The debate over the proper definition of religion has occupied the attention of social scientists for many years without shedding much light on the nature of religion. One reason for this lack of progress is that most participants in the debate have accepted a naturalistic conception of religion. The goal of this volume is to inspire a re-orientation in the way students of religion think about the task of defining religion and to encourage an appreciation of the fact that defining religion is fundamentally a social and political process. ways in which academicians have traditionally defined...