Spiritual Leaders & Religious Figures
Religious and spiritual leaders have shaped beliefs, practices, and traditions throughout history. Learn more about influential religious leaders, spiritual teachers, founders, reformers, mystics, and other notable figures.
Spiritual Leaders & Religious Figures Encyclopedia Articles
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Jesus
Jesus was a religious leader revered in Christianity, one of the world’s major religions. He is regarded by most Christians as the Incarnation of God. The history of Christian reflection on the teachings...
Moses
Moses was a Hebrew prophet, teacher, and leader who, in the 13th century bce (before the Common Era, or bc), delivered his people from Egyptian slavery. In the Covenant ceremony at Mt. Sinai, where the...
Muhammad
Muhammad was the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qurʾān. He is traditionally said to have been born in 570 in Mecca and to have died in 632 in Medina, where he had been forced to emigrate to...
Buddha
Buddha was the founder of Buddhism, one of the major religions and philosophical systems of southern and eastern Asia and of the world. Buddha is one of the many epithets of a teacher who lived in northern...
Confucius
Confucius was China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas have profoundly influenced the civilizations of China and other East Asian countries. Confucius was born near...
Laozi
Laozi was the first philosopher of Chinese Daoism and the alleged author of the Daodejing, a primary Daoist writing. Modern scholars discount the possibility that the Daodejing was written by only one...
Mahavira
Mahavira was the last of the 24 Tirthankaras (“Ford-makers,” i.e., saviours who promulgated Jainism), and the reformer of the Jain monastic community. According to the traditions of the two main Jain sects,...
Zarathushtra
Zarathushtra ; Traditional dates: 628–551 bce) was an Iranian religious reformer and prophet, traditionally regarded as the founder of Zoroastrianism. A major figure in the history of world religions,...
Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak was an Indian spiritual teacher who is revered as the founder and the first Guru of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that combines Hindu and Islamic influences. His teachings, expressed through...
Bahāʾ Allāh
Bahāʾ Allāh was the founder of the Bahāʾī Faith upon his claim to be the manifestation of the unknowable God. Mīrzā Ḥosayn was a member of the Shīʿite branch of Islam. He subsequently allied himself with...
Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna was a Hindu mystic and priest whose teachings and religious thoughts inspired the founding of the Ramakrishna Order. He was also the spiritual guru of the Hindu monk Vivekananda, renowned for...
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a Hindu religious leader who introduced the practice of transcendental meditation (TM) to the West. Little is known of the Maharishi’s early life. He studied physics at the University...
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