List of founders of religious traditions

These are historical figures credited with founding religions or religious philosophies, or who codified older known religious traditions. The list includes those who have founded a specific major denomination within a larger religion.

Legendary/semi-historical

Traditional founder Religious tradition founded Historical founder(s) Life of historical founder
No single Founder (Hinduism)

Indus Valley people(Shaivit Sect)
Vedic Sages(Authors of Vedas- Oldest hindu books)

HinduismThe Vedic Sagesc. 21st century BC to 10th century BC
Abraham (covenant with God)
Moses (religious law)
JudaismYahwists[n 1]c. 13th[1][2][3] to 8th century BC[n 2]
LaoziTaoismZhuang Zhou369 BC – 286 BC

Ancient (before AD 500)

Founder Name Religious tradition founded Life of founder
AkhenatenAtenismc. 1353 BC – 1336 BC[4]
ZoroasterZoroastrianismc. 1000 BC[5]
ParshvanathaThe penultimate (23rd) Tirthankara in Jainism877 BC – 777 BC[6][7][8][9][10]
Numa PompiliusRoman Religionc. 753 BC – 672 BC
Nebuchadnezzar IIbuilt the Etemenanki, established Marduk as the patron deity of Babylonc. 634 BC – 562 BC
Ajita KesakambaliCharvaka6th century BC[11][12][13]
MahaviraThe final (24th) tirthankara in Jainism599 BC – 527 BC[14][15][16]
Gautama BuddhaBuddhism563 BC – 483 BC[17][18]
ConfuciusConfucianism551 BC – 479 BC[19][20]
PythagorasPythagoreanismfl. 520 BC
MoziMohism470 BC – 390 BC
Makkhali GosalaĀjīvika5th century BC[21]
EzraSecond Temple Judaism[22]fl. 459 BC[n 3]
EpicurusEpicureanismfl. 307 BC
Zeno of CitiumStoicism333 BC – 264 BC
Pharnavaz I of IberiaArmazi326 BC – 234 BC
ValmikiValmikismc. 3rd century BC[23]
PatanjaliRāja yoga sect of Hinduism2nd century BC
Jesus (and the Twelve Apostles)Christianityc. 4 BC – c. 30/33 AD
Paul the ApostlePauline Christianityc. 33 AD
James the JustJewish Christianityc. 33 AD
LakulishaPashupata Shaivism sect of Hinduism1st century AD
Judah the PrinceRabbinic Judaism2nd century AD
MontanusMontanism2nd century AD
Marcion of SinopeMarcionism110–160
NagarjunaMadhyamaka150–250
PlotinusNeoplatonism205–270
ManiManichaeism216–274
Arius[n 4]Arianism[n 5]250–336
Pelagius[n 4]Pelagianism[n 6]354–430
Nestorius[n 4]Nestorianism[n 7]386–451
EutychesMonophysitism[n 8]380–456

Medieval to Early Modern (500–1800 AD)

Name Religious tradition founded Life of founder
MazdakMazdakismdied c. 526
BodhidharmaZen, more specifically Ch'an5th or 6th century
MuhammadIslamc. 570–632
Songtsen GampoTibetan Buddhism7th century
En no GyōjaShugendōlate 7th century
HuinengEast Asian Zen Buddhism638–713
PadmasambhavaNyingma8th century
Han YuNeo-Confucianism8th or 9th century
SaichōTendai (descended from Tiantai)767–822
KūkaiShingon Buddhism774–835
Adi ShankaraAdvaita Vedanta sect of Hinduism788–820
Ibn NusayrNusayrismlate 9th century
MatsyendranathNath sect of Hinduism10th century
RamanujaVishisht advait sect of Hinduism1017–1137
Great PeacemakerGreat Law of PeaceBetween the 10th and 15th centuries
Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad[24]Druze11th century
Sheikh Adi ibn MusafirYazidism12th century
BasavaLingayatism sect of Hinduism12th century
HōnenJōdo-shū (descended from Pure Land Buddhism)1131–1212
EisaiRinzai Zen (descended from the Linji school)1141–1215
ShinranJōdo Shinshū (descended from Jōdo-shū)1173–1263
DōgenSōtō Zen (descended from the Caodong school)1200–1253
Haji Bektash VeliBektashi Order of Sufism1209–1271
NichirenNichiren Buddhism1222–1282
Abraham AbulafiaProphetic Kabbalah, a.k.a. ecstatic Kabbalah1240–1290s
DyaneshwarVarkari sect of Hinduism1275–1296
MadhvacharyaDvaita sect of Hinduism1238–1317
John WycliffeLollardy1320s–1384
Fażlu l-Lāh Astar-ĀbādīHurufism14th century
Mahmoud PasikhaniNuqṭawismlate 14th century
Jan HusHussitism1372–1415
TlacaelelCult of Huitzilopochtli1397–1487
RamanandaRamanandi Vaishnav sect of Hinduism15th century
KabirKabir Panth1398–1448
PachacutiCult of Inti1418–1472
SankardevEkasarana Dharma sect of Hinduism1449–1568
RavidasRavidassia sect of Hinduismc. 1450–1520
Guru NanakSikhism, Nanak Panth sect of Hinduism1469–1539
Sri ChandUdasi sect of Hinduism1494–1629
Vallabha AcharyaShuddh advait sect of Hinduism1479–1531
Martin LutherLutheranism and Protestantism in general1483–1546
Chaitanya MahaprabhuGaudiya Vaishnav, Achintya Bheda Abheda sect of Hinduism1486–1534
Thomas CranmerAnglicanism (Church of England)1489–1556
Menno SimonsMennonite1496–1561
Conrad GrebelSwiss Brethren, Anabaptists1498–1526
Jacob HutterHutterite1500–1536
Isaac LuriaLurianic Kabbalah1534–1572
Guru Angad Sikhism 1539–1552
Sultan SahakYarsanismearly 15th century
Guru Amar Das Sikhism 1552–1572
John CalvinCalvinism[25]1509–1564
Michael Servetus[26]Unitarianism1511?–1553
John Knox[27]Presbyterianism1510–1572
Guru Ram Das Sikhism 1574–1581
AkbarDin-i Ilahi1542–1605
Jacobus ArminiusArminianism1560–1609
John Smyth[28]Baptists1570–1612
Guru Arjan Sikhism 1571–1606
Guru HarGobind Sahib Ji Sikhism 1606–1644
AvvakumOld Believers of Russian Orthodox Church1620–1682
Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji Sikhism 1621–1675
George Fox[29]Quakers1624–1691
Philipp Spener[30]Pietism1635–1705
Guru Har Rai Ji Sikhism 1644–1661
Jakob AmmannAmish1656–1730
Guru Har Krishan Ji Sikhism 1661–1664
Guru Gobind SinghSikhism, Khalsa Panth1666–1708
Emanuel SwedenborgThe New Church1688–1772
Yisroel ben Eliezer "Baal Shem Tov"[31]Hasidic Judaism1698–1760
John Wesley,[32] Charles Wesley, George WhitefieldMethodism1703–1791
Ann Lee[33]Shakers1736–1784

New religious movements (post-1800)

Name Religious tradition founded Life of founder
Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'í[34][35] Shaykhism, precursor of Bábism[36][37] 1753–1826
Ram Mohan RoyBrahmo Samajsect of Hinduism1772–1833
Ghanshyam PandeySwaminarayan sect of Hinduism1781–1830
Auguste ComteReligion of Humanity1798–1857
Nakayama MikiTenrikyo1798–1887
Ignaz von DöllingerOld Catholic Church1799–1890
Phineas QuimbyNew Thought1802–1866
Allan KardecSpiritism1804–1869
Joseph SmithMormonism, also known as the Latter Day Saint movement1805–1844
John ThomasChristadelphians1805–1871
Abraham GeigerReform Judaism1810–1874
Jamgon KongtrulRimé movement1813–1899
Hong XiuquanTaiping Christianity1814–1864
Bahá'u'lláh[38]Baháʼí Faith1817–1892
BábBábism, precursor of the Baháʼí Faith1819–1850
James Springer WhiteSeventh-day Adventist Church1821–1881
Wang JueyiYiguandao1821–1884
Mary Baker Eddy[39]Christian Science1821–1910
Ramalinga SwamigalSamarasa Sutha Sanmarga Sangam1823–1874
Dayananda SaraswatiArya Samaj sect of Hinduism1824–1883
Ellen G. White[40]Seventh-day Adventist Church1827–1915
John Ballou NewbroughFaithism1828–1891
Helena BlavatskyTheosophy1831–1891
Ayya VaikundarAyyavazhi1833–1851
Mirza Ghulam AhmadAhmadiyya1835–1908
Guido von ListArmanism (Germanic mysticism)1848–1919
Charles Taze Russell[41]Bible Student movement1852–1916
WovokaGhost Dance1856–1932
Rudolf SteinerAnthroposophy1861–1925
Swami VivekanandaRamakrishna Mission sect of Hinduism1863–1902
William Irvine[42]Two by Twos and Cooneyites1863–1947
Max HeindelThe Rosicrucian Fellowship1865–1919
Tsunesaburo MakiguchiSoka Gakkai1871–1944
Sri AurobindoIntegral yoga sect of Hinduism1872–1950
Mason RemeyOrthodox Baháʼí Faith1874–1974
Aleister CrowleyThelema1875–1947
Charles Fox ParhamPentecostalism1873–1929
"Father Divine"International Peace Mission movementc. 1876–1965
Edgar CayceAssociation for Research and Enlightenment1877–1945
Ngô Văn ChiêuCaodaism1878–1926
Guy Ballard"I AM" Activity1878–1939
Frank BuchmanOxford Group/Moral Re-Armament1878–1961
Alfred G. MosesJewish Science1878–1956
John Slocum Indian Shaker Church 1881
Mordecai KaplanReconstructionist Judaism1881–1983
Gerald GardnerWicca1884–1964
Felix ManaloIglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)1886–1963
Frank B. RobinsonPsychiana1886–1948
Noble Drew AliMoorish Science Temple of America1886–1929
Marcus GarveyRastafari1887–1940
Ernest HolmesReligious Science1887–1960
SadafaldeoVihangamyoga sect of Hinduism1888–1954
Aimee Semple McPherson[43]Foursquare Church1890–1944
Zélio Fernandino de Moraes[44]Umbanda1891–1975
Ida B. RobinsonMount Sinai Holy Church of America1891–1946
B. R. AmbedkarNavayana1891 – 1956
Wallace Fard MuhammadNation of Islam1891 – 1934 (absentia)
Paramahansa YoganandaYogoda Satsanga Society of India, Self-Realization Fellowship1893–1952
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaISKCON

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

1896–1977
Ruth NormanUnarius1900–1993
Swami MuktanandaSiddha Yoga sect of Hinduism1908–1982
Paul TwitchellEckankar1908–1971
Ikurō TeshimaMakuya1910–1973
L. Ron HubbardDianetics and later Scientology1911–1986
Chinmayananda SaraswatiChinmaya Mission sect of Hinduism1916–1993
Maharishi Mahesh YogiTranscendental Meditation1918–2008
Samael Aun WeorUniversal Christian Gnostic Movement1917–1977
Mark L. ProphetThe Summit Lighthouse1918–1973
Ben KlassenCreativity1918–1993
Ahn Sahng-hongWorld Mission Society Church of God1918–1985
Huỳnh Phú SổHòa Hảo1919–1947
Yong (Sun) Myung Moon[45]Unification Church1920–2012
Prabhat Ranjan SarkarAnanda Marga sect of Hinduism1921–1990
Clarence 13XFive-Percent Nation1922–1969
Mestre GabrielUnião do Vegetal1922–1971
Nirmala SrivastavaSahaja Yoga sect of Hinduism1923–2011
Sveinbjörn BeinteinssonÁsatrú1924–1993
Sathya Sai BabaSathya Sai Organization1926–2011
Anton LaVeyChurch of Satan (LaVeyan Satanism)1930–1997
Rajneesh[46]Rajneesh movement1931–1990
Mark L. Prophet;
Elizabeth Clare Prophet[47]
Church Universal and Triumphant1918–1973;
1939–2009
Adi DaAdidam1939–2008
Claude VorilhonRaëlism1946–
Marshall Vian SummersNew Message from God1949–
Li HongzhiFalun Gongborn 1951 or 1952
Ryuho OkawaHappy Science1956–2023
VissarionChurch of the Last Testament1961–
Chris KordaChurch of Euthanasia1962–
Tamara SiudaKemetic Orthodoxy1969–
Olumba Olumba ObuBrotherhood of the Cross and Star1918–
Isak GersonMissionary Church of Kopimism1993–
Bobby HendersonChurch of the Flying Spaghetti Monster[48] or Pastafarianism1980–
Erdoğan ÇınarIshikism21st century

See also

Notes

  1. The religion of the Israelites of Iron Age I was based on a cult of ancestors and worship of family gods, the "gods of the fathers". With the emergence of the monarchy at the beginning of Iron Age II the kings promoted their family god, YHWH (Yahweh), as the god of the kingdom, but beyond the royal court, religion continued to be both polytheistic and family-centered. As such, this founding group is referred to as "Yahwists".
  2. Israel emerges into the historical record in the last decades of the 13th century BCE, at the very end of the Late Bronze Age, as the Canaanite city-state system was ending. In the words of archaeologist William Dever, "most of those who came to call themselves Israelites … were or had been indigenous Canaanites". The worship of YHWH (Yahweh) alone began at the earliest with Elijah in the 9th century BCE, but more likely with the prophet Hosea in the 8th; even then it remained the concern of a small party before gaining ascendancy in the exilic and early post-exilic period.
  3. historicity disputed but widely considered plausible. Gosta W. Ahlstrom argues the inconsistencies of the biblical tradition are insufficient to say that Ezra, with his central position as the 'father of Judaism' in the Jewish tradition, has been a later literary invention. (The History of Ancient Palestine, Fortress Press, p.888)
  4. The teaching of the traditional "founding father" of a "heresy" is may well have differed greatly from the contents of the heresy as generally understood. For references see following notes.
  5. Acc. to Rowan Williams, 'Arianism' was essentially a polemical creation of Athanasius in an attempt to show that the different alternatives to the Nicene Creed collapsed back into some form of Arius' teaching. (Arius, SCM (2001) p.247)
  6. Pelagius' thought was one sided and an inadequate interpretation of Christianity, but his disciples, Celestius and, to a greater extent, Julian of Eclanum pushed his ideas to extremes.(Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Doctrines A & C. Black (1965) p.361) Pelagius himself was declared orthodox by the synod of Diospolis in 415, after repudiating some of Celestius' opinions. (Frend, W.H.C. Saints and Sinners in the Early Church DLT (1985) p.133)
  7. Nestorius specifically endorsed the repudiation of "Nestorianism" reached at Chalcedon in 451 (Prestige, G.L. Fathers and Heretics SPCK (1963) p.130)
  8. Monophysitism represents an advanced type of Alexandrian Theology; it emerged in a distinctive form in 433 as a result of the agreement between John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria. The exaggerated form held by Eutyches was condemned in 451 by the Council of Chalcedon. In its moderate forms the divergence from orthodoxy may be simply terminological. Alexandrian Theology stressed both divine transcendence and a marked dualism between the material and the spiritual and so tended to nullify the humanity of Christ.(Cross & Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (1974) arts. Monophysitism, Alexandrian Theology)

References

  1. Albertz 1994, p. 61.
  2. Grabbe 2008, pp. 225–6.
  3. Killebrew, Ann E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel, 1300–1100 B.C.E. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1-58983-097-4.
  4. Hornung, Erik (1999). Akhenaten and the Religion of Light. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8725-5.
  5. Melton 2003, p. 191.
  6. Zimmer 1953, p. 183.
  7. Fisher, Mary Pat (1997). Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-148-0. p. 115
  8. "Parshvanatha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  9. Bowker, John (2000). "Parsva". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192800947. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  10. Charpentier, Jarl (1922). "The History of the Jains". The Cambridge History of India. Vol. 1. Cambridge. p. 153.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, pp. 227–249
  12. John M. Koller (1977), Skepticism in Early Indian Thought, Philosophy East and West, 27(2): 155-164
  13. Dale Riepe (1996), Naturalistic Tradition in Indian Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120812932, pages 53-58
  14. Upinder Singh 2016, p. 313.
  15. Zimmer 1953, p. 222.
  16. "Mahavira." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 28 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/mahavira
  17. Cousins 1996, pp. 57–63.
  18. Schumann 2003, pp. 10–13.
  19. Hugan, Yong (2013). Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed. A&C Black. p. 3. ISBN 9781441196538. Archived from the original on 2017-04-16.
  20. Riegel 2002.
  21. James Lochtefeld, "Ajivika", The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0823931798, page 22
  22. Brueggemann 2002, pp. 75, 144.
  23. "Ramayana | Summary, Characters, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  24. Hendrix, Scott; Okeja, Uchenna, eds. (2018). The World's Greatest Religious Leaders: How Religious Figures Helped Shape World History [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 11. ISBN 978-1440841385.
  25. Melton 2003, p. 67.
  26. Melton 2003, p. 128.
  27. Melton 2003, p. 69.
  28. Melton 2003, p. 102.
  29. Melton 2003, p. 95.
  30. Melton 2003, p. 73.
  31. Melton 2003, p. 183.
  32. Melton 2003, p. 75.
  33. Melton 2003, p. 724.
  34. "AḤSĀʾĪ, SHAIKH AḤMAD – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  35. "Individualism and the Mystical Path in Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i". www.h-net.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  36. "Shaykhism". Oxford Bibliographies. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  37. "SHAYKHISM – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  38. Melton 2003, p. 992.
  39. Melton 2003, p. 741.
  40. Melton 2003, p. 621.
  41. Melton 2003, p. 637.
  42. Chryssides 2001, p. 330.
  43. Melton 2003, p. 451.
  44. Smith and Prokopy 2003, p. 279-280.
  45. Beit-Hallahmi 1998, p. 365.
  46. Melton 2003, p. 1051.
  47. Beit-Hallahmi 1998, p. 97.
  48. Atheist, Friendly. "Thanks to a Technicality, Pastafarianism is Now an Official Religion in Poland!". patheos.com. Retrieved 7 February 2018.

Bibliography

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