theories of religion can be divided into substantive theories

8/3/2019 Theories of Religion Can Be Divided Into Substantive Theories

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Theories ofreligion can be divided into substantive theories (focusing on what religion is) andfunctional orreductionisttheories (focusing on what it does). Influential substantive theorieshave been proposed by Tylor and Frazer(focusing on the explanatory value of religion for itsadherents), by the theologianRudolf Otto (focusing on the importance ofreligious experience,more specifically experiences that are both fascinating and terrifying), Mircea Eliade (focusing

on the longing for otherworldly perfection, the quest for meaning, and the search for patterns inmythology in various religions).

Influential functional theories have been proposed by Karl Marx(focusing on the economicbackground), Sigmund Freud (focusing on neurosis as apsychologicalorigin of religiousbeliefs), and mile Durkheim (focusing on the social function of religions).

Max Weberdid not so much propose a general theory of religion as he focused on the interactionbetween society and religion. He also introduced a number of key concepts to thesociology ofreligion.

In contrast to earlier theorists, the anthropologistsE. E. Evans-Pritchardand Clifford Geertzperformed detailed ethnographicalstudies of "primitive" cultures, and came to the conclusionthat earlier theories had been one-sided at best. Geertz denied that it would ever be possible topropose a general theory of religion.

The rational choice theoryhas been applied to religions, among others by the sociologistsRodney Starkand William Sims Bainbridge. They asserted that religion is able to function as acompensator for unobtained rewards.

Contents[hide]

1 History

2 Scope and classifications

3 Methodologies 4 Karl Marx

5 Edward Burnett Tylor and James George Frazer

6 mile Durkheim and functionalism

7 Max Weber

8 Sigmund Freud

9 Rudolf Otto

10 Mircea Eliade

11 E. E. Evans-Pritchard 12 Clifford Geertz

13 Rational choice theory

14 Evolutionary theories

15 See also

16 Notes
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17 References

18 Bibliography

19 External links

[edit] HistoryPrescientific theories have been proposed sincepresocratic times.[1 ]Herodotus (484 425 BCE)stated that the gods of Greece were the same as the gods of Egypt.[2]Euhemerus (appr. 330 264BCE) wrote that gods were excellent historical persons who eventually became worshiped.[2]

Theorizing beyond mere speculation became possible after data from tribes and peoples all overthe world became available in Europe and the United States in the 18th and 19th century.[1] Thefounder of the scientific study of religion is generally considered to beMax Mller(18231900),who advocated comparative religion.[3] Later serious doubts were raised, byGeertz amongothers, about the question of whether it is possible to provide a general theory of all religions.[4]

[edit] Scope and classificationsThis article only treats influential theories aboutreligion that are open for empirical verificationor falsifications i.e. (attempts to) scientific theories. This means that most religious views willnot be treated here.

Theories of religion can be classified into.[5]

Substantive (or essentialist) theories that focus on the contents of religions and themeaning the contents has for people. This approach asserts that people have faith becausebeliefs make sense to them. The theories by Tylor and Frazer,Rudolf OttoandMirceaEliade are examples of substantive theories.

Functional (and in a stronger form reductionist) theories that focuses on the social orpsychological functions that religion has for a group or a person. [6] This approach tends to

focus more on the subconscious motives why people have beliefs that are irrational.Theories by Karl Marx,Sigmund Freud, mile Durkheim, and the theory by Stark andBainbridgeare examples of functional theories.[7] This approach tends to be static, withthe exception ofMarx' theory, and unlike e.g. Weber's approach that treats the interactionand dynamic processes between religions and the rest of societies.[8]

Other dichotomies on which theories or descriptions of religions can be classified are.[9]

Insider versus outsider perspectives (roughly corresponding to emic versus eticdescriptions)

Individualist versus social views

Evolutionist versus relativistviews

[edit] MethodologiesThis section requires expansion.

Most sociologists and anthropologists who tend to see religion as inseparable from anddetermined by the social context resort to what is called 'methodological atheism': whenexplaining religion they reject divine or supernatural explanations for the status or origins ofreligions, because they are not testable.[10]
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The anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard preferred detailed ethnographical study of a tribe andtheir religion to form a theory about the tribe's religion over untestable speculation over theorigins of religions by, for example, Mller,Tylor, andDurkheim, and what he termed 'armchairanthropologist'.[11][12]

[edit] Karl Marx

Karl Marx(18181883)Main articles: Sociology_of_religion#Karl_Marx,Marx's theory of alienation, and Opium of thePeople

The social philosopherKarl Marx (18181883) held a strictly materialist world view and saweconomics, including class distinctions, as the determining factor of society. He saw the humanmind and human consciousness as part of matter.[13] According to Marx, the dynamics of societywas fueled by economics, according to the Hegelian concept oftheses, anti-theses, andsynthese[14] False consciousnessis a term used by Marx' collaboratorFriedrich Engels(18201895), not by Marx.[15] He saw religion originating from alienationand aiding the persistence ofalienation.[13] He saw religion as supportive as the status quo, in correspondence with his famoussaying that religion is opium of the people. This view is however contradicted by the existence ofcertain religious groups, like the liberation theology.[13][13] Marx saw religion as a source ofhappiness, though illusory and temporary, or at least a source of comfort.[13] Marx saw religionnot as a necessary part of human culture.[13]

Marxist views strongly influenced thinking about society, among others the anthropological

school ofcultural materialism.Marx' explanations for all religions, always, in all forms, and everywhere have never been takenseriously by many experts in the field, though a substantial fraction accept that Marx' viewsexplain some aspects of some religions.[16]

[edit] Edward Burnett Tylor and James George FrazerMain articles: E._B._Tylor#Ideology and "Primitive Culture" and The Golden Bough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Evans-Pritchardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCllerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theories_of_religion&action=edit&section=4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_classhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consciousnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consciousnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_materialism_(anthropology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_materialism_(anthropology)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theories_of_religion&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Boughhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_Marx_001.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_Marx_001.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Evans-Pritchardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCllerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theories_of_religion&action=edit&section=4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_classhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialecticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consciousnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_Peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_materialism_(anthropology)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theories_of_religion&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough


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The anthropologistEdward Burnett Tylor(18321917) defined religion as belief in supernaturalbeings and stated that this belief originated as explanations to the world. Belief in supernaturalbeing grew out of attempts to explain life and death. Primitive people used human dreams inwhich spirits seemed to appear as an indication that the human mind could exist independent of abody. They used this by extension to explain life and death, and belief in the after life.Mythsanddeitiesto explain natural phenomena originated out of an analogy and an extension of theseexplanations. His theory assumed that the psyche of all peoples of all times are more or less thesame and that explanations in cultures and religions tend to grow more sophisticatedviamonotheist religions, likeChristianity and eventually to science.[6] Tylor saw backwardspractices and beliefs in modern societies assurvivals, but he did not explain why they survived.

J. M. W. Turner's painting ofthe Golden Bough incident in theAeneid

James George Frazer(18541941) followed Tylor's theories to a great extent in his bookTheGolden Bough, but he distinguished between magicand religion. Magic is used to influence thenatural world in the primitive man's struggle for survival. He asserted that magic relied on an

uncritical belief of primitive people in contact and imitation. For example, precipitation may beinvoked by the primitive man by sprinkling water on the ground. He asserted that according tothem magic worked through laws. In contrast religion is faith that the natural world is ruled byone of more deities with personal characteristics with whom can be pleaded, not by laws. [6]

The method that Tylor and Frazer used was seeking similar beliefs and practices in all societies,especially the more primitive ones, more or less regardless of time and place.[17] They reliedheavily on reports made by missionaries, discoverers, and colonial civil servants.

Their theory has been criticized as one-sided for focusing on mere intellectual aspects ofreligions, while neglecting social aspects of religion, among others by the anthropologistE. E.Evans-Pritchard.[18][19] Tylor's anthropological method has been criticized as out-of-contextcomparisons of practices in different cultures and times. Tylor's and Frazer's view on the originof religion has been classified as unverifiable speculation.[19] The view that monotheism is a moreevolved than polytheism has been disconfirmed by evidence: monotheism is more prevalent inhunter societies than in agricultural societies. The view thatsocieties' views and practices growmore evolved over time in a uniform way has been criticized as unverifiable and contradicted bydata from anthropological studies, among others by the writerAndrew Lang (18441912) and E.E. Evans-Pritchard.[20][21][22] The individualist, intellectual view of religion, as proposed by Tylorand Frazer, is still considered worthwhile by many contemporary experts of the field, amongothers by the anthropologist Robin Horton.[23]

[edit] mile Durkheim and functionalismMain articles: mile_Durkheim#Religion, Sacred-profane dichotomy, and Collective

effervescence
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mile Durkheim (18581917)

Different from most other scholars, mile Durkheim (18581917) saw the concept of the sacredas the defining characteristic of religion, not faith in the supernatural.[24]He saw religion as areflection of the concern for society. He based his view on recent research regardingtotemismamong the Australian aboriginals. Withtotemismhe meant that each of the many clans had adifferent object, plant, or animal that they held sacred and that symbolizes the clan. Durkheimsaw totemismas the original and simplest form of religion.[25] According to Durkheim, theanalysis of this simple form of religion could provide the building blocks for more complexreligions. He asserted that moralism cannot be separated from religion. The sacred i.e. religionreinforces group interest that clash very often with individual interests. Durkheim held the view

that the function of religion is group cohesion often performed by collectively attended rituals.He asserted that these group meeting provided a special kind of energy, which he calledeffervescence, that made group members lose their individuality and to feel united with the godsand thus with the group.[26] Differing from Tylor and Frazer, he saw magic not as religious, but asan individual instrument to achieve something.

Durkheim's proposed method for progress and refinement is first to carefully study religion in itssimplest form in one contemporary society and then the same in another society and compare thereligions then and only between societies that are the same.[6][27]The empirical basis forDurkheim's view has been severely criticized when more detailed studies of the Australianaboriginals surfaced. More specifically, the definition of religion as dealing with the sacred only,regardless of the supernatural, is not supported by studies of these aboriginals. The view that

religion has a social aspect, at the very least, introduced in a generalized very strong form byDurkheim has become influential and uncontested.[28]

Durkheim's approach gave rise to functionalist school in sociology and anthropology[29]Functionalism is a sociological paradigm that originally attempted to explain social institutionsas collective means to fill individual biological needs, focusing on the ways in which socialinstitutions fill social needs, especially social stability.

The anthropologist Bronisaw Malinowski (18841942) was strongly influenced by thefunctionalist school and argued that religion originated from coping withdeath.[30][31] He saw
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science as practical knowledge that every society needs abundantly to survive and magic asrelated to this practical knowledge, but generally dealing with phenomena that humans cannotcontrol.[13]

[edit] Max Weber

Main articles: Sociological_classifications_of_religious_movements#The_church-sect_typology,Sociology_of_religion#Max_Weber, Sociology of Religion (book), Charismatic authority,TheProtestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism,The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism, and Three-component theoryof stratification

Max Weber

Max Weber(18641920) thought that the truth claims of religious movement were irrelevant forthe scientific study of the movements.[7] He portrayed each religion as rational and consistent intheir respective societies.[32] Weber acknowledged that religion had a strong social component,but diverged from Durkheim by arguing, for example in his bookThe Protestant Ethic and theSpirit of Capitalism that religion can be a force of change in society. In the book Weber wrotethat modern capitalism spread quickly partially due to the Protestant worldly ascetic morale.[7][33]

Weber's main focus was not on developing a theory of religion but on the interaction betweensociety and religion, while introducing concepts that are still widely used in the sociology ofreligion. These concept include

Church sect typology,[34]Weber distinguished between sects and churches by stating thatmembership of a sect is a personal choice and church membership is determined by birth.The typology later developed more extensively by his friend Ernst Troeltsch and others.[35] According to the typology, churches,ecclesia,denomination, and sectsform acontinuum with decreasing influence on society. Sects are protest break away groups andtend to be in tension with society.

Ideal type, a hypothetical "pure" or "clear" form, used in typologies

Charismatic authority Weber saw charisma as a volatile form or authority that depends onthe acceptance of unique quality of a person by this person's followers. Charisma can be arevolutionary force and the authority can either be routinized (change into other forms ofauthority) or disappear upon the death of the charismatic person.[7]
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Somewhat differing from Marx, Weber dealt withstatus groups, not with class. In status groupsthe primary motivation is prestige and social cohesion.[36]Status groups have differing levels ofaccess to power and prestige and indirectly to economic resources. In his 1920 treatment of thereligion in Chinahe saw Confucianism as helping a certain status group, i.e. the educated elite tomaintain access to prestige and power. He asserted that Confucianism opposition against bothextravagance and thrift made it unlikely that capitalism could have originated in China.

He used the concept of "Verstehen" (German for "understanding") to describe his method ofinterpretation of the intention and context of human action.[37]

[edit] Sigmund FreudMain articles: Freud and religion, Psychology_of_religion#Sigmund_Freud,Future of anIllusion, Totem and Taboo, Moses_and_Monotheism, andOedipus complex

Sigmund Freud (18561939) saw religion as an illusion. By illusion Freud means a belief thatpeople want very much to be true. Unlike Tylor and Frazer, Freud attempted to explain whyreligion persists in spite of the lack of evidence for its tenets. Freud asserted that religion is alargely unconscious neurotic response to repression. By repression Freud meant that civilized

society demands that we cannot fulfill all our desires immediately, but that they have to berepressed. Rational arguments to a person holding a religious conviction will not change theneurotic response of a person. This is in contrast to Tylor and Frazer who saw religion as arational and conscious, though primitive and mistaken, attempt to explain the natural world.

Freud's theory ofpsychoanalysis was developed by studying patients who were left free to talkwhile lying on a sofa

Freud not only tries to explain the origin and persistence of faith in individuals but in his 1913bookTotem and Taboohe even developed a speculative story about how all monotheist religionsoriginated and developed.[38] In the book he asserted that monotheistic religions grew out of ahomicide in a clan of a father by his sons. This incident was subconsciously remembered inhuman societies.

In his 1939 bookMoses and MonotheismFreud proposed that Moses' monotheism derived fromAkhenaten. This view is not supported by biblical accounts and differs from scholarly theories.

Freud's view on religion was embedded in his larger theory ofpsychoanalysiswhich has beencriticized as unscientific.[39]Apart from theorizing, Freud's theories were developed by studyingpatients who were left free to talk while lying on a sofa. Though Freud's attempt to the historicalorigins of religions have not been accepted, his generalized view that all religions originate fromunfulfilled psychological needs are still seen as offering a credible explanation in some cases.[40]
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[edit] Rudolf OttoMain articles: Psychology_of_religion#Rudolf_Otto,Religious_experience#The_numinous, andNuminous

The theologian Rudolf Otto (18691937) focused on religious experience, more specifically

moments that he called numinouswhich means "Wholly Other". He described it as mysteriumtremendum (terrifying mystery) and mysterium fascinans (awe inspiring, fascinating mystery).He saw religion as emerging from these experiences.[7]

He asserted that these experiences arise from a special, non-rational faculty of the human mind,largely unrelated to other faculties, so religion cannot be reduced to culture or society[15]Some ofhis views, among others that the experience of the numinous was caused by a transcendentalreality, are untestable and hence unscientific.[9]

His ideas strongly influencedphenomenologists and Mircea Eliade.[41]

[edit] Mircea EliadeMain articles: Eternal return ( Eliade),Sacred-profane dichotomy, Hierophany,

Mircea_Eliade#Philosopher_of_religion, and Mircea_Eliade#The_scholarMircea Eliade's (19071986) approach grew out of thephenomenology of religion. Like Otto, hesaw religion as something special and autonomous, that cannot bereduced to the social,economical or psychological alone.[42][43]Like Durkheim, he saw thesacred as central to religion,but differing from Durkheim, he views the sacred as often dealing with the supernatural, not withthe clan or society.[44]The daily life of an ordinary person is connected to the sacred by theappearance of the sacred, called hierophany. Theophany (an appearance of a god) is a specialcase of it.[45] Eliade wrote that archaic men wish to participate in the sacred. Archaic men long toreturn to lost paradise, outside the historic time, as explained in Eliade's bookEternal return( Eliade ) to escape meaninglessness.[46] The primitive man could not endure that his struggle tosurvive had no meaning.[47] He wrote than man had a nostalgia(longing) for an otherworldly

perfection. Archaic man wishes to escape the terror of time and sawtime as cyclic.[47] Historicalreligions, like Christianity, Judaism revolted against this older concept of cyclic time. Theyprovided meaning and contact with the sacred in history through the God of Israel.[48]

Eliade sought and found patterns in myth in various cultures, e.g. sky god.Zeus is an example ofa sky god.[49][50]

Eliade's methodology was studying comparative religion of various cultures and societies moreor less regardless of other aspects of these societies, often relying on second hand reports. Healso used some personal knowledge of other societies and cultures for his theories, among othershis knowledge ofHindufolk religion.[6]

He has been criticized for vagueness in defining his key concepts.[6]

Like Frazer and Tylor he hasalso been accused of out-of-context comparisons of religious beliefs of very different societiesand cultures.[6] He has also been accused of having a pro-religious bias (Christian and Hindu),though this bias does not seem essential for his theory.[6]

[edit] E. E. Evans-PritchardMain article: E._E._Evans-Pritchard#Later_theories
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The anthropologistEdward Evan Evans-Pritchard(19021973) did extensive ethonographicstudies among the AzandeandNuerpeoples who were considered "primitive" by society andearlier scholars. Evans-Pritchard saw these people as different, but not primitive.

Unlike the previous scholars, Evans-Pritchard did not propose a grand universal theory and hedid extensive long-term fieldwork among "primitive" peoples, studying their culture and

religion, among other among the Azande.[51]

Not just passing contact, like Eliade.He argued that the religion of the Azande (witchcraft and oracles) can not be understood withoutthe social context and its social function. Witchcraft and oracles played a great role in solvingdisputes among the Azande. In this respect he agreed with Durkheim, though he acknowledgedthat Frazer and Tylor were right that their religion also had an intellectual explanatory aspect.The Azande's faith in witchcraft and oracles was quite logical and consistent once somefundamental tenets were accepted. Loss of faith in the fundamental tenets could not be enduredbecause of its social importance and hence they had an elaborate system of explanations (orexcuses) against disproving evidence. Besides an alternative system of terms or school ofthought did not exist.[52]

He was heavily critical about earlier theorists ofprimitive religion with the exception ofLucien

Lvy-Bruhl, asserting that they made statements about primitive people without having enoughinside knowledge to make more than a guess. In spite of his praise of Bruhl's works, Evans-Pritchard disagreed with Bruhl's statement that a member of a "primitive" tribe saying "I am themoon" is prelogical, but that this statement makes perfect sense within their culture if understoodmetaphorically.[53][54]

Apart from the Azande, Evans-Pritchard, also studied the neighbouring, but very differentNuerpeople.The Nuer had had an abstract monotheistic faith, somewhat similar to Christianity andJudaism, though it included lesser spirits. They had also totemism, but this was a minor aspect oftheir religion and hence a corrective to Durkheim's generalizations should be made. Evans-Pritchard did not propose a theory of religions, but only a theory of the Nuer religion.

[edit] Clifford GeertzMain articles: Clifford_Geertz#Thought_and_worksandThick descriptionThe anthropologistClifford Geertz (19262006) made several detailedethnography studies inJavanese villages, a more complex and multi-religious society than Evans-Pritchard had studied.He avoided the subjective and vague concept of groupattitude as used byRuth Benedict byusing the analysis of society as proposed by Talcott Parsons who in turn had adapted it fromMaxWeber.[37] Parsons' adaptation distinguished all human groups on three levels i.e. 1. an individuallevel that is controlled by 2. a social system that is in turn controlled by 3. a cultural system.[37]

Geertz followed Weber when he wrote that "man is an animal suspended in webs of significancehe himself has spun and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search oflaw but an interpretive one in search of meaning". [55] Geertz held the view that mere explanations

to describe religions and cultures are not sufficient: interpretations are needed too.[56] Headvocated what he called thick descriptions to interpret symbols by observing them in use. Hetherefore held the view that the anthropologist must be both empirically rigorous and a goodinterpreter. In 1972 he wrote that cultural analysis is (or should be) guessing at meanings,assessing the guesses and drawing explanatory conclusions from the better guesses.[57]

Geertz saw religion as one of the cultural systems of a society. He defined religion as

(1) a system of symbols
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(2) which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations inmen(3) by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and(4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that(5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.[58]

With symbols Geertz meant a carrier that embodies a conception, because he saw religion andculture as systems of communication.[58]

This definition emphasizes the mutual reinforcement betweenworld view and ethics.

Though he used more or less the same methodology as Evans-Pritchard, he did not share Evans-Pritchard's hope that a theory of religion could ever be found. Geertz proposed methodology wasnot the scientific method of thenatural science, butthe method of historians studying history.[6]

[edit] Rational choice theoryMain article: Theory of religious economy

The rational choice theoryhas been applied to religions, among others by the sociologists

Rodney Stark(1934 ) and William Sims Bainbridge (1940 ).[59]

They see religions as systemsof "compensators".[60] Compensators are a body of language and practices that compensate forsome physical lack or frustrated goal. They can be divided into specific compensators(compensators for the failure to achieve specific goals), and general compensators (compensatorsfor failure to achieve any goal).[60][61] They define religion as a system of compensator that relieson the supernatural.[62] They assert that only a supernatural compensator can explain death or themeaning of life.[62]

It has been observed that social or political movements that fail to achieve their goals will oftentransform into religions. As it becomes clear that the goals of the movement will not be achievedby natural means (at least within their lifetimes), members of the movement will look to thesupernatural to achieve what cannot be achieved naturally. The new religious beliefs are

compensators for the failure to achieve the original goals. Examples of this include thecounterculturemovement in America: the early counterculture movement was intent on changingsociety and removing its injustice and boredom; but as members of the movement proved unableto achieve these goals they turned to Eastern and new religions as compensators.[61]

Most religions start out their lives as cults orsects, i.e. groups in high tension with thesurrounding society. Over time, they tend to either die out, or become more established,mainstream and in less tension with society. Cults are new groups with a new noveltheology,while sects are attempts to return mainstream religions to (what the sect views as) their originalpurity. Mainstream established groups are called denominations. The comments below about cultformation apply equally well to sect formation.[61]

There are four models of cult formation: thePsychopathological Model, the Entrepreneurial

Model, the Social Model and the Normal Revelations model. Psychopathological model: religions are founded during a period of severe stress in the

life of the founder. The founder suffers from psychological problems, which they resolvethrough the founding of the religion. (The development of the religion is for them a formof self-therapy, or self-medication.)

Entrepreneurial model: founders of religions act like entrepreneurs, developing newproducts (religions) to sell to consumers (to convert people to). According to this model,most founders of new religions already have experience in several religious groups before
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they begin their own. They take ideas from the pre-existing religions, and try to improveon them to make them more popular.

Social model: religions are founded by means ofsocial implosions. Members of thereligious group spend less and less time with people outside the group, and more andmore time with each other within it. The level of affection and emotional bonding

between members of a group increases, and their emotional bonds to members outside thegroup diminish. According to the social model, when a social implosion occurs, the groupwill naturally develop a new theology and rituals to accompany it.

Normal revelations: religions are founded when the founder interprets ordinary naturalphenomena as supernatural; for instance, ascribing his or her own creativity in inventingthe religion to that of the deity.[61]

Some religions are better described by one model than another, though all apply to differingdegrees to all religions.

Once a cult or sect has been founded, the next problem for the founder is to convert newmembers to it. Prime candidates forreligious conversion are those with an openness to religion,but who do not belong or fit well in any existing religious group. Those with no religion or nointerest in religion are difficult to convert, especially since the cult and sect beliefs are soextreme by the standards of the surrounding society. But those already happy members of areligious group are difficult to convert as well, since they have strong social links to theirpreexisting religion and are unlikely to want to sever them in order to join a new one. The bestcandidates for religious conversion are those who are members of or have been associated withreligious groups (thereby showing an interest or openness to religion), yet exist on the fringe ofthese groups, without strong social ties to prevent them from joining a new group.[63]

Potential converts vary in their level of social connection.New religions best spread through pre-existing friendship networks. Converts who are marginal with few friends are easy to convert,but having few friends to convert they cannot add much to the further growth of the organization.Converts with a large social network are harder to convert, since they tend to have more investedin mainstream society; but once converted they yield many new followers through theirfriendship network.[63]

Cults initially can have quite high growth rates; but as the social networks that initially feed themare exhausted, their growth rate falls quickly. On the other hand, the rate ofgrowth isexponential (ignoring the limited supply of potential converts): the more converts you have, themore missionaries you can have out looking for new converts. But nonetheless it can take a verylong time for religions to grow to a large size by natural growth. This often leads to cult leadersgiving up after several decades, and withdrawing the cult from the world.[63]

It is difficult for cults and sects to maintain their initial enthusiasm for more than about ageneration. As children are born into the cult or sect, members begin to demand a more stable

life. When this happens, cults tend to lose or de-emphasise many of their more radical beliefs,and become more open to the surrounding society; they then becomedenominations.[63]

The theory of religious economysees differentreligious organizationscompeting for followersin a religious economy, much like the waybusinesses compete for consumers in a commercialeconomy. Theorists assert that a true religious economy is the result ofreligious pluralism,giving the population a wider variety of choices in religion. According to the theory, the morereligions there are, the more likely the population is to be religious and hereby contradicting thesecularization thesis.[64]
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[edit] Evolutionary theoriesSee also: Evolutionary origin of religionsand Evolutionary psychology of religion

Evolutionary theories view religion as either an adaptation or a byproduct. Adaptationist theoriesview religion as being of adaptive value to the survival of Pleistocene humans. Byproduct

theories view religion as spandrels.
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theories of religion can be divided into substantive theories

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