Religious, Religion, Religiosity

Abstract

This article proposes a synthetic and comprehensive theoretical and methodological model whose aim is to allow a clarification of debates regarding the definition of religion and a classification of their operational value. After recalling that ‘religion’ is only a concept and not a ‘thing’, this article first turns to the opposition between substantive and functional definitions and argues as to the irreducibility of one and the other. Second, the article proposes a three-tier model —the religious, religion(s) and religiosity— in order to ‘situate’ the field of applicability of existing theories of religion. It then becomes possible to circumscribe to which of these levels substantive and functional approaches’ heuristic potential corresponds, as well as their corresponding research questions.