What Is Religion?

What is religion? The answer might not be as simple as you thought.

Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry

Attributions:
Star Wars Medieval Illumination: Chawakarn Kongprasert

For God, Country, and Coca-Cola image: Mark Pendergrast

[carrots]

Long time watcher, I am now teaching Intro to Religious Studies at a small liberal arts college. These videos have been incredibly helpful, especially for my students who get most of their information in a YouTube format. Very well done, thorough, and thoughtful approaches to all these topics.

Thank you for your work!

[KevZen]

This channel is one of the best to understand religion, on a scholarly perspective.

[beccahawkins]

I grew up in evangelical circles, where people commonly would claim, "Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship." This video comes to mind now, particularly the "family resemblances" part of it, whenever I hear people attempt to separate "Christianity"  from "religion."

[mug]

I like the cluster "family resemblance" definition of religion you used in this video. It makes more sense and it's unbiased.

[MyNameIsCain]

Loved the video, as always, and I can't wait for the next one. Fantastic to see an actual academic discussion of religion on a place like YouTube. Please do keep up the great work.

[emilyainscough]

I think everything would just be a little bit better if everybody watched your videos

[chrisgray]

Thank you.
As my first port of call in my search for an answer to this question you have given me much to think about.
I will rest here on my journey for a little while and try to unthink what I previously thought I used to think religion was.

[thomasolenek]

Loved the smash brothers shout out in this and I feel like I learned a lot.

[santiagoaguirre]

Watching this video has been enlightening. My understanding of religion is for more simplistic, but it is kind of a summary of the family resemblances. In other words, it seems to me that most religions, ancient and modern, had three conponents that, in essence, bound communities together: mythology (where did we all come from and what's our place in the universe); rituals (communal activities that reinforce the individual's a) belief in the community's mythology and b) sense of being part of a community); and lastly ethics (the rules for getting along with each other in society). Why is ethics so far down the line? Because not every culture has a specific story about a Moses like figure receiving a code of ethics, and in the case of Judaism, the Bible implies that God waited a long time before giving his people one. It's almost like an afterthought. It appears that the necessity to have certain rules set in stone seems to have only arisen once people find themselves living in much larger communities.

[sarahharris]

Hello Andrew, I know you have a back catalogue of topics for the future, but considering your studies in the Roman -Greco world, a not oft touched upon subject of Socrates' Daemon and his critique on divination would be fantastic. All about Delphian oracles and companion spirits, not so hot on animal entrails and bird flight patterns. He was as much the mystic as he was the sceptic. You won't regret it!

[TooOldFor]

I think there's no better demonstration of how subjective definitions of "religion" are than the ones that center on community and culture. For those of us who are extremely introverted, such definitions carry a high likelihood of irrelevance.

[RezurRexion]

Religion is the belief system pertaining to the order of existence, origins, cultural practices and morality, as it all relates to humanity.

[KriyaYogi]

Your channel is amazing! Thanks for all the great, free info...

[AdjagStudios]

I would classify religion as:

1. a belief or theory about life after death
2. Ideas of the spirit or soul
3. Belief in the message of a supernatural being or founder of that belief
4. The immateriality of the world
5. Concepts of right and wrong. Or positive actions and negative actions

4/5 is acceptable.

[bradgillette]

Always a pleasure. Thanks for your work.

[ftjqvil]

Person: *tries to draw a border between ideology and religion*
Confusianism: Prepare for trouble!
Theocracy: Make it double!
Divine right and co. (mandate of heaven, god-kings...): Meowth yes!

[almightygadde]

“Yesterday we obeyed kings and leaders and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love and the need of money”

[BigMathis]

"Religion is the study of the use of scarce
resources which have alternative uses". Oh wait, that's the definition of economics. Nevermind, forget what you just read.

[geico]

Would it be wrong to say that religion is a systematic response of the human desire to answer questions related to human suffering and well-being?

[aquinas]

Reference books are good for details and also for larger context
Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion, 2016, 862 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, 2005, 550 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, 2009, 609 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology, 2013, 632 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, 2007, 708 pages.
Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, 2020, 704 pages.
Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology, 2017, 627 pages.
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 4th ed., 2022, 2 vols., 2143 pages.