The etymology of the word religion suggests that it names a way of life. However, this explains nothing about the nature of religion itself, which is much more complex than any one idea of a life-way could capture. Nevertheless, scholars have tried to define the concept religion in many different ways. Some have opted for substantive definitions of religion, seeking to identify it in terms of the presence of belief in a specific kind of reality; others have sought to define it functionally, determining whether or not a form of life is religious based on its ability to serve a specific purpose, such as to unite people into a moral community or to give them an orientation to their lives. Still others have attempted to create a social science model of the phenomenon, such as Emile Durkheim’s (1912) concept of a religion as whatever system of practices tends to make a group of people feel a sense of moral community and Paul Tillich’s (1957) concept of a religion as whatever dominant concern serves to organize a person’s values.
A fundamental assumption of all these models is that religion involves a kind of devotion or practice aimed at the attainment of a supernatural or spiritual end, which a person feels to be his or her ultimate end and destiny. This end is usually conceived of as a communion with Deity. A necessary corollary of this is hope, a conviction that the Divine will help man to achieve this end. This hope is sustained by the conception of God as a loving and compassionate personality, which encourages confidence, and by the recognition of instances of Deity’s providence, which inspires faith.
Another assumption is that the various forms of religious devotion and practice are essentially the same across cultures, although this assumption runs into problems when we look at examples of cultures that seem to violate every aspect of this picture. In particular, some scholars have argued that the fact that there are religions that involve animal and human sacrifices, ideas of reincarnation and other aspects of the supernatural refutes the idea that these beliefs are generally similar to each other and should be treated as part of a single global religious phenomenon.
Nonetheless, most scholars now agree that it is possible to think about the emergence of a social kind called “religion” without presupposing any particular beliefs or practices. This has led to the emergence of the concept of “functional” religion, in which it is defined as whatever form of life a person voluntarily binds himself or herself to by a set of vows more or less solemn (whether they include beliefs in the existence of spirits, a judgment after death or other features of the supernatural). Whether one accepts this functional definition or prefers a substantive version, it is clear that a substantial shift has taken place in the meaning of the term. However, some scholars have gone even farther than this, arguing that the concept of religion is an invented category that went hand in hand with European colonialism and that people should stop treating it as if it applied to every culture.