Religion and Meaning

Abstract

This chapter reviews the advantages of approaching religious meaning as a Sign system following Peirce's theory of Semiotics; and considers form, genre, and practice in religious Semiotics. Meaning-aware social theories use methods capable of grasping meaning natively. Each of the two main traditions, Semiotic Pragmaticism and phenomenological approaches has unique advantages. Several key advantages derive from understanding religious meaning as pragmatic and as a Sign system. Seminal forms and their descendant texts and practices remain fragile figurations to keep religious temporality intact – some defending religious integrity less successfully. The chapter examines Sign classes, and proposes a semiotic grid of religious practices. A meaningful haystack of religious practices contradicts meaning, which reflects our ways of thought, or what counts as order. Semiotic Pragmatic supplied the logical scaffolding for synthesis as one meaning, a coherent whole.