Final answer:
Edward Tylor proposed that cultures progress through stages from 'savagery' to 'civilization' and defined religion narrowly as 'belief in supernatural beings'. These views were part of the unilineal evolution theory, which has since been largely abandoned for more complex understandings of religion.
Step-by-step explanation:
Edward Tylor's view on the historical trajectory of religions aligns with the concept of unilineal evolution, a theory that was popular among early anthropologists. Tylor believed that all cultures progress through the same stages from "savagery," through "barbarism," to "civilization." His theories were part of the nineteenth-century anthropological interest in the evolution of society, which were influenced by ethnocentric views and often lacked empirical evidence due to limited direct observations. Tylor defined religion in what some consider overly narrow terms as “the belief in supernatural beings.” As new information about different cultures became available and anthropological methods evolved, these early theories were largely abandoned in light of more complex understandings of religious practices, such as those by Émile Durkheim who saw religion as embedded in social institutions and communal solidarity, and Clifford Geertz, who presented religion as a system of symbols shaping emotions and motivations.