Religion Is a Supernaturalism

Abstract

The past 15 years have seen the proliferation of new definitions of religion, but these definitions still fail to distinguish between religion and concepts like magic, astrology, or superstition. Drawing from the social science literature on concept formation, this article develops a taxonomic kind hierarchy for religion. I propose that the overarching concept is ontology, theories about what kinds of entities exist. The root concept is supernaturalism, an ontology that posits the existence of forces outside the natural world that intervene in human affairs. Finally, religion is one of several classical subtypes of supernaturalism. Three attributes differentiate religion from other subtypes, thus providing a working definition: religion is a supernaturalism focused on salvation, morality, and community. This approach has significant methodological payoffs: it can advance longstanding arguments concerning the boundaries of religion, its downstream effects, and suggests that supernaturalism itself should be a core concept of study.

Keywords: Definition, Ontology, Supernatural, Hinduism