Religion and Communication: On the Foundation of a Concept of Religion in the Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Against the background of the debates on the theory of religion since the Enlightenment as well as the criticism of a general concept of religion, this article discusses the proposal to understand religion as communication. Thereby a general concept of religion is renounced and the construction of the concept of religion is limited to Christianity. The concept of religion describes the transparent functioning of the Christian religion from the point of view of those who practice it. Only by such a restriction of the concept of religion it is possible to recognize on the level of the religion-philosophical foundation of religion that other religions already understand what religion is differently from Christianity. The considerations thus aim at a pluralization of the understanding of religion.