Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:28:05.278Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A theory of religion revised

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2001

JIM STONE
JIM STONE
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay is a revision of my earlier effort to overturn the prevailing view that there is merely a ‘family resemblance’ between religions. A religion is a system of practices rationalized by beliefs according to which the practices place the practitioner in a relation-of-value to a supermundane reality so grand that it can figure centrally in the satisfaction of substantial human needs. A ‘supermundane reality’ is one that exceeds the mundane world revealed by sense perception. The theory generates a useful taxonomy of practices and theories closely related to, but substantially different from, religions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , June 2001 , pp. 177 - 189
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)