Religio:The Origin, Function and Meaning of Religion From Classical to Postmodern Study of Religion

It is clear that the anthropologists launched by Edward B. Tylor in the classical religionswissenschaft period, having continued on the evolutionary line - for instance those of Robert R. Marett, George Frazer - with terms such as anxiety, devotion, fear, deprivation, definitions for the religio also provided constructive ethnological contributions to the development of religious studies. In addition, it is seen that these scientists adhered to the evolutionary positivism questioning the biological and socio-cultural origins of human beings in accordance with the spirit of their own periods as well as they tried to make sense of the phenomenon of religion  within the humanity. As for the interdisciplinary approach of the modern religious sciences; the datum on religion has adopted a method that emphasizes on multiple phenomena values rather than the historical source or the matter of the origin for religion by shifting from tribal religions to major world religions. In this respect, scientists have examined the philosophical, psychological, sociological and phenomenological dimensions of religion in terms of symbolic and functional aspects. It can be said that multidisciplinary character of Modern study of religion attributes importance to the composite of “interreligious and intercultural characters of religions in order to understand the nature of religio. Based on the personal belief of the individual egoist religious and the refues and rejects of all religious institutions, Postmodernism has determined the agenda of contemporary religious discussions by depending on the spirit of time rather “individual religious meanings” and focus on revealing the cognitive and analytical values of religio. Because of this orientation, postmodern studies on tries to understand the “in value of religio, which regards as a secular and human phenomenon. The aim of this study is to examine the reactions of human beings to the phenomenon of religio from the beginning of Religious studies to the present day in the contexts of “origin, function, definition and meaning using analytical approach.