Classification and Analyzing the Definitions of Religion

Several definitions are presented about religion by philosophers of religion. Using a descriptive-analytic method, this paper deals with some of these definitions. This study aims at modulation and classification of these definitions to analyze them easier. Difficulty or impossibility of defining religion is discussed in this paper. One of the factors of difficulty of defining religion is the great variety of religions in different societies. Definitions of religion are either missionary or factual. The factual definitions include; rationalist, emotional, pragmatic, symbolist, reductionist, functionalist, intra religion and compound. On the other hand, the definitions of religion can be philosophical, psychological, sociological or phenomenological. Following each category one or more definitions are assessed. The study ends with presenting a selected definition and analyzing it.