E.B. Tylor and Max Müller were prominent 19th-century scholars who offered foundational, albeit distinct, theories on the origin and evolution of religion. Tylor, considered a father of anthropology, proposed 'animism' as the earliest form of religion. He believed that primitive people, observing phenomena like dreams, trances, and death, concluded that a 'soul' or 'spirit' inhabited living beings and objects. From this belief in individual souls, animism evolved into ancestor worship, polytheism, and eventually monotheism, following a unilinear evolutionary path. Tylor's approach was rationalistic, viewing religion as an attempt to explain the world, and he emphasized the universality of animistic beliefs across cultures.

Max Müller, a philologist and orientalist, offered a contrasting theory known as 'nativism' or the 'disease of language.' He argued that religion originated from early humans' attempts to describe natural phenomena (sun, moon, sky, storms) using metaphorical language. Over time, these metaphors became literalized, and the natural forces were personified into gods and goddesses. For Müller, the 'disease of language' led to the creation of myths and deities, as the original meaning of the words was forgotten. He focused heavily on Indo-European languages and mythology to support his claims.

Critically comparing them, Tylor's theory is broader, encompassing a wider range of cultural practices and emphasizing the psychological origins of belief in spirits. His evolutionary framework, though now largely discredited for its unilinear and ethnocentric biases, was influential. Müller's theory, while insightful regarding the power of language, is narrower, primarily focusing on the personification of nature and less on ritual or social functions. His 'disease of language' concept is also seen as overly intellectualized and less capable of explaining the emotional and social dimensions of religious experience. Both theories, however, represent early attempts to understand religion scientifically, moving away from theological explanations, and laid groundwork for future anthropological and sociological studies of religion.