ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the nature of ‘religion’ and argues that the boundaries between religions are blurred and subject to change and reinterpretation. The terms that are used often fail to capture the ambiguous and contested nature of religion, as do the names of the different religions. Furthermore, the terms often found their origin to Western European culture and are not found in this form in other cultures. A number of different interpretations of religion are discussed, that of religion as experience of the Holy, that of religion as transcendent reality, and that of Ninian Smart’s influential dimensional account. All have their strengths and weaknesses.
