an introduction
living memory of the ways in which all of these constitutive factors are
related to each other” (Capps 1995: xvi). This shared memory informs
students that Religious Studies is a descriptive, comparative, and inter-
disciplinary discipline that seeks to make data concerning religion
encountered in research intelligible by interpreting, systematizing, and
synthesizing material. Religious Studies is composed of many intellec-
tual interests that draws on other disciplines, such as psychology, sociol-
ogy, anthropology, ecology, gender studies, and cognitive science, and
the methods that accompany these disciplines. These various methods are
instrumental because they form a function that can be logical, conceptual,
and logistical by bringing a particular subject into focus. Overall,
Religious Studies uses multiple methods and investigates many subjects
associated with the subject of religion.
Jean-Luc Marion, a postmodern religious thinker, characterizes reli-
gion as a “saturated phenomenon.” By characterizing religion as satu-
rated, Marion points to its excessive nature in the sense that it renders
itself nearly invisible in its excessiveness. The concepts that follow in
this book are part of the excessive and rich nature of religion. But there
is no single concept that captures its essence. Each concept adds to an
understanding of its nature because each concept is part of the whole
without any single concept able to dominate its nature. Each concept
helps a reader grasp how abundantly complex religion is and how diffi-
cult it is to define precisely. Hence, the concepts to follow contribute to
our understanding of the saturated nature of religion.
As the following concepts are defined, they are usually followed by
examples taken from ancient and modern religions manifested throughout
the course of history and from religious traditions that span the globe.
These illustrations from various religious traditions spanning the vast
sweep of time and space are intended to be part of the definition of the
concepts. It is presupposed that straightforward definitions of concepts are
not only dull, which would be akin to reading a dictionary, but that they
are inadequate in helping readers understand the concepts. If the concepts
in this book are, moreover, abstractions to some degree, the various illus-
trations are intended to make the concept come to life in a concrete way
for a reader and to demonstrate that the concepts are or have been mean-
ingful and alive in the everyday modes of life of practitioners.
Because of the plethora of concepts in Religious Studies, any author
of a book of this type is forced to be selective and acknowledge that one
cannot be exhaustive, which would be more appropriate for a multi-
volume encyclopedia. Some selections are rather obvious such as doc-
trine, ritual, gods, myth, rites of passage, or salvation, whereas other
possibly less obvious entries are selected with the intention of stimulating