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[4] [5] Sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written. [6] [7] The word religion as used in the 21st century does not have an obvious pre-colonial translation into non-European ...
The definition of religion is a controversial and complicated subject in religious studies with scholars failing to agree on any one definition. Oxford Dictionaries defines religion as the belief in and/or worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. [1][failed verification] Others, such as Wilfred Cantwell ...
Four religions— Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism —account for over 77% of the world's population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious, [10] meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined.
Theories of religion can be classified into: [6] Substantive (or essentialist) theories that focus on the contents of religions and the meaning the contents have for people. This approach asserts that people have faith because beliefs make sense insofar as they hold value and are comprehensible. The theories by Tylor and Frazer (focusing on the ...
The bulk of the human religious experience pre-dates written history, which is roughly 5,000 years old. [1] A lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of pre-historic religion being derived from archaeological records and other indirect sources, and from suppositions. Much pre-historic religion is subject to continued debate.
Religious studies. Religious studies, also known as the study of religion, is the scientific study of religion. There is no consensus on what qualifies as religion and its definition is highly contested. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing empirical, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.
One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings, [6] and thus believes that religion, as a concept, has been ...
Religion' in this context did not exist separately from politics or the family household. [20] During its first four centuries, Christianity developed an alternative elite in the form of Christian Bishops. [18] The first local churches, based on households, would each have been led by a single bishop/presbyter whose primary role was economic.