A sense of supernatural is definitely Axial Age (Karl Jaspers) (800 to Age of Western Expansion and Colonialism (after From Religion to Religions universal to humanity 200 BCE) 15th C.) Sense of the numinous (feeling of mystery and awe) Parallel developments Missionisation resulted in the spread of 18th C. religion written about in a more Common thread across the globe: in Greece, Iran, India, Christianity worldwide pluralistic manner - Ancestor worship, nature spirits, China Extensive exposure of Europeans to non- Religions compared to each other as cultural shitoism Hebrew Tanakh, Hindu Western practices systems - Elements still resonate and Bhagavad Gita, works Compared primarily against Christianities and incorporated among many of Plato & Aristotle Judaism practitioners of world religions Socrates (469-399 Evolution from Religio to Religion: Assumption that all religions required several key around the globe BCE), Gautama Buddha elements: Patterns of worship in relation to a certain - Live on through burial/memorial (563-493 BCE), a central text divinely inspired, doctrinal god practices and sainthood, Confucius (551-479 exclusivity only one religion at a time Referred to religions (orders) within sacred places(keramat, grottoes, BCE), Lao Tse (6th C. a separate domain distinct from economics or Roman Catholic church chapels, holy sites) and BCE), Zarathustra politics lesser beings (angels, demons, jinns) Religio referred to variations in practice, New philosophies and but NOT in belief Other parts of the world had no such concept of theologies that religion 15th C. (Renaissance in Christian Europe) converged on ideas of Exonyms > Judaism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, religion as a universal capacity for a transcendent source Buddhism, etc. piety and worship among the civilized of morals/ethics and 19th C. European ideas about what counts as a Eastern Orthodoxies, Islam, Judaism, social/cosmic order real religion profoundly influenced/shaped how Protestant Reformation 17th C. (Enlightenment in Christian other religions, cultures, and countries understood Europe) religion as a system of beliefs, religion rather than a matter of personal piety Recognised diversity of beliefs within Europe (incl. paganism) Awareness and appreciation of other systems of belief due to increased trade and travel outside Europe