ABSTRACT
Theories of religion are attempts to interpret and explain phenomena identified and categorized as religions. They are generalizations about the category ‘religion’ rather than explanations of particular religions. There exists a certain classification of types of theories related to the presumptions adopted by the theorist who decides to address the issue of religion. This classification derives from the acceptance or not of the truth of religion, that is, whether God or gods actually exist. An affirmative reply takes religion to be a matter of revelation or divine intervention and does not question the existence of the supernatural or transcendent reality. Such a religionist (or, religious) approach to religion is effectively a theological one and thus prone to rejection when one examines religion as a social creation or human by-product.1 On the other hand, theories that either deny or simply do not broach the question of the truth of god(s), but rather approach religion as a human creation that addresses specific human needs, are commonly categorized as naturalistic (or social scientific) approaches to religion.
