History of religion studies

perennial philosophy

five or more largest and most widespread religious movements

thumb|A map showing the generally defined area of the Fertile Crescent in red Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the Middle East and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being based on Babylonian astronomy, often in hidden ways.

The term ' (German for "primeval monotheism") or "primitive monotheism'" expresses the hypothesis of a monotheistic Urreligion, from which polytheistic religions allegedly degenerated. This evolutionary view of religious development contrasts diametrically with another evolutionary view on the development of religious thought: the hypothesis that religion progressed from simple forms to complex: first pre-animism, then animism, totemism, polytheism, and finally monotheism.

group of German Protestant theologians in the 1890s associated to the University of Göttingen who used higher criticism to compare Christianity to other religions

Urreligion is a postulated "original" or "oldest" form of religious tradition (the German prefix expressing the idea of "original", "primal", "primitive", "elder", "primeval", or "''"). The concept contrasts with later organized religions such as the early theocracies of the Ancient Near East and in later world religions. The term Urreligion'' originated in the context of German Romanticism.