PSYC 2040 Chapter : Psychology 2040 CH4
Document Summary
Thousands of different religions exist in even the smallest parts of the world. Everyday people walk around other people with different types of religion. This makes it difficult to be what lewis hopfe calls "a well-informed citizen of this era without knowledge of the religions of the world. " It is important to find a definition for religion to understand exactly what to study about the religions. Paul tillich defines religion as what is of "ultimate concern. " While this definition is satisfying philosophically and by other means, it is too broad for a world religions course. Everyone can come up with their own definition of what they believe religion to be for them, but that also means nobody will ever agree on one solid definition of religion. This makes the word religion a collective name to encompass all definitions. Because religion is a collective term, it is difficult to find the origin of where religion came from.
