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This article lists historical figures credited with founding religions or religious philosophies or people who first codified older known religious traditions. It also lists those who have founded a specific major denomination within a larger religion.

In many cases, one can regard a religion as a continuous tradition extending to prehistoric times without a specific founder (Vedic Religion precursor of Hinduism, folk religion, animism), or with legendary founding-figures whose historicity cannot be established (such as Abraham, Lord Rishabha). This notwithstanding, the various historical denominations of such religions will still have founders, such as St. Peter and St. Paul (who formed what is now known as Pauline Christianity), Nestorius (who codified Nestorianism), or Martin Luther (who taught Lutheranism) – all exemplifying denominations of Christianity. Religion often develops by means of schism and reform (motivated by theological speculation), and it becomes a matter of subjective judgement at what point such a schism or reform assumes the quality of a "foundation" of a new religion.

Chronologically, foundations of religious traditions may sub-divide into:

1. the Axial Age, with the earliest known major founding figures such as Zoroaster, Confucius, and Buddha.
2. Hellenism to Late Antiquity, with foundations of classical religious traditions and schools such as various sects of Early Christianity, Stoicism, Gnosticism.
3. the medieval to early modern period, with the rise of Islam, classical (Puranic) Hinduism, the Bhakti movement, Zen Buddhism, and the Protestant Reformation.
4. new religious movements, since ca. 1800.

Ancient (before AD 500)

See culture hero for legendary founders of doubtful historicity.

Medieval to Early Modern (500–1800 AD)

New religious movements (post-1800)

See also

• Timeline of religion
• Messiah claimants
• Buddha claimants
• Religious leaders by year
• List of deified individuals
• List of religions
• Claims to the oldest religion

Notes

1. Fisher, Mary Pat (1997). Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-148-2. p. 115
2. "Parshvanatha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
3. Bowker, John (2000). "Parsva". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
4. Charpentier, Jarl (1922). "The History of the Jains". The Cambridge History of India. Vol. 1. Cambridge. p. 153. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
5. Melton 2003, p. 191.
6. "Controversy over Zaraθuštra's date has been an embarrassment of long standing to Zoroastrian studies. If anything approaching a consensus exists, it is that he lived ca. 1000 BCE give or take a century or so, though reputable scholars have proposed dates as widely apart as ca.1750 BCE and '258 years before Alexander.'" (Encyclopædia Iranica)
7. "Mahavira." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 28 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/mahavira
8. Brueggemann 2002, pp. 75, 144.
9. 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)
10. Melton 2003, p. 67.
11. Melton 2003, p. 128.
12. Melton 2003, p. 69.
13. Melton 2003, p. 102.
14. Melton 2003, p. 95.
15. Melton 2003, p. 73.
16. Melton 2003, p. 183.
17. Melton 2003, p. 75.
18. Melton 2003, p. 724.
19. Melton 2003, p. 992.
20. Melton 2003, p. 741.
21. Melton 2003, p. 621.
22. Melton 2003, p. 637.
23. Chryssides 2001, p. 330.
24. Melton 2003, p. 451.
25. Smith and Prokopy 2003, p. 279-280.
26. "Discussion of why Juche is classified as a major world religion". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2008-10-25. Its promoters describe Juche as simply a secular, ethical philosophy and not a religion. But, from a sociological viewpoint Juche is clearly a religion {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
27. Beit-Hallahmi 1998, p. 365.
28. Melton 2003, p. 1051.
29. Beit-Hallahmi 1998, p. 97.
30. Melton 2003, p. 1004.

References

• Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin (1998). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Active New Religions, Sects, and Cults (Revised Edition). Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8239-2586-5.
• Brueggemann, Walter (2002). Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22231-4.
• Chryssides, George D. (2001). Historical dictionary of new religious movements. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-4095-2.
• Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004). Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia (Volume 3). ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 978-1-57607-355-1.
• Melton, J. Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Seventh edition). Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, Inc. ISBN 0-7876-6384-0.
• Smith, Christian (1999). Latin American Religion in Motion. New York, New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-92106-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• Founders of religions
• Lists of people by belief
• History of religion
• Religion-related lists