Religion is an essential and enduring part of human culture. It has played a role in all aspects of human life throughout history, and its continuing importance in shaping individual lives makes it an important subject for academic study.

There are many different ways to approach the study of Religion. One approach is to focus on the beliefs and practices associated with a particular religion. Another is to take a more historical or comparative approach. Still others try to understand how the world’s religions have evolved over time. The study of Religion can also be approached in a more theoretical or philosophical way. For example, some scholars have used the concept of phenomenology, which tries to catalogue observable characteristics of Religion as an object, much as a zoologist might categorize an animal.

The most influential modern book in anthropology to use this technique is Talal Asad’s Genealogies of Religion (1993). Adopting Michel Foucault’s genealogical methodology, Asad demonstrates that the concept of religion that operates in contemporary anthropology has been shaped by assumptions that are both Christian (insofar as it treats belief as the characteristic inner state of all religions) and modern (insofar as it assumes that religious beliefs arise spontaneously without any discipline).

Other scholars have taken a functional or “cognitive” approach to Religion. Emil Durkheim defined it as whatever serves the social function of generating solidarity among a group, and Paul Tillich argued that religion is whatever dominant concerns serve to organize people’s values. Yet, such an approach fails to recognize that the beliefs and practices that people associate with their religions are rooted in material culture, physical habits, and social structures, which should be considered as part of the religion’s essence as well.