Wikipedia
The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious experiences and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion relates to a study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records. The timeline of religion is a comparative chronology of religion.
The word "religion" as it is used today does not have an obvious pre-colonial translation into non-European languages. The anthropologist Daniel Dubuisson writes that "what the West and the history of religions in its wake have objectified under the name 'religion' is ... something quite unique, which could be appropriate only to itself and its own history". The history of other cultures' interaction with the religious category is therefore their interaction with an idea that first developed in Europe under the influence of Christianity.
History of Religions (HR) is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. It was founded in 1961 by Mircea Eliade. It publishes articles that study religious phenomena from prehistory to modern times, both within particular traditions and across cultural boundaries. In addition to major articles, the journal also publishes review articles and comprehensive book reviews. The journal also occasionally publishes special or theme issues. It is intended for historians of religion, anthropologists, comparative historians, and interdisciplinary scholars of religion.
Usage examples of "history of religions".
The traditional 'Iranian Dualism' popularised by books on the history of religions is far from corresponding to the reality of the beliefs which were held between the days of Cyrus and the Moslem conquest.
I was learned then in science and philosophy, in the history of religions, in inductive and deductive logic, in liver mantic, in the shape and weight of skulls, in pharmacopeia and metallurgy, in all the useless branches of learning which gives you indigestion and melancholia before your time.
This one is of an event that occurred in the summer of 1958, when I was in Japan for the Ninth International Congress on the History of Religions.
A study of the history of religions shows that religious forms change and that there has never been unanimity on the nature and expression of religion Whether or not man.