i.ii. The Original Use of the Concept

The concept “religion” was formerly often identified with actual concrete manifestations of beliefs and practices in Western society. Apart from Christians, Jews and Muslims, it was generally held that other peoples had no religion in the proper sense. They were “heathens”. Theologians who used the term “religion” tended to mean by it Christianity, and in England reference to “Christianity” was often taken to mean that faith as purveyed specifically by the Church of England. That restricted usage has steadily receded as more has become known of oriental belief-systems, and as the study of religion has transcended the narrow normative prescriptive restraints of traditional Christian theology. Religion has become an object of study for academic disciplines—in particular the social sciences—which approach that subject objectively and neutrally and without any implication of adherence to any one particular religion, or a preference for one above another.