Religion, human beings relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthy of especial reverence. The oldest forms of worship in the world are ancestor worship, shamanism, and animism, which are thought to date back to at least around 300,000 bce. The oldest record of the complete biblical texts the codex sinaiticus survives in a greek translation called the septuagint, dating to the 4th century ce. Zoroastrianism or mazdayasna is one of the oldest religions in the world. Early cultures often associated the sexual act with supernatural forces and thus their religion is intertwined with such depictions. Here are some of the oldest surviving books in the world from the book of kells, a 9th century new testament currently kept at the trinity college library in dublin wikicommons though its certainly comforting to think literature began to appear as soon as language did, or was at least scribbled down as soon as writing became a thing, the.
The only true religion is the religion of first hand experience. Yes, tannhauser is nearly super human and times, but he is also a flawed normal man at others. Wikimedia commons although the gutenberg bible is not as old as other books that have survived throughout history, it is being included on this list for its significance as the first book to be printed using mass produced movabletype. Writing and literature are thought to have been first developed between the 7th and 4th millenium bc. The rig veda a scripture of hinduism is dated to between 15001200 bce. It is a book of sanskrit mantras that is considered one of the oldest. Sure you can do some pretty nasty things to those who piss you off, but voodoo vodun is a derivative of the worlds oldest known religions which have been around in africa since the beginning of human civilization. Hinduism is the worlds oldest religion, according to many scholars, with roots and customs dating back more than 4,000 years. Early hinduism was founded over 5,000 years ago in the indus river valley in india.
If that was not accurate, then they would probably suggest exodus. It remains one of the oldest discovered indoeuropean extant texts, and today is one of the oldest religious texts still in use. What is the oldest known book of religion, that has proof of it being. This is a good book, but not the best introduction to world religion. I think that the most important contributions, the best books, in the philosophy of religion are these two little books that david hume writes about an enormous movement when greek works of science and philosophy were translated. It is also commonly regarded as consisting of the way people deal with ultimate concerns about their lives and their fate after death. What are the top ten religions and what is the holy book. The god delusion by richard dawkins, mere christianity by c.
Buddhism 376 million followers tripitaka pali canon 5. It was based on the morality of the times and adheres to dharma, karma, and other social norms. With news this week of the discovery of what could be the earliest known siddur, a jewish prayer book dated at around 840 ad we have put together a list of 10 of the oldest known surviving books in the world today. Animism is another religion that dates back for more than 50,000 years. The holy books of world religions sacred texts in world. One of the oldest known religious texts is the kesh temple hymn of ancient sumer, a set of inscribed clay tablets which scholars typically date around 2600 bce. An account of the religion, wisdom, philosophy, ethics, psychology, manners, proverbs, sayings, refinement, etc. Three centuries of medicine and mayhem at americas most storied the oldest cuisine in the world. It has since evolved into a diverse and flexible tradition, notable, as the scholar wendy doniger puts it, for its ability to absorb potentially schismatic.
Nevertheless, voodoo is still a rather misunderstood religion due to its inaccurate portrayal by the media. The coffin texts mainly focus on and describe the afterlife governed by the god osiris. The oldest parts of the old testament are stories adapted from sumerianbabylonian or canaanite myth and included with offtheshelf chronicles and geneologies. No one knows what the first religion was in the world. The oldest known religion in the whole world that is known to man is hinduism. Its aim is to develop an extensive library of resources, representing many different points of view, but all written from the perspective of sound scholarship. The life and times of jesus of nazareth hardcover by.
Amongst its outstanding attributes is 1 its intensely visual and easily accessible introduction. The religion is an excellent book, both for the history of the great siege and for the story. Unfortunately, much of the language used in the rigveda is obscure and as a result, many parts of it remain untranslated till this day. It has since evolved into a diverse and flexible tradition, notable, as the scholar wendy doniger puts it, for its ability to absorb potentially schismatic developments. The oldest religions that are still widely practiced are hinduism, judaism, buddhism, taoism, and jainism. Here are some of the oldest surviving books in the world. The garima gospels are two gospel books from the abba garima monastery in ethiopia and are the oldest known complete illuminated christian manuscripts. The instruction of ptahhotep and the instruction of bellevue. The history of erotic depictions includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature throughout time. Koran or alquran holy book of islam was written in 650 ad. Most christians would likely predict that genesis was the oldest book in the bible given that it details the creation of the world. The first and foremost of these is a belief in the vedas four texts compiled between the 15th and 5th centuries bce on the indian subcontinent, and the faiths oldest scriptures which make hinduism without doubt the oldest religion in existence.
The bible is not a single, monolithic piece of literature because each of these three sections, in turn, contains books written at different times by different authors. One of the most important books out of this collection of texts is the book of. The book of the dead is believed to have influenced the ten commandments given to moses it reads exactly like them, except in the negative registry. Even though hinduism is considered the oldest religion on record, it is actually not one single religion. All the new testament was written in the first and second centuries ad. Until the last decade, scholars had always believed that both books dated back to the 11th century, but recent carbontesting shows that the books date back to between 330 650 ad. In many traditions, this relation and these concerns are expressed in.
The theme of death and the afterlife was one of the most prominent ones in the texts. They have been created by nearly every civilization, ancient and modern. It is one of the oldest known complete religious texts that has survived into the. Today, with about 900 million followers, hinduism is. Willocks tale does not hesitate to use graphic violence as appropriate for the story read empires of the sea, for a purely historical telling but it is. Egyptian religion is also considered to be one of the oldest religions. Popular religious history books showing 150 of 1,961 zealot. Hinduism originated in india, jainism and buddhism in nepal, judaism in israel and taoism in china. Hinduism is the oldest of the major world religions.
The first and foremost of these is a belief in the vedas four texts compiled between the 15th and 5th centuries bce on the indian subcontinent, and the faiths. Of all the ancient writings, most scholars agree that the old testament of the bible is the oldest of religious books. The book of genesis is the first book of the bible and the first of the five books of the pentateuch, which were all written by moses. Hinduism is often considered the oldest existing religion still practiced today. In the most general terms, the book of the dead was a book of spells both religious and magical. The oldest known is the bible, or an undiscovered jewish book before that if the tablets that the ten commandments are on are considered books, then those.
The vedas are a lot of scientific data in them and said to have been handed down to the ancient sages by the gods. The gutenberg bible, also known as the 42line bible, is listed by the guinness book of world records as the worlds oldest mechanically printed. Hinduism is believed to have the oldest roots among all religions. Traditional african religions generally believe in an afterlife, one or more spirit worlds, and ancestor worship is an important basic concept in mostly all african religions. It is a monotheistic religion that is believed to have begun between 2,000 and 1,000 b. The rig veda is a sacred hindu text that contains a collection of over hymns. Sanatana dharma hinduism is the oldest religion it is the oldest monotheistic theology, it is oldest polytheistic theology, it is oldest athestic theology, it has everything in ithinduism is the oldest one its holy scripture rigvedh is the oldest religious scripture in the world dated 2bce. Some conservative estimates these civilizations and religions.
Instead of associating this religion with zombies and voodoo dolls, we should perhaps take the time to better understand voodoo, and view it as a way of life or a set of guiding principles held by its believers. Unlike many organized religions it is more open to philosophical and. Most research points to hinduism as the oldest form of religion. It is believed that moses wrote the majority of the pentateuch during israels exile, which lasted from around 1446 1406 bce. The oldest temple in the world and the only true religion. It is often described as a way of life and is widely practiced in india and other parts of the indian subcontinent as well as parts of southeast asia. If youre on a spiritual quest, these books will open you up to wonder. Some african religions adopted different views through the influence of islam or even hinduism. It was first written at bc through 500 bc and the words were given by god to its writers.
What hes making is an incredibly modern, intimate, psychological diagnosis of the human condition. Reza aslan shelved 14 times as religious history avg rating 3. A buddhist holy text, the diamond sutra is considered to be the oldest surviving dated printed book in the world. Found in a walled up cave in china along with other printed materials, the book is made up of chinese characters printed on a scroll of grey printed paper, wrapped along a wooden pole. Religion online is designed to assist teachers, scholars and general seekers who are interested in exploring religious issues.