The word ‘religion’ resists definition but remains necessary

The word ‘religion’ resists definition but remains necessary

Despite centuries of trying, the term ‘religion’ has proven impossible to define. Then why does it remain so necessary?

The Persistence Of Religion

Kwame Anthony Appiah at Aeon Magazine: We tend to think of religion as an age-old feature of human existence. So it can be startling to learn that the very concept dates to the early modern era. Yes, you find gods, temples, sacrifices and rituals in the ancient Mediterranean, classical China, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. What you don’t find is a term that quite maps onto ‘religion’. What about the Romans, to whom we owe the word? Their notion of r…