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University of Kentucky

Selected Works

2003

Religion

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Defining Religion, James M. Donovan Dec 2003

Defining Religion, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

The charge of this essay was to review definitional trends of "religion." Four major types were discussed: content, behavior, mental, and functional. While each type has considerations that suggest its relevance, all are incomplete when examined in isolation. Consequently, two approaches combining these types were briefly discussed: conjunctive and generative. Judging the former inferior to the latter, it was suggested that only the functional definitions are capable of being truly generative. The most inclusive definition of religion, therefore, will be one that is generative functional. Clues as to what such a definition might look like are found first in the …