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.
Traditional founder | Religious tradition founded | Historical founder(s) | Life of historical founder |
---|---|---|---|
No single Founder (Hinduism) Indra (Vedic Hinduism) |
Hinduism | The Saptarishi | c. 15th century BC to 10th century BC |
Abraham (covenant with God) Moses (religious law) |
Judaism | Yahwists[n 1] | c. 13th[1][2][3] to 8th century BC[n 2] |
Laozi | Taoism | Zhuang Zhou | 369 BC – 286 BC |
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