Words and Wonders: Notes on Religious Origins

Beginning of article

When did a human being first utter the name of a god, whether in fear or awe or love? When did a tribe or clan of humans first gather together in doing something--a dance, a chant, a sacrifice--which met no earthly need for food or shelter, but presupposed the existence of forces and beings invisible to the ordinary eye?

We do not know for sure, but we can say that such practices are now as universal as the human race, and by all evidence go back deep into the prehistory of humanity.

In this article I will look at religion historically, not theologically. Many religions have their own stories of the first humans, the first contacts between humans and transcendent powers, …