Anthropology of religion

Short description: Study of religion in relation to other social institutions

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Part of a series on

Anthropology of religion

Ancient statues discovered in Peru

Basic concepts

* Afterlife
* Animism
* Communitas
* Comparative religion
* Divination
* Divine language
* Evolutionary origin of religions
* Fetishism
* Great Spirit
* Henotheism
* Initiation
* Liminality
* Magic
* Mana
* Monotheism
* Polytheism
* Transtheism
* Revitalization movement
* Rite of passage
* Ritual
* Sacred dance
* Sacred language
* Sacred–profane dichotomy
* Shamanism
* Soul dualism
* Theories about religions
* Totem
* Veneration of the dead

Case studies

Magic

* Coral Gardens and Their Magic
* Treatise on the Apparitions of
Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants
* Neo-Paganism

Ritual

* Angakkuq
* Babaylan
* Bobohizan
* Bomoh
* Bora
* Dukun
* Miko
* Jhākri
* Pawang
* Slametan
* Wu

Revitalization movement

* Cargo cult
* Ghost Dance
* Handsome Lake

Related articles

* The Elementary Forms
of the Religious Life
* Purity and Danger
* Myth and ritual
* Archaeology of religion and ritual
* Poles in mythology

Major theorists

* Augustin Calmet
* Akbar S. Ahmed
* Talal Asad
* Joseph Campbell
* Mary Douglas
* Émile Durkheim
* Arnold van Gennep
* E. E. Evans-Pritchard
* James Frazer
* Clifford Geertz
* Robin Horton
* Claude Lévi-Strauss
* Robert Marett
* Roy Rappaport
* Saba Mahmood
* Marshall Sahlins
* Melford Spiro
* Stanley Tambiah
* Victor Turner
* Edward Burnett Tylor
* Daniel Martin Varisco
* Anthony F. C. Wallace

Journals

* Anthropological Perspectives on Religion
* Folklore
* The Hibbert Journal
* The Journal of Religion
* Oceania

Religions

Ethnic and folk religions

* Afro-American religion
* Alaska Native religion
* Anito
* Atua
* Böö mörgöl
* Chinese folk religion
* Hanitu
* Hausa
* Kejawèn
* Native American religion
* Noaidi
* Shindo
* Shamanism in Siberia
* Shinto
* Traditional African religions

Buddhism

* Mahayana
* Nichiren
* Pure Land
* Shingon
* Theravada
* Tiantai
* Tibetan
* Vajrayana
* Zen

Christianity

* Adventism
* Anglicanism
* Armenian Apostolic Church
* Baptists
* Calvinism
* Catholic Church
* Coptic Orthodoxy
* Eastern Orthodoxy
* Ethiopian Orthodoxy
* Greek Orthodoxy
* Lutheranism
* Methodism
* Nestorianism
* Oriental Orthodoxy
* Pentecostalism
* Protestantism
* Quakers
* Russian Orthodoxy

Hinduism

* Hindu denominations
* Shaivism
* Shaktism
* Smartism
* Vaishnavism

Islam

* Ahmadiyya
* Ibadi
* Mahdavia
* Non-denominational
* Quranists
* Shia
* Sufism
* Sunni
* Yazdânism

Judaism

* Conservative
* Hasidic
* Karaite
* Orthodox
* Reform

Jainism

Sikhism

Social and cultural anthropology

* v
* t
* e

Anthropology

* Outline
* History

Types

* Archaeological
* Biological
* Cultural
* Linguistic
* Social

Archaeological

* Aerial
* Aviation
* Battlefield
* Biblical
* Bioarchaeological
* Environmental
* Ethnoarchaeological
* Experiential
* Feminist
* Forensic
* Maritime
* Paleoethnobotanical
* Zooarchaeological

Biological

* Anthrozoological
* Biocultural
* Evolutionary
* Forensic
* Molecular
* Neurological
* Nutritional
* Paleoanthropological
* Primatological

* Social
* Cultural

* Applied
* Art
* Cognitive
* Cyborg
* Development
* Digital
* Ecological
* Environmental
* Economic
* Political economy
* Historical
* Feminist
* Institutional
* Kinship
* Legal
* Media
* Medical
* Museums
* Musical
* Political
* Psychological
* Public
* Religion
* Symbolic
* Transpersonal
* Urban
* Visual

Linguistic

* Anthropological
* Descriptive
* Ethnological
* Ethnopoetical
* Historical
* Semiotic
* Sociological

Research framework

* Anthropometry
* Ethnography
* cyber
* Ethnology
* Cross-cultural comparison
* Participant observation
* Holism
* Reflexivity
* Thick description
* Cultural relativism
* Ethnocentrism
* Emic and etic

Key concepts

* Culture
* Development
* Ethnicity
* Evolution
* sociocultural
* Gender
* Kinship and descent
* Meme
* Prehistory

Race
* Society
* Value

* Colonialism / Postcolonialism

Key theories

* Actor–network theory
* Alliance theory
* Cross-cultural studies
* Cultural materialism
* Culture theory
* Diffusionism
* Feminism
* Historical particularism
* Boasian anthropology
* Functionalism
* Interpretive
* Performance studies
* Political economy
* Practice theory
* Structuralism
* Post-structuralism
* Systems theory

Lists

* Anthropologists by nationality
* Anthropology by year

* Bibliography
* Journals
* List of indigenous peoples
* Organizations

* v
* t
* e

Anthropology of religion is the study of religion in relation to other social institutions, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures.({{{1}}}, {{{2}}}) The anthropology of religion, as a field, overlaps with but is distinct from the field of Religious Studies. The history of anthropology of religion is a history of striving to understand how other people view and navigate the world. This history involves deciding what religion is, what it does, and how it functions.[1] Today, one of the main concerns of anthropologists of religion is defining religion, which is a theoretical undertaking in and of itself. Scholars such as Edward Tylor, Emile Durkheim, E.E. Evans Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, Clifford Geertz, and Talal Asad have all grappled with defining and characterizing religion anthropologically.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Definition of religion
* 3 Specific religious practices and beliefs
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 6.1 Sources
* 6.2 Further reading
* 7 External links

## History

Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917), sometimes called the “father of anthropology,” took an evolutionary approach to religion. Tylor defined religion as a “belief in spiritual beings” but did not believe all religions were equal or equally “true.” His evolutionary perspective is evident in his book (1871) Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Language, Art, and Custom, in which he proposed a taxonomy of religions and believed that “primitive” religions were a result of cognitive errors. In other words, these beliefs explained natural phenomena that the people or culture did not fully understand. He called this “animism,” which included attributing a spirit to inanimate objects.[2]

James George Frazer (1854-1941), most well-known for his book The Golden Bough, also approached the study of religion from an evolutionist perspective. Frazer's hierarchy of religions included different stages: first magic, then religious, and ending in scientific. Frazer argues that magic becomes an increasingly futile practice as religious systems develop.[2] This is when the religious phase begins, in which the world is explained through reference to divine beings who intervene in the world. In the final stage, elites see religion as insufficient or incorrectly addressing world phenomena and begin to seek to understand the world through laws of nature.[3]

Towards the end of the 19th century, anthropologists of religion began to question the distinctions between magic and religion made by Tylor and Frazer. William Robertson Smith (1846-1894) in Lectures of the Religion of the Semites (1899) proposed the idea of the totem. For Smith, social groups worshiped totems which represented their ancestors and worshipping totemic items accounted for the emergence of religions. Thus, Smith's theory of totemism rose in prominence within the field of anthropology of religion, challenging and in some instances fully replacing Tylor's theory of animism.

Durkheim (1858-1917) expanded on the concept of the totem, viewing religion as a collective societal force. For him, religious forces are essentially collective societal forces, embodied in the totem. The society imparts the totem with its power, meaning, and existence, which in turn gives the god or the religion its significance. In “Origins of Belief,” Durkheim argues that a totem symbolizes society, or as he calls it, the clan, and the god. As he puts it, “the totem is the visible body of God.” The totem itself might be an inconsequential object, like an animal, or a wooden cross. Despite its physical insignificance, Durkheim contends that the totem represents the clan. However, individuals do not consciously recognize that their reverence for the totem is, in fact, reverence for society itself. Instead, they perceive the totem as something external to their consciousness. In Durkheim's view, “society gives the sensation of a perpetual dependence.”[4]

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) moved away from the inquiry into the origins of the religion shifting the theory of religion to focus on religion as a function of the social world. In his essay, “Magic, Science, and Religion,” Malinowski argues that religion in its social and psychological functions promotes social integration and community. Malinowski separates the categories of religion and magic in specifying that magic is used for functional ends: to solve problems or achieve objectives where other methods have failed.[3]

E.E. Evans Pritchard (1902-1973) is most famous for his work on witchcraft. His book Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande approaches witchcraft as a cohesive and internally consistent system of knowing. While Pritchard believed that religious systems were a reflection of social environment, he was primarily concerned with thought patterns and logic within belief systems.

Victor Turner (1920-1983) understood religion through the lens of rituals, rites of passage and symbolism. He considered religion to be the lynchpin in cultural systems. In his book The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, he proposes his theory of liminality and communitas. He developed liminality from folklorist Arnold Van Gennep. For Turner, the liminal stage is a period of ambiguity or transition where an individual's status in a ritual change from pre-ritual stage to post-ritual. The idea of communitas refers to the common experience of community during a ritual.

Mary Douglas’ (1921-2007) work and topics were inspired by Evans-Pritchard. They both explained social systems in terms of functionalism. She defined religion through the lens of ritual. In her most famous book, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, she compares Western and “primitive” societies in showing that Western societies also relied on “magic” through rituals around purity and pollution, such as teeth brushing. She sees ritual as a collective force or system that places limits on the body. In this way, the image of society is carved onto the body through reiterations of purity and pollution.

Talal Asad (1932-present) is a prominent anthropologist of religion today who focuses on religion and modernity. Asad is well known for his work on religion and power. He has argued that overlooking the history of defining religion can lead us to overlook its imbrication with power. He has also pointed to the ways in which modernity has delimited religion to a certain sphere of life, so that religion can be pointed out or identified in certain ways and not in others. In doing this, he has also called for the development of a religion of secularity.

Clifford Geertz and Talal Asad publicly debated the “universal” nature of religion. While Geertz, provided an operational definition for religion that allowed for variation across cultures, he saw this definition as encapsulating certain universal features of “religion.” Alternatively, Asad questioned the very existence of “universal religion” in pointing to the ways in which ideas about the universal were rooted in distinctly Christian ideas and traditions. Influenced by Michel Foucault and Edward Said, Asad questions the conceptual assumptions involved in or undergirding the production of knowledge.[3] This is what led Asad to question the existence of separate sphere of society that could be called or identified as “religion.” In undermining the existence of religion as a separate sphere, Asad points to Western modernity as producing religion as distinct from other parts of society.

One key component of anthropology of religion is ethnographic fieldwork. This is what makes anthropologists who study religion distinct from other Religious Studies scholars. Ethnography is most simply put, the empirical observation and detailed description of individuals, societies, and cultures. For anthropologists of religion, ethnographic fieldwork focuses on lived religion through the study of rituals, worship, religious values, and other daily components of faith. Developments in ethnographic approaches to the study of religion or theoretical developments in the ethnographic study of religion have spanned decades.

Evolutionist perspectives were reflective of Darwinian theories of evolution and saw religious systems in a taxonomic and hierarchical way: some religions were closer to the truth than others and Christianity was always at the top of pyramid. Functionalist perspectives aimed to study religion as a part of society that played an important an integral role: non-Christian religions were not compared to Christianity on a sliding scale, but rather taken in context with the whole cultural context. Humanist theories of evolution see religions as products of human culture and invention, rather than metaphysical or supernatural phenomena that “exist” outside of the human cultures that produce them.[3] Cross-cultural or comparative theories of religion focus on “religion” as something that can be found and compared across all human cultures and societies.

The anthropology of religion today reflects the influence of, or an engagement with, such theorists as Karl Marx (1818-1883), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), and Max Weber (1864-1920).({{{1}}}, {{{2}}}) Anthropologists of religion are especially concerned with how religious beliefs and practices may reflect political or economic forces; or the social functions of religious beliefs and practices.[5][clarification needed]

Recently, a prominent ethnographer of religion, Robert Orsi, has asked scholars of religion to abandon the empirical approach to ethnography of religion that was co-emergent with modernity. This approach entails the impulse to explain God or gods in people's lives as a function or symbol of some other thing. Orsi asks those who study religion to instead take God and gods as real actors, really present.

## Definition of religion

One major problem in the anthropology of religion is the definition of religion itself.[6] At one time anthropologists believed that certain religious practices and beliefs were more or less universal to all cultures at some point in their development, such as a belief in spirits or ghosts, the use of magic as a means of controlling the supernatural, the use of divination as a means of discovering occult knowledge, and the performance of rituals such as prayer and sacrifice as a means of influencing the outcome of various events through a supernatural agency, sometimes taking the form of shamanism or ancestor worship. According to Clifford Geertz, religion is

> "(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) 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."[7]

Today, religious anthropologists debate, and reject, the cross-cultural validity of these categories (often viewing them as examples of European primitivism). Anthropologists have considered various criteria for defining religion - such as a belief in the supernatural or the reliance on ritual - but few claim that these criteria are universally valid.[6]

Anthony F. C. Wallace proposes four categories of religion, each subsequent category subsuming the previous. These are, however, synthetic categories and do not necessarily encompass all religions.[8]

1. Individualistic: most basic; simplest. Example: vision quest.
2. Shamanistic: part-time religious practitioner, uses religion to heal, to divine, usually on the behalf of a client. The Tillamook have four categories of shaman. Examples of shamans: spiritualists, faith healers, palm readers. Religious authority acquired through one's own means.
3. Communal: elaborate set of beliefs and practices; group of people arranged in clans by lineage, age group, or some religious societies; people take on roles based on knowledge, and ancestral worship.
4. Ecclesiastical: dominant in agricultural societies and states; are centrally organized and hierarchical in structure, paralleling the organization of states. Typically deprecates competing individualistic and shamanistic cults.

## Specific religious practices and beliefs

* Religion:Apotheosis - Glorification of a subject to divine level
* Social:Apotropaic magic - Magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences
* Philosophy:Animism
* Medicine:Circumcision
* Religion:Deity
* Unsolved:Demon
* Unsolved:Exorcism - Evicting spiritual entities from a person or area
* Philosophy:Evil
* Religion:Fetishism - Human attribution of special powers or value to an object
* Religion:God
* Unsolved:Ghost
* Philosophy:Greco-Roman mysteries - Religious schools of the Greco-Roman world
* Religion:Heresy
* Religion:Icon
* Unsolved:Immortality - Eternal life
* Religion:Intercession
* Religion:Kachina - Spirit being in western Pueblo religious beliefs
* Religion:Magic and religion - None
* Social:Mana (Oceanian cultures) - Life force energy, power, effectiveness, and prestige in Pacific Island culture
* Philosophy:Miracle
* Medicine:Medicine
* Philosophy:Monotheism
* Religion:Mother goddess - Goddess who represents, or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation
* Unsolved:Necromancy
* Philosophy:New Age - Range of new religious beliefs and practices
* Philosophy:Occult
* Unsolved:Omen - Portent, harbinger
* Philosophy:Polytheism
* Unsolved:Prayer
* Principle of contagion
* Unsolved:Prophecy
* Philosophy:Reincarnation
* Unsolved:Religious ecstasy - Altered state of consciousness
* Religion:Sacred food as offering - Concept within anthropology
* Unsolved:Shamanism - Religious practice
* Philosophy:Supernatural
* Religion:Supplication
* Social:Sympathetic magic - Type of magic based on imitation or correspondence
* Philosophy:Theism
* Social:Veneration of the dead - Cultural or religious practice
* Philosophy:Western esotericism - Range of related ideas and movements that have developed in the Western world

## See also

* Archaeology of religion and ritual
* Cognitive science of religion - Study of religious thought and behavior
* Evolutionary origin of religions
* Magic and religion
* Psychology of religion
* Religious symbolism
* Rite of passage
* Sacred–profane dichotomy - Sociological concept
* Sociology of religion
* Symbolic anthropology

## Notes

## References

1. ↑ Boddy, Janice; Lambek, Michael (2013). A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bielo, James (2015). Anthropology of Religion: The Basics (1st ed.). London: Routledge.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Guthrie, Stewart E. (2006), Martin, Michael, ed., "Anthropological Theories of Religion", The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, Cambridge Companions to Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): pp. 283–299, ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-atheism/anthropological-theories-of-religion/B781D301DB66CC55C8AABB5CEA641F7F, retrieved 2023-12-27
4. ↑ Durkheim, Emile (2008). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
5. ↑ Eller 2007, p. 4.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Eller 2007, p. 7.
7. ↑ Geertz 1966, p. 4.
8. ↑ Rathman, Jessica. "Anthony Francis Clarke Wallace". http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/uvwxyz/wallace_anthony.html.

### Sources

* Adams, Charles Joseph (2017). "Classification of Religions". Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/classification-of-religions. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
* Bowie, Fiona (1999). The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
* Cassirer, Ernst (2006). Lukay, Maureen. ed. An Essay On Man: An Introduction to a Philosophy of Human Culture. Hamburg: Meiner. ISBN 978-3-7873-1423-2.
* Cotrupi, Caterina Nella (2000). Northrop Frye and the Poetics of Process. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8141-4. https://archive.org/details/northropfryepoe00cotr.
* Durkheim, Émile (1912). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.
* Eller, J. D. (2007). Introducing Anthropology of Religion. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-94624-4.
* Feuerbach, Ludwig (1841). The Essence of Christianity.
* Geertz, Clifford (1966). "Religion as a Cultural System". in Banton, Michael. Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. London: Tavistock. 2006. pp. 1–46. ISBN 978-0-415-33021-3.
* Glazier, Stephen (1999). Anthropology of Religion: A Handbook. Westport, CT: Praeger.
* Guthrie, Stewart Elliott (2000). "Projection". in Braun, Willi; McCutcheon, Russell T.. Guide to the Study of Religion. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-70176-6.
* Harvey, Van A. (1995). Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religion. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press (published 1997). ISBN 978-0-521-58630-6.
* ——— (1996). "Projection: A Metaphor in Search of a Theory?". in Philips, D. Z.. Can Religion Be Explained Away?. Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 66–82. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-24858-2_4. ISBN 978-1-349-24860-5.
* Mackey, James Patrick (2000). The Critique of Theological Reason. Cambridge University Press.
* Manickam, T. M. (1977). Dharma According to Manu and Moses. Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications.
* Marett, Robert Ranulph (1932). Faith, Hope and, Charity in Primitive Religion. New York: Macmillan Company. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.157613. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
* Nelson, John K. (1990). A Field Statement on the Anthropology of Religion. Berkeley, California: University of California, Berkeley. http://inic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/essayonreli.html. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
* Pandian, Jacob (1997). "The Sacred Integration of the Cultural Self: An Anthropological Approach to the Study of Religion". in Glazier, Stephen D.. Anthropology of Religion: A Handbook. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
* Walbridge, John (1998). "Explaining Away the Greek Gods in Islam". Journal of the History of Ideas 59 (3): 389–403. doi:10.1353/jhi.1998.0030. ISSN 1086-3222.
* Weber, Max (2002). Baehr, Peter R.; Wells, Gordon C.. eds. The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism and Other Writings. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-043921-2.

### Further reading

* Bowen, John R. Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion, 7th edn. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018.
* Moro, Pamela, James E. Myers, & Arthur C. Lehmann. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, 7th edn. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
* Morris, Brian. Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
* Scupin, Raymond, ed. Religion and culture: an anthropological focus, 2nd edn. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008.
* Stein, Rebecca L. & Philip Stein et al. Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft, 5th edn. Abingdon: Routledge, 2024.
* Winzeler, Robert L. Anthropology and Religion: What We Know, Think, and Question, 2nd edn. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.

## External links

* The Society for the Anthropology of Religion within American Anthropological Association
* Anthropology of Religion Page M.D. Murphy, University of Alabama
* Andrew Lang, Anthropology and Religion , The Making of Religion, (Chapter II), Longmans, Green, and Co, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 39–64.

Template:Socialscience&religion

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Religion

Major religious groups and denominations1

| Abrahamic|

| Judaism|

* Orthodox
* Haredi
* Hasidic
* Modern
* Conservative
* Reform
* Karaite
* Samaritanism
* Haymanot
* Reconstructionist
* Renewal
* Humanistic

|

Christianity|

* Catholicism
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* Nestorianism
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* Esoteric

Islam|

* Sunni
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* Non-denominational

Others|

* Bábism
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* Ali-Illahism
* Yarsanism
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* Rastafarianism

Dharmic|

| Hinduism|

* Vaishnavism
* Sri Vaishnavism
* Brahma Sampradaya
* Nimbarka Sampradaya
* Pushtimarg
* Mahanubhava
* Ramanandi
* Varkari
* Shaivism
* Siddhantism
* Kashmir
* Kapalika
* Kaumaram
* Lingayatism
* Nath
* Balinese
* Shaktism
* Smartism
* Śrauta
* Sant Mat
* Ayyavazhi
* Neo-Hinduism

|

Buddhism|

* Theravada
* Mahayana
* Chan/Zen
* Amidism
* Nichiren
* Vajrayana
* Tibetan
* Neo-Buddhism

Others|

* Jainism
* Digambara
* Śvētāmbara
* Sikhism

Mazdan|

* Zoroastrianism

Indo-European|

* Armenian
* Baltic
* Celtic
* Druidry
* Germanic
* Hellenism
* Italo-Roman
* Romanian
* Slavic
* Yazidis
* Ossetian
* Kalash

Uralic|

* Estonian
* Finnish
* Hungarian
* Mari
* Mordvin
* Sámi
* Udmurt

Altaic|

* Turko-Mongolic
* Tengrism
* Burkhanism
* Vattisen Yaly
* Tungusic
* Manchu
* Evenki

Chinese|

* Confucianism
* Taoism
* Folk Taoism
* Yao Taoism
* Nuo
* Salvationist
* Xiantiandao
* Yiguandao
* Luoism

Tibeto-
Burmese|

* Bon
* Burmese
* Benzhuism
* Bimoism
* Bathouism
* Bongthingism
* Donyi-Polo
* Heraka
* Kiratism
* Qiang
* Sanamahism

Korean|

* Sindoism
* Cheondoism
* Jeungsanism

Japanese|

* Shinto
* Tenrikyo
* Ryukyuan

Tai and Miao|

* Ahom
* Hmongism
* Mo
* Satsana Phi

Austroasiatic|

* Vietnamese
* Caodaism
* Đạo Mẫu
* Hoahaoism
* Sarnaism

Austronesian|

* Batak Parmalim
* Dayak
* Kaharingan
* Momolianism
* Javanese Kejawèn
* Karo Pemena
* Malaysian
* Philippine Dayawism
* Tagalog
* Polynesian
* Hawaiian
* Māori
* Sumbese Marapu
* Sundanese Wiwitan

African|

| Traditional|

* Akan
* Akamba
* Baluba
* Bantu
* Kongo
* Zulu
* Berber
* Guanche church
* Bushongo
* Dinka
* Efik
* Fon and Ewe
* Igbo
* Ik
* Lotuko
* Lozi
* Lugbara
* Maasai
* Mbuti
* San
* Serer
* Tumbuka
* Urhobo
* Waaq
* Yoruba
* Ifá

|

Diasporic|

* Candomblé
* Bantu
* Jejé
* Ketu
* Comfa
* Convince
* Espiritismo
* Kumina
* Obeah
* Palo
* Quimbanda
* Santería
* Tambor de Mina
* Trinidad Orisha
* Umbanda
* Vodou
* Voodoo
* Winti

Native
American|

* Abenaki
* Anishinaabe
* Blackfoot
* Californian
* Miwok
* Ohlone
* Pomo
* Cherokee
* Chilote
* Choctaw
* Creek
* Guarani
* Haida
* Ho-Chunk
* Hopi
* Iroquois
* Seneca
* Wyandot
* Longhouse Religion
* Jivaroan
* Kwakwakaʼwakw
* Lakota
* Lenape
* Mapuche
* Mesoamerican
* Aztec
* Maya
* Purépecha
* Midewiwin
* Muisca
* Native American Church
* Navajo
* Nuu-chah-nulth
* Pawnee
* Tsimshian
* Ute
* Zuni

Other ethnic|

* Aboriginal Australian
* Circassian
* Dravidian
* Inuit
* Papuan
* Siberian

Recent|

* Adi Dharm/Brahmoism
* Anthroposophy
* Discordianism
* Eckankar
* Falun Gong
* Fourth Way
* Goddess
* Japanese
* Jediism
* Modekngei
* Neopaganism
* Reconstructionism
* Wicca
* Neoshamanism
* New Acropolis
* New Age
* New Thought
* Rajneesh
* Satanism
* Spiritualism
* Subud
* Tensegrity
* Thelema
* Theosophy
* Neo-Theosophy
* Agni Yoga
* Transcendental Meditation
* UFO religion
* Raëlism
* Scientology
* Unitarian Universalism
* White Brotherhood

Note: 1 The main source: Eliade, Mircea, ed (1987). The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: MacMillan.

Historical religions

* Prehistoric
* Paleolithic
* Harappan
* Egyptian
* Atenism
* Mesopotamian
* Sumerian
* Babylonian
* Semitic
* Canaanite
* Yahwism
* Arabian
* Somali
* Hurrian
* Urartu
* Etruscan
* Basque
* Georgian
* Vainakh
* Proto-Indo-European
* Proto-Indo-Iranian
* Vedic
* Mazdaism
* Hittite
* Armenian
* Paleo-Balkan
* Albanian
* Illyrian
* Thracian
* Dacian
* Greek
* Mysteries
* Orphism
* Gnosticism
* Hermeticism
* Greco-Buddhism
* Roman
* Imperial cult
* Gallo-Roman
* Mithraism
* Manichaeism
* Mazdakism
* Scythian
* Germanic
* Anglo-Saxon
* Continental
* Frankish
* Norse
* Celtic
* Baltic
* Slavic
* Finnish
* Hungarian
* Ainu
* Melanesian
* Micronesian
* Nauruan
* Cook Islands
* Rapa Nui
* Tongan
* Inca
* Olmec
* Zapotec
* Fuegian
* Selk'nam
* Guanche
* Swahili
* Jamaican Maroon

Topics

| Aspects|

* Apostasy / Disaffiliation
* Behaviour
* Beliefs
* Clergy
* Conversion
* Deities
* Entheogens
* Ethnic religion
* Denomination
* Faith
* Fire
* Folk religion
* God
* Meditation
* Monasticism
* monk
* nun
* Mysticism
* Mythology
* Nature
* Ordination
* Orthodoxy
* Orthopraxy
* Prayer
* Prophecy
* Religious experience
* Ritual
* liturgy
* sacrifice
* Spirituality
* Supernatural
* Symbols
* Truth
* Water
* Worship

|

Theism|

* Animism
* Deism
* Dualism
* Henotheism
* Monotheism
* Nontheism
* Panentheism
* Pantheism
* Polytheism
* Transtheism

Religious
studies|

* Anthropology
* Cognitive science
* Comparative
* Development
* Evolutionary origin
* Evolutionary psychology
* History
* Philosophy
* Neurotheology
* Psychology
* Sociology
* Theology
* Theories
* Women

Religion and
society

* Agriculture
* Business
* Clergy
* monasticism
* ordination
* Conversion
* evangelism
* missionary
* proselytism
* Disability
* Education
* Fanaticism
* Freedom
* pluralism
* syncretism
* toleration
* universalism
* Fundamentalism
* Growth
* Happiness
* Homosexuality
* Minorities
* National church
* National religiosity levels
* Religiocentrism
* Political science
* Populations
* Schism
* Science
* State
* Theocracy
* Vegetarianism
* Video games
* Violence
* persecution
* terrorism
* war
* Wealth

Secularism and
irreligion

* Antireligion
* Deism
* Agnosticism
* Atheism
* Criticism
* LaVeyan Satanism
* Deconstruction
* Humanistic Judaism
* Irreligion by country
* Objectivism
* Secular humanism
* Secular theology
* Secularization
* Separation of church and state
* Unaffiliated

Overviews
and lists

* Index
* Outline
* Timeline
* Abrahamic prophets
* Deification
* Deities
* Founders
* Mass gatherings
* New religious movements
* Organizations
* Religions and spiritual traditions
* Scholars

* Category
* Portal

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