What Is Religion: The Historical Context

Abstract

Religion is a word which gained currency in Western culture and was then applied by it to comparable phenomena around the world. As Western culture is closely associated with Christianity, the meaning of the word religion was shaped by Christian expectations regarding religion, namely, creedal affirmation, sacred-secular contrast, and exclusive membership. The historical context also highlights the fact that the Western concept of religion has been exported to the rest of the world during the age of Imperialism, and has tended to overshadow other concepts of “religion” in different parts of the world.