions. Much pre-historic religion is subject to continued debate.
Jainism is one of the oldest religions still practiced today. It has two major ancient sub-traditions, Digambaras and Śvētāmbaras, which hold different views on ascetic practices, gender, and the texts considered canonical. Both sub-traditions have mendicants supported by laypersons (śrāvakas and śrāvikas).
Zoroastrianism is considered to be the oldest religion still practiced in Iran.It is an Iranian religion that emerged around the 2nd millennium BCE, spreading through the Iranian plateau and eventually gaining official status under the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE.
An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning "of the good religion", deriving from beh < Middle Persian weh 'good' + din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan daēnā". [16] In the Zoroastrian liturgy , this term is used as a title for a lay individual who has been formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony, in contrast to ...
The Rigveda is the first among four Vedas [note 23] and is one of the oldest religious texts. This Rigveda manuscript is in Sanskrit. The ancient scriptures of Hinduism are initially in Vedic Sanskrit and later in classical Sanskrit. These texts are classified into two: Shruti and Smriti. Shruti is apauruṣeyā, (lit.
Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, [a] but scholars regard Hinduism as a relatively recent synthesis [2] [3] [4] of various Indian cultures and traditions, [2] [3] [5] with diverse roots [6] and no single founder, [7] [b] which emerged around the beginning of the Common Era.
The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religion: The A-to-Z Encyclopedia of All the Major Religious Traditions (1999) covers 33 principal religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Shamanism, Taoism, South American religions, Baltic and Slavic religions, Confucianism, and the religions of Africa and Oceania.
Still another view, proposed by Fred H. Previc, sees human religion as a product of an increase in dopaminergic functions in the human brain and of a general intellectual expansion beginning around 80 thousand years ago (kya). [48] [49] [50] Dopamine promotes an emphasis on distant space and time, which can correlate with religious experience. [51]