List of Definitions of Religion for REL/PHIL 110

Catherine L. Albanese: “[Religion is] a system of symbols (creed, code, cultus) by means of
which people (a community) orient themselves in the world with reference to both ordinary and
extraordinary powers, meanings, and values” (America: Religions and Religion, 1999, 11).

Additional terms (The Four Cs): Creed: “…explanations about the meaning or meanings
of human life” (1999, 9). Code: the rules and norms which dictate everyday behavior.
Community: “groups of people either formally or informally bound together by the
creed, code, and cultus they share” (1999, 10). Cultus: the embodiment of the creed and
code displayed through rituals.

Kalman Bland: “It is commonly assumed that something qualifies as a religion if it fosters
private spirituality, favors transrational belief, and defends ethical idealism…Religion is more
accurately described as a specialized repertory of bodily habits. The habits control our
interactions with other people and the natural world. In premodernity, religions were
comprehensive systems for regulating the body. In modern societies, religions still govern the
body, even if less comprehensively” (“Defending, Enjoying, and Regulating the Visual,”
Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period, 2001, 281).

Emile Durkheim: "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one
single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them” (The Elementary Forms
of the Religious Life, 47).

Armin Geertz: “a cultural system and social institution that governs and promotes ideal
interpretations of existence and ideal praxis with reference to postulated transempirical powers or
beings” (Definition as Analytical Strategy in the Study of Religion, 1999).

Clifford Geertz: “Religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful,
pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a
general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that
(5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic” (1973, 90).

William James: “[Religion is] the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their
solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider
the divine” (1902, 31).
Kimerer LaMothe: “[A]ny definition of religion must be recognized as inherently dynamic … a
dynamic definition moves across the distinction of insider versus outsider: something may
appear as ‘religion’ to either. Religion … exists in the moment of its performances as a kind of
doing that embodies a person in relation to a sense of the world – a sense that may be
represented in relation to a tradition or as a belief in an Other. The relevant question for
studying religion becomes: how and why and to what end does some phenomenon have meaning
for someone as the terms or conditions of his embodiment” (Between Dancing and Writing: The
Practice of Religious Studies, 2004, 248).

Jonathan Z. Smith: “One may clarify the term religion by defining it as a system of beliefs and
practices relative to superhuman beings. This definition moves away from defining religion as
some special kind of experience or worldview. It emphasizes that religions are systems or
structures consisting of specific kinds of beliefs or practices: [those] related to superhuman
beings. Superhuman beings are beings that can do things ordinary mortals cannot do. They are
known for their miraculous deeds and powers that set them apart from humans. They can be
either male or female, or androgynous. They need not be gods or goddesses, but may take on the
form of an ancestor who can affect lives. They may take the form of benevolent or malevolent
spirits … Furthermore, the definition requires that such superhuman beings be specifically
related to beliefs and practices, myths and rituals. [This definition] excludes Nazism, Marxism,
or secularism as religions. This definition also excludes varieties of nationalism and civil quasi-
religious movements” (The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, 1995, 893).

Melford Spiro: “a [cultural] institution consisting of culturally patterned interactions with

culturally postulated superhuman beings” (Religion: Problems of Definition & Explanation,
1966, 96).

Paul Tillich: “The religious aspect points to that which is ultimate, infinite, unconditional in
man’s spiritual life. Religion, in the largest and most basic sense of the word, is ultimate
concern” (1959, 7-8).

Thomas Tweed: “Religions are confluences of organic-cultural flows that intensify joy and
confront suffering by drawing on human and suprahuman forces to make homes and cross
boundaries” (Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion, 2006, p. 54).
Ninian Smart: Religion is comprised of a series of dimensions: experiential, ritual,
mythological, doctrinal, ethical, social. [Smart later added the material dimension].

Mythological Dimension
 Stories of the sacred: narratives that connect human events and experiences to a
transcendent world
 Any story or narrative that describes the transcendent, the origin of religion or humans
 Stories that shape how a person understands themselves in relation to the universe and/or
the transcendent
 The mythological dimension does not mean that the story is FALSE

Experiential Dimension
 Experience that adherents have of contact with a transcendent realm.
 Can evoke unique emotion(s) from the interaction with something greater than oneself (ex.
the transcendent).
 Note: the transcendent is not always a God(s)/Goddess(es)

Ritual Dimension
 Actions or ceremonies that people perform that have a specifically religious function.
 Can be repeated regularly or performed once or a few times.
 Can be private or public

Social Dimension
 Community of believers with shared beliefs, practices, and social vision.
 Structure of the community and who is or isn’t a part of that community.
 The interactions among members of the community and how they interact with those outside
of the community.
 The community can validate or critique the existing social order.

Doctrinal Dimension
 Official, systematic teachings of religious groups.
 Can be found in the holy text(s), but may also be verbal teachings of foundational/important
religious figures (ex. oral traditions)
 Explains what is, not what should be done

Ethical Dimension
 Rules or laws that regulate the behavior of adherents
 Often revealed from the transcendent
 Provide a model for believers to follow
 NOT good/bad or right/wrong

Material Dimension
 Ordinary objects or places that symbolize or manifest the sacred/transcendent
 Ordinary objects are understood as extraordinary