How we organize traditions and their branches, with scholarly rationale for every judgment call.
Some traditions have branches that address specific questions more deeply than the parent. Kabbalah is the Jewish esoteric tradition that speaks to questions of soul and afterlife where halakhic Judaism is often silent. Sufism plays a similar role within Islam. Where a branch is recognized by the parent tradition's mainstream authorities (Kabbalah by Orthodox rabbinic Judaism, Sufism by Sunni and Shia legal schools), we include the branch in the parent's aggregate answer and label clearly when the branch is doing the heavy lifting. Where a branch is adjacent or historically rejected (Gnosticism by mainline Christianity, LDS by Trinitarian Christianity), we show the branch alongside the parent but do not merge their positions.
What this is and isn't. This is a snapshot of what each tradition's available textual corpus says about the three main questions in our dataset. It is not a doctrinal authority ruling. Our frame is Western-academic by default, and our evidence favors canonical textual sources over oral or esoteric transmission; this is a known limitation. Where we had to make judgment calls about parent relationships (Gnosticism, Mormonism/LDS, Druze, Hermeticism), we flagged them as contested and linked to the scholarly basis. File a correction on GitHub if you think we got one wrong.
Root tradition; pre-Hellenistic Nile Valley religion.
Root; Mesoamerican tradition umbrella.
Self-identifies as an independent world religion distinct from Islam per its own doctrine and Universal House of Justice. Using the 'Baha'i' spelling as stored in v2_claims.tradition.
Root tradition.
v5: promoted to root tradition per council recommendation. The label 'Chinese_Buddhist_Folk' reflects the v2_claims.tradition string used during extraction. Scholarly treatments (Stephen Teiser, Robert Weller, C.K. Yang) describe the underlying phenomenon as 'Chinese popular religion' or 'Chinese folk religion' — a syncretism of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and local deity cults. Placing it under any single parent (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism) was indefensible given the genuinely multi-source character. As a root, it stands on its own terms. classification_contested=1 retained because the tradition itself is a scholarly-constructed umbrella, not a self-named tradition.
Root tradition.
18th-century Christian sect founded by Emanuel Swedenborg. Non-Trinitarian theology is categorically rejected by mainline Christianity, placing it in the same boundary-contested category as Mormonism/LDS. v3 change (post-council): moved rollup from 'include' to 'separate' and classification_contested 0→1 to match the LDS treatment for symmetry and accuracy.
Self-identifies as Christian and restorationist. Mainline Christian denominations generally classify it as a separate religious tradition due to doctrinal differences (pre-mortal existence, exaltation to godhood, non-Trinitarian theology). Rollup: separate — preserves LDS self-identification as Christian by grouping under Christianity, but does not contaminate mainline Christianity's rollup with LDS-distinctive claims.
v6: display label tightened from 'Gnosticism (Christian strands)' to 'Christian Gnosticism' to signal that the entry is SCOPED to Christian-Gnostic texts (Valentinian, Sethian-in-Christian-transmission), not the broader Gnosticism phenomenon. Gnosticism-as-a-whole predates and exceeds Christianity: Sethian, Mandaean-adjacent, and Hermetic strands draw on pre-Christian and non-Christian sources. Karen King (What Is Gnosticism?), Michael Williams, and Birger Pearson argue against a unified 'Gnosticism' category and against subordinating it to Christianity; Pearson specifically argues for Sethian Gnosticism's pre-Christian Jewish origins. Our extraction corpus is overwhelmingly Christian-Gnostic, so we scope the label. A broader 'Gnosticism' root entry could be added in future work if the corpus expands. Mainline Christianity historically rejected Gnostic teachings as heretical (Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses, Tertullian, Epiphanius). Shown alongside Christianity but NOT merged into Christianity's rollup.
Root. Historically emerged from Ismaili Shia Islam but developed distinct theology (tanasukh/reincarnation, seven pillars, unique cosmology) and is not recognized as Islamic by mainstream Sunni or Shia jurisprudence. Most Druze self-identify as distinct. Notes: Ismaili Shia origin.
Root; encompasses Platonic through late-antique Greek philosophical tradition.
Direct philosophical continuation of Platonism; strong parentage (Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus). Rollup: include.
v7: promoted to root tradition per council recommendation. Hermes Trismegistus was identified with Thoth; the Corpus Hermeticum is a late-antique Greco-Egyptian synthesis that cannot be cleanly subordinated to any single parent tradition. Fowden (The Egyptian Hermes), Hanegraaff, and Copenhaver treat it as its own tradition with roots in Egyptian religion, Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions. Previously classed as historically_influenced_by Greek Philosophy for grouping convenience; this embedded reception-history bias. As a root, it stands on its own terms. classification_contested=1 retained because modern 'Hermeticism' as a unified category is itself a scholarly construction; historical Hermetic authors did not self-identify as a unified school.
Root tradition.
Root umbrella covering multiple distinct nations and lineages; internal diversity is significant.
Root tradition.
The mystical branch of Islam. The association is historically and practically strong (Sufis self-identify as Muslim, Sunni and Shia traditions both include Sufi orders), but the classification is contested from the Wahhabi/Salafi side starting with Ibn Taymiyyah (14th c.) and formalized in modern Saudi state religious policy. Marked contested=1 to flag that serious Muslim voices historically rejected Sufism, while rollup_default='include' because the mainstream scholarly and practiced position treats Sufism as within Islam. Sources: Schimmel (Mystical Dimensions of Islam), Chittick, Knysh.
Root tradition.
Root tradition.
The esoteric/mystical branch of Judaism that specifically addresses consciousness/afterlife questions that halakhic/Talmudic Judaism largely does not engage. Sources: Scholem (Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism), Idel (Kabbalah: New Perspectives). Rollup: include (Kabbalah is a legitimate internal strand of Judaism).
Root; distinct Gnostic-adjacent tradition with its own scriptures (Ginza Rabba) and lineage.
Root; Prophet-Mani tradition distinct from its Zoroastrian and Christian influences.
Root. Pre-Platonic Greek mystery religion that influenced later Greek philosophy (Pythagoreanism, Platonism), not the reverse. Previously classified as historically_influenced_by Greek Philosophy, which reversed the actual historical directionality. Now a root tradition with a scholarly note on its influence on Greek philosophical thought.
Root; modern naturalist worldview.
Root tradition.
Root umbrella; internal diversity across Siberian peoples.
Root tradition.
Root; 19th-century Kardecist tradition. Syncretic influences exist but no single parent.
Root tradition.
Root; 19th-century syncretic tradition (Blavatsky, Besant).
Root tradition.
Root tradition.
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