Final answer:
Edward Tylor proposed that cultures progress through stages from savagery to barbarism to civilization in what is known as unilineal evolution; however, his narrow definition of religion and ethnocentric model has been largely abandoned for more complex understandings of cultural evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
Edward Tylor's view represents an early anthropological approach to understanding the historical trajectory of religions, which posits that cultures evolve through a series of stages from savagery to barbarism to civilization. This perspective, known as unilineal evolution, suggests a linear development path that all societies would follow towards a perceived European ideal of civilization. Tylor's minimal definition of religion as “the belief in supernatural beings”, while influential, has been criticized for being overly narrow and excluding many aspects of global spiritual practices. Such evolutionary schemes in anthropology have been critiqued and largely abandoned in favor of understanding that cultures have unique developmental paths influenced by their specific histories and interactions with other societies. Despite the controversies around Tylor's theorizing and the unilineal model, these early anthropological efforts laid groundwork for understanding the complexity and diversity of religious development over time.