This document discusses the concept and history of religion. It explores definitions of religion from various languages and cultures. Key topics covered include the Reformation and Wars of Religion in Europe, natural religion and whether it is innate or universal, different views on the relationship between natural religion and revelation, and the perspectives of thinkers like Jean Bodin, Edward Lord Herbert, and David Hume on natural religion. The document raises questions about how we study cultures without the concept of religion and what this history means for the understanding of religion in the United States.

1. RELIGION

2. *LEIG
“TO BIND”

3. LATIN: RELIGIO
“CAREFUL PERFORMANCE
OF RITUAL OBLIGATION”

4. GREEK: EUSEBIA
LATIN: PIETAS
“FULFILLING SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS,
EXPECTATIONS, AND RITUAL PROCEDURES”

5. SANSKRIT: DHARMA
“THE COSMIC SYSTEM OF DUTIES AND
OBLIGATIONS THAT AFFECTS ALL ASPECTS
OF SAMSARA (THE CYCE OF REBIRTHS)”

6. ARABIC: DIN
“AN ACTUAL DEBT THAT MUST BE
SETTLED ON A SPECIFIC DATE”

7. WHAT DO WE DO WITH “RELIGION?”
HOW DO WE STUDY
CULTURES/SOCIETIES WITHOUT
“RELIGION?”

8. THE HISTORY OF “RELIGION” IN EUROPE

9. The Reformation and Wars of Religion
Le massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy by François Dubois, (1572-84).

10. The New World

11. NATURAL RELIGION
• IS RELIGION INNATE OR UNIVERSAL?
• HOW DOES NATURAL RELIGION
RELATE TO REVELATION?
• IS NATURAL RELIGION TRUE
RELIGION?

12. Jean Bodin (1530-1596)
THE NATURAL
RELIGION IS THE
OLDEST RELIGION

13. Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury
(1583-1648)
UNIVERSAL ESSENTIALS OF
RELIGION:
1. BELIEF IN GOD
2. WORHISP OF GOD
3. VITURE & PIETY
4. CRIMES MUST BE
REPENTED
5. JUDGEMENT IN THE
AFTERLIFE

14. The Deists
St. Lawrence Jewry, Guildhall Yard in Central London. Christopher Wren, architect.

15. THE DEISTS
USE YOUR REASON TO
DISCOVER NATURAL RELIGION

16. David Hume (1711-1776)
THERE IS NO NATURAL
RELIGION.
RELIGION IS A HUMAN
FACT.
RELIGION ARISES FROM
SENSE EXPERIENCES.
POLYTHEISM COMES
FIRST.

17. SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR
“RELIGION” IN THE UNITED STATES?