Religion Defined And Explained

This book examines a selection of major types of theory explaining religion: religious, philosophical, sociological, socio-economic and psychological. It treats of the presuppositions behind such theories and the grounds of their necessity and validity. It looks at major styles in the definition of religion. It argues that the case for making religion the subject of large scale theorising has not been made and contends that the explanation of religion proceeds better by concentrating on the specifics of religious history and the interconnections between religious ideas.

This book looks at the large-scale theories of religion characteristics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century approaches to the study of religion. The philosophical assumptions behind the alleged need to produce a theory of religion are examined in Part I. The aims and means of defining religion are treated as part of this examination. The discussion of method in the theory of religion is then illustrated in detailed treatments of five major forms of large-scale theory of religion in Part II: religious, philosophical, sociological, socioeconomic and psychological. Major thinkers in the theory of religion such as Marx, Freud, Durkheim, Hegel and Feuerbach are discussed. The book aims to reveal the difficulties in demonstrating the necessity and validity of any large-scale theory of religion. It argues for less extensive aims for the study of religion, contending in particular that religion should be defined in family-resemblance terms, and explained piecemeal and through historical forms of understanding.

Of Religion: BRIAN C. WILSON.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith, maintained in this vastly important work that Westerners have misperceived religious life by making "religion" into one thing. He shows the inadequacy of "religion" to capture the living, endlessly variable ways and traditions in which religious faith presents itself in the world.

In The Concept of Religion Hans Schilderman edits a volume on the definition and empirical study of religious beliefs and practices within a variety of settings of schools, churches and society at large.

We all know what religion is - or do we? Confronted with religious pluralism and cultural diversity, it manifests itself in many forms. What is Religion? serves not only as an introduction to the different belief systems flourishing throughout the modern world, but asks us to consider how the very boundaries of faith might be drawn now and in the future. How might religion interact with political ends, or permeate culture, society and everyday life? Is the post-secular world in thrall to 'religions' of its own kind - materialism, humanism, medicine, science? And what logic separates 'common-sense' or academic knowledge from the immutable but unstable boudaries of faith? Which is the more certain? What does it mean to believe? Combining clear accounts of contemporary global religious practice with an incisive philosophical interrogation of the dynamics and aims of belief, What is Religion? offers a fresh and wide-ranging introduction to the perennial human questions of ritual, faith, ethics and salvation.

Revision of thesis (doctoral)--Nottingham University.