+++
title = "預言者と宗教のリスト"
description = "預言者と宗教のリスト。すべてではありませんが、多くの宗教は、エロヒム (אֱלֹהִים) と地球上の人間との間の本物の交流の確立された証拠であると考えられています。これらの相互作用は、エロヒミアの行為を証言する宗教的文書や口頭伝承につながります。このリストは、著名な宗教的伝統の大部分と、そのような伝統につながる預言者の大部分を網羅的にカタログ化するものです。"
template = "wiki-page.html"
toc = true

[extra]
category = "Reference Lists"
editorial_pass = "2026-05"
entry_type = "reference list"
claim_type = "framework"
alternative_names = ["Catalogue of religions", "Prophet and tradition index", "Religious-tradition reference"]

[extra.infobox]
type = "Reference catalogue of religious traditions and their founding figures"
scope = "Major world religions, regional and ethnic traditions, ancient religions, new religious movements"
classification_instrument = "Five-tier authenticity scale (canonical / highly likely / likely / unlikely / highly unlikely)"
authenticity_basis = "Wheel of Heaven framework's reading of each tradition as preserving (or not) authentic testimony of Elohim–human contact"
companion_entries = "[Religion](../religion/); [Bible](../bible/); [Raëlism](../raelism/); individual entries on the major traditions and their founders"
caveat = "The catalogue is not exhaustive; coverage is most complete for traditions with substantial historical documentation and dedicated wiki entries"
+++

This entry catalogues the world's principal religious traditions and the prophets, founders, and visionaries associated with them, with an indication of how each tradition is positioned within the Wheel of Heaven framework's reading of religious history. The catalogue serves three functions: a navigation index for the wiki's coverage of individual traditions, a reference for the framework's adopted positions on the relative authenticity of different traditions, and a transparent statement of the methodology by which authenticity-tier assignments are made.

The framework reads a substantial majority of established religious traditions as preserving, in varying states of clarity and corruption, authentic testimonies of contact between the Elohim and human populations. The corpus's reading is not that one tradition is uniquely true and the others uniquely false, but that the broad pattern of human religious history reflects a long sequence of contacts, distributed across time and geography, with the resulting traditions preserving the relevant content with varying degrees of fidelity to the original events. The reading is developed at length in the [Religion](../religion/) entry; the present entry assumes that broader treatment and supplies the tabulated reference catalogue.

The framework's authenticity classifications are not assessments of the spiritual or moral worth of the traditions in question. A tradition classified as "unlikely" on the framework's reading — meaning unlikely to derive from an authentic Elohim contact — may nonetheless have substantial spiritual, ethical, or cultural value for its practitioners, and may preserve genuine human wisdom developed by its founders and elaborated by its tradition. The framework's classifications concern only the specific question of whether the tradition's founding narrative reflects a contact with the Elohim civilisation as the source material describes such contacts.

## Methodology

The five-tier authenticity scale used in the tables below requires explicit explanation, because the tiers carry specific meanings within the framework that may not be evident from the labels alone.

### The five tiers

**Canonical.** A tradition is classified as canonical when its founding narrative is read on the framework as deriving from a well-documented, historically substantive contact between the Elohim and the prophet or founder, with the resulting tradition preserving the core content of that contact in identifiable form despite subsequent interpretive development. The canonical traditions are the ones the framework treats as the primary historical record of Elohim–human interaction, and they are the traditions whose textual content the corpus engages most closely in its interpretive work. Six traditions are classified as canonical in the catalogue below.

**Highly likely.** A tradition is classified as highly likely when its founding narrative includes specific contact-event content of a kind the framework reads as characteristic of authentic Elohim contact, but where the historical documentation, the textual preservation, or the subsequent interpretive development is less complete than the canonical tier requires. The highly-likely traditions are read on the framework as authentic in their origins but as having undergone substantial interpretive transformation in transmission.

**Likely.** A tradition is classified as likely when its founding narrative is consistent with authentic Elohim contact and includes some specific content the framework reads as characteristic, but where the documentation is substantially less specific, the founding figure is anonymous or collective, or the tradition's content has been substantially shaped by syncretism with neighbouring traditions. The likely tier covers many ancient and regional traditions whose origins predate substantial textual documentation.

**Unlikely.** A tradition is classified as unlikely when its founding narrative either lacks the specific content the framework reads as characteristic of authentic Elohim contact, or substantially contradicts the framework's reading of the contact pattern, or originates in a documentable cultural-influence pattern that does not require Elohim contact as an explanation. The unlikely tier is not a judgment that the tradition is without value; it is a judgment that the tradition's founding narrative is unlikely to derive from authentic contact.

**Highly unlikely.** A tradition is classified as highly unlikely when the framework's reading of its founding narrative is that the contact in question is substantially or wholly inauthentic — either fabricated by the founder, derived from non-Elohim sources (occult, hallucinatory, or otherwise), or so thoroughly entangled with documentable human sources that the original-contact hypothesis has no operational content. This tier is applied sparingly and only where the negative evidence is substantial.

### The criteria

The criteria by which the framework assigns traditions to the tiers include several specific features that the corpus reads as characteristic of authentic Elohim contact:

- **Documented contact narratives.** The founding narrative includes specific descriptions of contact with non-terrestrial beings, with operational detail consistent with the source material's account of how the Elohim conduct their interactions with human populations.
- **Specific Elohim-consistent content.** The founding text or oral tradition includes content the framework reads as deriving from the Elohim's broader programme — including but not limited to discussions of cosmic origins, the design of life, the relationship between Earth and other inhabited worlds, the future history of humanity, and the eventual return of the Elohim.
- **Historical traceability.** The contact event and its founder are historically attested in independent sources beyond the tradition's own internal records.
- **Textual preservation.** The tradition's core texts have been transmitted with sufficient fidelity that the original content can still be reconstructed.
- **Resistance to alternative explanations.** The founding narrative is not adequately explained by available alternative hypotheses — psychological, cultural-syncretic, fraudulent, or otherwise.

A tradition's classification reflects the cumulative balance of these criteria. The classifications are not point-estimates and are subject to revision as new evidence or interpretation emerges; the catalogue below represents the framework's adopted positions as of the current editorial pass.

### What the classifications do not claim

Three things the classifications do not claim are worth stating explicitly.

**The classifications do not claim that traditions in lower tiers are without value.** A "likely" or even "unlikely" tradition may preserve genuine human spiritual and ethical wisdom, may serve its practitioners well, and may make substantial cultural contributions. The framework's classifications concern only the specific question of contact authenticity, not the broader question of religious value.

**The classifications do not claim universal contact-source uniformity.** The framework does not read all authentic contacts as having occurred at the same level of clarity or with the same Elohim representatives. Some traditions reflect more substantial and extended contact (Judaism, Christianity); others reflect briefer or more peripheral contact preserved in compressed form. The tier system collapses this variation into discrete categories for cataloguing convenience.

**The classifications are not final.** The framework's reading is open to revision. Future evidence or interpretation may move traditions between tiers, and the catalogue below is a snapshot of the corpus's current positions rather than a fixed adjudication.

## The catalogue of religious traditions

The catalogue below covers the principal religious traditions of historical and contemporary significance, classified by the five-tier system described above. The catalogue is not exhaustive; coverage is most complete for traditions with substantial historical documentation and existing dedicated wiki entries. Traditions are ordered by approximate historical period, most recent first.

| Tradition | Period | Founder(s) / Prophet(s) | Principal content relevant to framework | Authenticity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **[Raëlism](../raelism/)** | 1973–present | [Claude Vorilhon (Raël)](../rael/) | Direct first-person contact narrative; Elohim creation account; cosmic-chain doctrine; embassy project | Canonical |
| Eckankar | 1965–present | Paul Twitchell | Soul-travel doctrine; eclectic syncretism drawing on Sant Mat | Unlikely |
| Wicca | 1953–present | Gerald Gardner | Reconstructed nature religion; goddess theology; horned-god theology | Unlikely |
| **[Caodism](../caodism/) (Đạo Cao Đài)** | 1921–present | Ngô Văn Chiêu | Syncretism of Eastern and Western religions; spirit-communication narratives; supreme-being doctrine | Highly likely |
| Thelema | 1900–present | Aleister Crowley | The *Book of the Law* (1904); Cairo working; Aiwass-contact narrative; "do what thou wilt" ethics | Highly unlikely |
| Ōmoto (大本) | 1892–present | Nao Deguchi (出口 なお) | Spirit possession; transformation-of-the-world doctrine; influence on subsequent Japanese new religions | Highly likely |
| Tenrikyō (天理教) | 1838–present | Nakayama Miki (中山 みき) | Direct contact with *Oyagami* (God the Parent); world-renewal doctrine; *Ofudesaki* scripture | Highly likely |
| **[Mormonism](../mormonism/) (LDS)** | 1830–present | [Joseph Smith](../joseph-smith/) | Angel-Moroni contact narrative; tangible-gods theology; exoplanet content (*Kolob*); plurality-of-worlds doctrine | Canonical |
| Bahá'í Faith | 1844–present | The Báb; Bahá'u'lláh; 'Abdu'l-Bahá | Progressive revelation doctrine; unity of religions; world-government doctrine | Highly likely |
| **[Sikhism](../sikhism/)** | 15th c. CE–present | Guru Nanak | Monotheism; divine name; ten-guru lineage; *Guru Granth Sahib* | Likely |
| **[Islam](../islam/)** | 7th c. CE–present | [Muhammad](../muhammad/) | Quranic revelation; Gabriel-contact narrative; eschatological doctrine; final-prophet doctrine | Canonical |
| **[Christianity](../christianity/)** | 1st c. CE–present | [Jesus](../jesus/) of Nazareth; the apostles | Incarnation; resurrection; Second Coming doctrine; apocalyptic literature; Trinity doctrine | Canonical |
| Manichaeism | 3rd–14th c. CE | Mani | Dualism; light–darkness cosmology; world-religions-synthesis doctrine; once a world religion in its own right | Highly likely |
| Mithraism | 1st c. BCE–4th c. CE | — | Roman mystery religion; Mithras as solar-bull-slayer; seven-grade initiation; possible Iranian roots | Likely |
| Hermeticism | 1st c. BCE onward | (Hermes Trismegistus; pseudepigraphic) | *Corpus Hermeticum*; cosmic-correspondence doctrine; *Emerald Tablet*; foundational for Western esotericism | Likely |
| Gnosticism (Sethian, Valentinian, etc.) | 1st–4th c. CE | Various | Demiurge theology; Elohim-as-archons readings; pneumatic anthropology; substantial textual corpus (Nag Hammadi) | Likely |
| Eleusinian Mysteries | 14th c. BCE–4th c. CE | (mythologically: Demeter) | Death-and-rebirth initiation; agricultural cosmology; secrecy ethos | Likely |
| Orphism | 6th c. BCE onward | (mythologically: Orpheus) | Soul–body dualism; reincarnation; cosmogonic poems; influence on Plato | Likely |
| **[Shintō](../shinto/) (神道)** | 3rd c. BCE–present | — | Kami theology; ancestor veneration; sacred-place cosmology; imperial-ancestral myth | Likely |
| **[Taoism](../taoism/)** | 4th c. BCE–present | Laozi (老子) | The *Tao Te Ching*; *Zhuangzi*; cosmic *Tao*; immortality traditions | Likely |
| Confucianism | 5th c. BCE–present | Kongzi (Confucius, 孔子) | Ethical-political philosophy; ancestor veneration; ritual propriety; Five Classics | Likely |
| **[Buddhism](../buddhism/)** | 5th c. BCE–present | [Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha)](../buddha/) | Four Noble Truths; Eightfold Path; *anatta*; *karma*; *nirvana*; vast textual canon | Canonical |
| **[Judaism](../judaism/)** | 13th c. BCE–present | [Moses](../moses/); the Hebrew prophets; the patriarchs | Hebrew Bible; covenant theology; messianic doctrine; the [Elohim](../elohim/) themselves | Canonical |
| Zoroastrianism | 7th c. BCE–present | Zarathustra (Zoroaster) | Ahura Mazda; dualism (Ahura Mazda vs Angra Mainyu); eschatology; resurrection doctrine; influence on subsequent traditions | Highly likely |
| **[Hinduism](../hinduism/)** | 15th c. BCE–present | — (Vedic *rishis*) | Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana; *atman*–*brahman*; *avatar* doctrine; cyclical cosmology | Highly likely |
| Vedic religion (pre-Hindu) | 15th c. BCE–6th c. BCE | — (Vedic *rishis*) | The four Vedas; *rishi*-contact narratives; soma rituals; Indo-Aryan religion | Highly likely |
| Jainism | 9th c. BCE–present | Parshvanatha; Mahavira | Twenty-four *tirthankaras*; *ahimsa*; ascetic tradition; jiva–ajiva dualism | Highly likely |
| Sabaean / Harranian tradition | 12th c. BCE–10th c. CE | Hermes / Idris / Enoch | Sabian astral religion; the Harranian Sabians; transmission of late antique pagan philosophy to Islamic philosophy | Highly likely |
| Ancient Egyptian religion | 31st c. BCE–4th c. CE | — | The *netjeru* (Ennead, Ogdoad); afterlife doctrine; pyramid and coffin texts; *Book of the Dead*; long temple tradition | Highly likely |
| Sumerian religion | 31st c. BCE–6th c. BCE | — | The Anunnaki; *Enuma Elish*; *Gilgamesh*; the deluge tradition; cuneiform sources | Highly likely |
| Akkadian / Babylonian religion | 24th c. BCE–6th c. BCE | — | Continuation of Sumerian theology in Semitic form; *Enuma Elish*; astrological tradition | Highly likely |
| Canaanite religion | 24th c. BCE–6th c. BCE | — | El, Baal, Asherah, Mot, Yam; Ugaritic texts; substrate of Hebrew Bible terminology | Highly likely |
| Hittite religion | 17th c. BCE–8th c. BCE | — | "Thousand gods" syncretic pantheon; Anatolian–Hurrian–Mesopotamian fusion | Likely |
| Indo-European religion (reconstructed) | 4th millennium BCE | — | Reconstructed proto-tradition; *Dyēus Pətḗr* (sky-father); thunder god; threefold social-functional theology (Dumézil) | Likely |
| Maya religion | 1st millennium BCE–16th c. CE | — | Long Count calendar; the *Popol Vuh*; astronomical-religious complex; world-age doctrine | Likely |
| Aztec religion | 14th–16th c. CE | — | Five-suns cosmology; Quetzalcoatl; calendrical-religious complex | Likely |
| Inca religion | 13th–16th c. CE | — | Viracocha; solar theology; *huacas*; Andean cosmology | Likely |
| Norse religion | 1st millennium CE | — | The Æsir and Vanir; *Eddas*; Ragnarök; world-tree (Yggdrasil) cosmology | Likely |
| Celtic religion | 1st millennium BCE–1st millennium CE | (druids) | Polytheism; otherworld traditions; druidic priesthood; partial preservation in Welsh and Irish texts | Likely |
| Slavic religion | 1st millennium CE | — | Perun; Veles; pre-Christian Slavic mythology; partial textual preservation | Likely |
| African Traditional Religions | Various antiquity–present | Various | Yoruba (Orisha); Akan; Bantu; Vodun (West Africa); diverse regional traditions | Likely |
| Native American traditions | Various antiquity–present | Various | Diverse traditions across the Americas; star-people contact narratives in many traditions | Likely |
| Polynesian traditions | Various antiquity–present | Various | Hawaiian, Maori, Tongan, Samoan; the *Kumulipo*; voyaging-knowledge religion | Likely |
| Greco-Roman religion | 8th c. BCE–4th c. CE | — | The Olympian pantheon; mystery cults; philosophical-religious schools (Stoicism, Neoplatonism) | Likely |
| Theosophy | 1875–present | Helena Blavatsky | Esoteric synthesis; root-races doctrine; ascended-masters; influence on subsequent occult and New Age traditions | Unlikely |
| Anthroposophy | 1912–present | Rudolf Steiner | Spiritual science; Christian mysticism; biodynamic agriculture; Waldorf education | Unlikely |
| Scientology | 1954–present | L. Ron Hubbard | Thetan theology; auditing; the Xenu narrative; cosmic-history doctrine | Highly unlikely |
| New Age movement | 20th c.–present | (various) | Eclectic syncretism; channelling; reincarnation; energy-and-vibration doctrine | Unlikely (varies by branch) |

### Notes on selected classifications

Several of the classifications in the catalogue above warrant specific comment, since the framework's adopted positions are not always obvious from the tradition's surface characteristics.

**Mormonism as canonical.** The classification of Mormonism alongside Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Raëlism in the canonical tier is the most distinctive feature of the framework's reading among contemporary religious classifications. The framework reads Joseph Smith's reported angel-Moroni contact, the resulting *Book of Mormon*, the *Doctrine and Covenants*, and the *Pearl of Great Price* as preserving authentic contact content of a specific kind: the tangible-gods theology (the LDS doctrine that God the Father has a physical body and that exalted humans can themselves become gods), the plurality-of-worlds doctrine (the LDS teaching that Christ has visited many inhabited worlds), the *Kolob* content (an exoplanet near where God dwells, in the *Pearl of Great Price*), and the broader cosmological framework of LDS theology. The framework reads these features as significantly more consistent with the Raëlian source material's account of the cosmic chain than would be expected from a tradition without authentic contact origins. The Mormonism entry develops this reading at length.

**Caodism as highly likely.** Caodism (Đạo Cao Đài), the 1921 Vietnamese syncretic religion founded by Ngô Văn Chiêu, integrates Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, and Vietnamese folk traditions under a supreme-being theology, with substantial spirit-communication content as part of its founding narrative. The framework reads the founding narrative and the syncretic-revelation pattern as consistent with authentic contact, with the high-syncretism feature distinguishing it from more exclusivist contact traditions.

**Tenrikyō and Ōmoto as highly likely.** Both are Japanese new religious movements whose founders reported direct experiences of divine contact (Nakayama Miki of Tenrikyō: contact with *Oyagami*/God-the-Parent in 1838; Nao Deguchi of Ōmoto: spirit-possession contact in 1892), with each developing a tradition that includes world-renewal eschatology and substantial scripture (the *Ofudesaki* of Tenrikyō; the *Reikai Monogatari* of Ōmoto). The framework reads the founder-contact narratives as authentic and the resulting traditions as preserving genuine content despite substantial cultural specificity.

**Zoroastrianism as highly likely rather than canonical.** Zoroastrianism is one of the historically most influential religions and arguably the source of several doctrinal features (eschatology, dualism, resurrection, angelology) that subsequently shaped Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The framework's classification at the highly-likely rather than canonical tier reflects the relative scarcity of well-preserved primary Zoroastrian texts (the Gathas of Zarathustra are preserved but the bulk of the Avesta has been transmitted in compromised form) rather than any judgement about the authenticity of Zarathustra's founding contact.

**Theosophy and Anthroposophy as unlikely.** Both are 19th- and early-20th-century esoteric synthetic traditions (Blavatsky's *The Secret Doctrine*, 1888; Steiner's *Occult Science*, 1909) with substantial elaborate cosmologies, claimed contact with ascended masters or higher beings, and influential subsequent traditions (the New Age movement in part descends from Theosophy; Waldorf education and biodynamic agriculture descend from Anthroposophy). The framework reads both as substantially derived from documentable human sources (Theosophy from a synthesis of Hindu, Buddhist, and Western esoteric materials; Anthroposophy from a synthesis of Goethean science, Christian mysticism, and Theosophical content) rather than from authentic non-human contact, while recognising the cultural and intellectual value of both traditions.

**Scientology as highly unlikely.** The classification of Scientology in the highly-unlikely tier is the framework's strongest negative judgment in the contemporary catalogue. The reasoning is that Scientology's founding narrative (the Xenu cosmology, the broader cosmic-history doctrine, the thetan theology) is read by the framework as substantially fabricated by L. Ron Hubbard, with documentable origins in Hubbard's earlier science-fiction writing and Dianetics work and without the contact-event substrate that would make the originative-contact hypothesis available. The classification is a judgment about the founding narrative, not about contemporary practitioners.

**Thelema as highly unlikely.** Thelema's founding event is the 1904 Cairo working in which Aleister Crowley received the *Book of the Law* from a discarnate intelligence named Aiwass. The framework reads the Cairo working as a documentable case of altered-state experience (consistent with Crowley's broader work in ritual magic and altered-state induction) with Aiwass as a psychological rather than non-terrestrial entity, and reads the resulting text and tradition as Crowley's elaboration of his own broader synthesis of Eastern, Western esoteric, and personal-ethical material. The classification reflects the strong cultural-influence and personal-creation pattern of the Thelemic founding rather than a contact pattern of the kind the framework reads as characteristic.

### Excluded categories

Several categories of religious phenomena are deliberately excluded from the catalogue above.

- **Strictly philosophical or ethical traditions** without religious-contact content (Epicureanism, Stoicism in its non-religious phases, secular humanism) are excluded as not falling within the catalogue's scope.
- **Modern revivalist or reconstructionist movements** of older traditions (modern Druidry, Heathenry, Hellenismos, Kemetism) are not separately classified; they inherit the classification of the older traditions they reconstruct.
- **Hybrid New Age and esoteric movements** without strong founder-contact narratives are noted in aggregate under "New Age movement" rather than catalogued individually.
- **Specific Christian denominations** beyond the major branches are inherited from Christianity's canonical classification, with Mormonism separately classified given its distinctive theological content.
- **Specific Buddhist schools** (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen, Pure Land) inherit Buddhism's canonical classification; specific Hindu schools inherit Hinduism's highly-likely classification.

## The catalogue of prophets and founders

The catalogue below lists the principal prophets, founders, and visionary figures associated with the traditions catalogued above. Where the prophet's own wiki entry exists, the figure's name is linked.

| Prophet / Founder | Tradition | Approximate dates | Principal contact narrative | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **[Claude Vorilhon (Raël)](../rael/)** | Raëlism | 1946–present | 1973 Clermont-Ferrand contact with Yahweh; 1975 contact and Elohim-planet visit | Canonical |
| Joseph Smith | Mormonism | 1805–1844 | Angel-Moroni visitations from 1823; First Vision (1820) | Canonical |
| Báb (Siyyid 'Ali Muhammad) | Bahá'í Faith | 1819–1850 | Self-declaration as the Báb (Gate) in 1844 | Highly likely |
| Bahá'u'lláh | Bahá'í Faith | 1817–1892 | Garden of Riḍván declaration (1863) | Highly likely |
| Aleister Crowley | Thelema | 1875–1947 | Cairo working (1904); reception of *Book of the Law* from Aiwass | Highly unlikely |
| Nakayama Miki | Tenrikyō | 1798–1887 | 1838 contact with *Oyagami* (God the Parent) | Highly likely |
| Nao Deguchi | Ōmoto | 1837–1918 | 1892 spirit possession by Ushitora-no-Konjin | Highly likely |
| Ngô Văn Chiêu | Caodism | 1878–1932 | Spirit-communication contacts beginning 1921 | Highly likely |
| Helena Blavatsky | Theosophy | 1831–1891 | Claimed contact with the Mahatmas / ascended masters | Unlikely |
| Rudolf Steiner | Anthroposophy | 1861–1925 | Claimed clairvoyant access to the Akashic record | Unlikely |
| Paul Twitchell | Eckankar | 1909–1971 | Claimed succession from a line of ECK masters | Unlikely |
| Gerald Gardner | Wicca | 1884–1964 | Claimed initiation into an existing New Forest coven | Unlikely |
| L. Ron Hubbard | Scientology | 1911–1986 | Dianetics (1950) developed without explicit contact narrative; Xenu cosmology developed subsequently | Highly unlikely |
| Guru Nanak | Sikhism | 1469–1539 | Direct experience of the divine in 1499 | Likely |
| **[Muhammad](../muhammad/)** | Islam | c. 570–632 CE | Quranic revelations via Gabriel from 610 CE | Canonical |
| **[Jesus](../jesus/) of Nazareth** | Christianity | c. 4 BCE – c. 30 CE | Baptism vision; Transfiguration; the broader ministry | Canonical |
| Mani | Manichaeism | 216–276 CE | First revelation at age 12; second at age 24 | Highly likely |
| Laozi (老子) | Taoism | 6th c. BCE (traditional) | Authorship of *Tao Te Ching*; departure to the west | Likely |
| Kongzi (Confucius) | Confucianism | 551–479 BCE | No contact narrative; teacher and ethical reformer | Likely |
| **[Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha)](../buddha/)** | Buddhism | c. 563–483 BCE | Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree | Canonical |
| Mahavira | Jainism | c. 599–527 BCE | Enlightenment after twelve years of asceticism | Highly likely |
| Parshvanatha | Jainism (earlier *tirthankara*) | c. 8th c. BCE | Twenty-third of twenty-four *tirthankaras* | Highly likely |
| Zarathustra (Zoroaster) | Zoroastrianism | c. 1500–500 BCE (dating contested) | Vision of Ahura Mazda; the Gathas | Highly likely |
| **[Moses](../moses/)** | Judaism | c. 13th c. BCE | Burning bush; Sinai theophany; sustained contact across forty years | Canonical |
| Abraham | Judaism (patriarchal period) | c. 2nd millennium BCE | Covenant theophany; Sodom-and-Gomorrah contact | Highly likely |
| Enoch (Hanokh) | Antediluvian period | (mythological) | Walked with God; translated to heaven | Highly likely |
| Noah | Antediluvian / postdiluvian period | (mythological) | Pre-flood instructions; covenant after flood | Highly likely |
| Hermes Trismegistus / Thoth / Idris | Sabaean / Hermetic | (pseudepigraphic / mythological) | Variable across traditions | Highly likely |
| Vedic *rishis* (Vyasa, Vasishtha, Vishvamitra, etc.) | Vedic / Hindu | 2nd millennium BCE | Reception of the Vedas | Highly likely |

## Open questions

Several open questions about the catalogue's scope and methodology deserve explicit registration.

- **The treatment of post-Smith Mormonism.** The framework reads Joseph Smith's founding contact as canonical, but the subsequent development of the LDS tradition includes substantial doctrinal developments (the introduction and later renunciation of plural marriage, the priesthood policy regarding Black members, the various sectarian developments after Smith's death) that have shaped contemporary Mormonism in ways the founding contact does not directly entail. The relationship between the framework's reading of the founding event and its assessment of the subsequent tradition is an open question.
- **The treatment of Christianity's textual development.** Christianity is classified as canonical, but the framework's adopted position acknowledges substantial subsequent transformation: the Pauline interpretive overlay, the late-antique theological synthesis, the council-period doctrinal definitions, the various subsequent denominational developments. The relationship between the framework's reading of the Jesus contact and its assessment of the subsequent Christian tradition is treated in the Christianity entry but remains an active interpretive area.
- **The collective-prophet question.** Several traditions (Hinduism, ancient Egyptian, ancient Sumerian, Shinto, the Native American and African traditions) have no single founding prophet but rather a collective tradition developed over many generations. The framework's reading of these traditions depends on the assumption that authentic contact can be distributed across many figures and across long time-periods, rather than requiring a single founding-contact event. The methodology for assessing collective traditions is less developed than for single-prophet traditions and represents an open area.
- **The boundary between authentic and inauthentic syncretism.** Several traditions explicitly synthesise elements from earlier traditions (Caodism, Bahá'í, Manichaeism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy). The framework's classifications distinguish between authentic-content syncretism (Caodism, Bahá'í, Manichaeism — classified as highly likely) and substantially-human syncretism (Theosophy, Anthroposophy — classified as unlikely). The criteria by which this distinction is made are partly methodological and partly substantive, and represent an active interpretive area.
- **The treatment of indigenous and shamanic traditions.** Many indigenous traditions (across the Americas, Australia, Africa, Siberia, and elsewhere) have substantial founder-figure or culture-hero narratives whose specific historical content is difficult to assess. The catalogue above treats these collectively under "likely" but the individual traditions vary substantially in their content and would warrant individual treatment as the wiki's coverage expands.

## See also

- [Religion](../religion/)
- [Bible](../bible/)
- [Raëlism](../raelism/)
- [Elohim](../elohim/)
- [Genesis](../genesis/)
- [Christianity](../christianity/)
- [Judaism](../judaism/)
- [Islam](../islam/)
- [Buddhism](../buddhism/)
- [Hinduism](../hinduism/)
- [Mormonism](../mormonism/)
- [Sikhism](../sikhism/)
- [Caodism](../caodism/)
- [Taoism](../taoism/)
- [Shinto](../shinto/)
- [Jesus](../jesus/)
- [Moses](../moses/)
- [Muhammad](../muhammad/)
- [Buddha](../buddha/)
- [Joseph Smith](../joseph-smith/)
- [Raël](../rael/)
- [Apocalypse](../apocalypse/)
- [Cosmic Chain](../cosmic-chain/)

## References

Vorilhon, Claude (Raël). *The Book Which Tells the Truth* (1974) and *Extraterrestrials Took Me to Their Planet* (1976), collected as *Message from the Designers* (Raëlian Foundation, current English edition).

Sendy, Jean. *La Lune, clé de la Bible*. Julliard, 1968.

Sendy, Jean. *Ces dieux qui firent le ciel et la terre*. Robert Laffont, 1969. English: *Those Gods Who Made Heaven and Earth*. Berkley, 1972.

Smart, Ninian. *The World's Religions*. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1998. [Standard reference for the comparative-religion overview adopted as the encyclopedic baseline.]

Eliade, Mircea. *A History of Religious Ideas*. 3 vols. University of Chicago Press, 1978–1985.

Eliade, Mircea, ed. *The Encyclopedia of Religion*. 16 vols. Macmillan, 1987. [Foundational reference for the historical and comparative treatment of individual traditions.]

Smith, Joseph. *The Book of Mormon* (1830); *Doctrine and Covenants*; *Pearl of Great Price*. [Standard LDS scriptures.]

Bahá'u'lláh. *The Kitáb-i-Aqdas*. 1873. [Principal Bahá'í scripture.]

Nakayama Miki. *Ofudesaki*. 19th c. [Principal Tenrikyō scripture.]

Hutchison, William R. *Religious Pluralism in America: The Contentious History of a Founding Ideal*. Yale University Press, 2003.

Stark, Rodney. *The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History*. Princeton University Press, 1996.

Boyce, Mary. *Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices*. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2001.

Ferrer, Daniel C., ed. *Caodaism: A New Religion*. Hartford Institute, 2009.

Reader, Ian. *Religion in Contemporary Japan*. University of Hawaii Press, 1991.

Pew Research Center. *The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050*. 2015. <https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/>

"List of religions and spiritual traditions." *Wikipedia*. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions>

"List of founders of religious traditions." *Wikipedia*. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_founders_of_religious_traditions>

"Major religious groups." *Wikipedia*. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups>