ABSTRACT
With the essentialist approach in mind – an approach adopted by those who presume that religions house a core experience or fundamental trait that sets them apart from all other aspects of human behavior – we can contrast it with the functionalist approach. Consider the thing that appears in many classrooms: a lectern behind which the professor stands while teaching. What is the difference between, say, a lectern and a pulpit? Or, to put it another way, how do we know which name to give to which object and how does the name that we give to it affect how we relate to and value it? Is there some key feature that we can recognize to distinguish between the two, such as color, height, weight, or the material out of which each is made? This does not seem likely, because the same physical object could just as easily be identified as both, not to mention the countless differences among those things that get to count as either a lectern or a pulpit. So what makes a pulpit a pulpit, and not a lectern (not to mention it not being a podium)?
