Definitions of religion impact how we interpret religion in that a definition often provides a structural outline to organize preconceived notions, ideals, and facts of a religion in order to help us make sense of the religion. In this paper, I will examine the work of William James, Durkheim, Ninian Smart, Donniel Hartman, and Michael A. Fishbane, the lecture of Joshua Ladon, and an interview with Kathryn Lofton to determine what is religion and what constitutes Judaism. James sees religion as an individual encounter, while Durkheim views religion through the lense of a collective experience. James says, “Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine.” (Ladon 2023) Durkheim states, “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden-beliefs and practices, which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them the collective ideal that religion expresses is far from being due to some capacity innate to the individual rather, it is in the school of the collective life that the individual is able to conceive of the ideal.” (Ladon 2023) Whether individual or collective, both of these definitions of religion fits with Ninian Smart’s seven-dimensional religion test, which does not require the belief in God. James refers to the individual relationship with whatever one considers to be divine’ and Durkheim to ‘sacred things,’ yet neither author asserts the belief in God as necessary to religion. The authors do refer to feelings, acts, experiences, beliefs, and practices as essential to religion, yet fail to mention the omnipresent and necessary requirement of the belief in God, which bothers me. Religion is not just academia nor an ideology, but God-centered faith.
Ninian Smart provides a practical seven- criterion test on how to determine what is a religion. However, Ninian Smart, in my opinion, goes too far with this framework in asserting that ideologies such as Marxism and Nationalism can be considered ‘religions’ using this seven-point test. Smart says, “However, we have seen enough of the seven-dimensional character of the secular worldview (especially nationalism and state Marxism) to emphasize that the various systems of ideas and practices, whether religious or not, are competitors and mutual blenders, and can thus be said to play in the same league. They all help to express the various types in which human beings conceive of themselves, and act in the world.” (Smart 1989) Then, can atheism be considered a religion using this seven-criterion test as well?
Kathryn Lofton, in agreement with Smart’s seven-dimension test, points out that the adherence to Oprah can be considered a ‘religion’ based on the fact that she engages in public rituals with her audiences where she licenses all of us to find the gospel of ‘self’ ‘and where she finds the best version of you. (Lofton 2023) Oprah resists allowing concepts of differences to make her different from you, drawing you in to her cult of personality. (Lofton 2023) Oprah is the icon of ‘religion’ in the modern American era – yet, there is no worship of God, rather worship of self through worshipping Oprah. (Lofton 2023) It can be seen as a system of narcissistic idolatry. At odds with the concept of Oprah as a Godless religion, Oprah strangely refutes atheism and says that atheism is not a religion and in fact does not exist. (Lofton 2023)
Donniel Hartman believes that one doesn’t have to believe in God to be a ‘good Jew,’ however, it might be a requirement to be a ‘great Jew.’ However, Hartman’s article leaves me wondering what is the difference between a ‘good Jew’ and a ‘great Jew.’ Hartman says that, “Judaism is primarily a modality of being and belonging, a national identity with a strong collective consciousness.” (Hartman 2016, 149) He discusses the core covenantal bond of Judaism: “We may sin, and we may be punished: we may fail, and we may be exiled. But the core relationship of the covenant always remains in place.” (Hartman 2016, 152) Hartman asserts, “But the Judaism of Genesis remains at the core foundation of Jewish identity, an identity which cannot be taken away regardless of what one does or does not believe.” (Hartman 2016, 155) I have to disagree with Hartman as I see that in order to be a Jew, one must believe in God. It is at the core foundation of Judaism and the covenantal relationship, which Hartman discusses throughout his paper. Hartman is in conversation with Ninian Smart, in that in Smart’s seven-dimension test for religion, it is not required to believe in God or a God(s).
Fishbane, on the other hand, conflicts with Smart and Hartman and sees God as central to Judaism. In contrast to Hartman, Fishbane views the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people as God-centric and as all-encompassing in Jewish life. “The revelation of divine instructions (the Torah) at Sinai is thus a central historical moment for Judaism and its history: it is the time when God and the ancestors of the Jews entered into a religious relationship, or covenant, based on these very teachings.) (Fishbane 1987, 15) Fishbane asserts, “As a result, the active religious life of the Jew is not one of theory and deduction, but one entirely filled with ritual and moral obligations constantly making the reality of God present in the most personal and concrete terms.” (Fishbane 1987, 21)
There is no Judaism without God and the religion can’t be reduced to a mere Godless theory or ideology, despite the Godless tests and definitions for religion presented in this paper. Religion is not just feelings, acts, experiences, beliefs, and practices, however, requires the omnipresence of and worship of a God or Gods. Without this last aspect, what one is examining may be a theory or an ideology.
Bibliography
Michael A. Fishbane, Judaism (San Francisco: Harper, 1987),11-24.
Donniel Hartman, Putting God Second, How to Save Religion from Itself (Boston: Beacon Press, 2016), 148-166.
Joshua Ladon, “Week 1 Instructor Presentation: What do we mean by religion? By Judaism?” (video lecture) September 9, 2023, Graduate Theological Union, https://moodle.gtu.edu/mod/lti/view.php?id=391508.
Kathryn Lofton, “Oprah – The Gospel of an Icon” (video interview) September 9, 2023, Yale University, https://moodle.gtu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=391511.
Smart, Ninian, “The Nature of a Religion and the Nature of Secular Worldviews.” in The World’s Religions: Old Traditions and Modern Transformations (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989), 10-25.