ABSTRACT
Zoroastrianism is the first religion in recorded human history that reflected on its own existence: it located its origins in a historical development that essentially shaped a new community bound together by no other bonds than those provided by the religion. Typologically, this puts Zoroastrianism in a class with a small number of other religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, Islam) that show different patterns of development than the so-called ‘community religions’ of humankind. These ‘religions of choice’ behave differently, but the case of Zoroastrianism is unique in that it also lost the ability to accept outsiders into the community. This chapter surveys these questions, in an attempt to connect the history of Zoroastrianism with bigger questions in the general history of religions.
