Origin of Religion

The earliest recorded evidence of religious activity dates from only about 60,000B.C. However, anthropologists and historians of religion believe that some form of religion has been practiced since people first appeared on the earth about 2 million years ago.

Experts think prehistoric religions arose out of fear and wonder about natural events, such as the occurrence of storms and earthquakes and the birth of babies and animals. To explain why someone died, people credited supernatural powers greater than themselves or greater than the world around them.

Prehistoric people centered their religious activities on the most important elements of their existence, such as the prosperity of their tribe and getting enough food to survive. They often placed food, ornaments, and tools in graves. They believed that these items would be useful to or desired by dead people. Prehistoric people drew pictures and performed dances that were intended to promote the fertility of women and animals and to ensure good hunting. They also made sacrifices for the same reasons.

Certain scholars have developed theories that attempt to explain how religion began. No single theory has been accepted by all scholars, but each major theory has contributed to an understanding of the subject. Leading theories were developed by Edward Burnett Tylor, Friedrich Max Muller, and Rudolf Otto.

Tylor's theory. Tylor was a British anthropologist of the 1800's. According to Tylor's theory, early people believed that spirits dwelled in and controlled all things in nature. For example, they thought that spirits lived in such objects or forces as plants, the wind, volcanoes, and the sun. Tylor called the spirits animae, and his theory became known as animism.

Prehistoric people, Tylor said, explained such occurrences as windstorms and the change from day to night as the actions of the spirits. Because many of the objects and forces were impressive or very powerful, people started to worship their spirits. According to Tylor, religion originated in this worship.

Muller's theory. Muller, a German-born language scholar of the 1800's, is often considered the first historian of religion. Muller agreed with Tylor that religion began as spirit worship. But he rejected Tylor's view that the earliest people believed spirits dwelled in nature. Instead, Muller suggested that prehistoric people thought that the forces of nature themselves had human qualities, such as good or bad temper. People thus transformed these forces into deities. In this way, Muller explained the earliest belief in gods.

Otto's theory. Otto was a German scholar of religion of the early 1900's. Otto believed that an awareness of holiness and mystery lies at the heart of religious experience and is therefore the basis for all religions. In his view, all human beings possess the capacity for awe and recognize the power of the sacred. For Otto, the holy is the true, the good, and the beautiful, a representation of a basic and universal aspect of being human.

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