ABSTRACT
It is impossible to describe fully the nature of a single religion in one short chapter, and the only true way of understanding a religion would be to live it yourself. But this account may serve as both a rough guide to, and summary of, the religion of Jediism as it is taught and practised currently at the church Temple of the Jedi Order. This chapter attempts to cover some of the fundamental features and practices of the Jedi of the Temple of the Jedi Order (hereafter TotJO). For the scholar, this chapter describes the religion in terms of the six dimensions of religion as proposed by Ninian Smart, with additional explanations for some of the original inspiration of the movement sourced from works by such scholars and religious commentators as Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts and Jiddu Krishnamurti. For the historian, a brief history of the TotJO is outlined, which includes information on how certain practices have changed over time. For the lay reader, the chapter should provide an interesting insight into the lives and practices of living Jedi. This chapter reects some of the particular religious biases of the authors, though attempts have been made to limit this as much as possible to provide the broadest insight possible in a single chapter. This work is very much the product of members of one particular church of Jediism and should not be taken as representing the entirety of the Jedi movement and its practices, though there are many similarities between different groups.
