This is the first lecture from the course Religions of the East: Paths to Enlightenment taught by Professor Stephen Prothero.
In this lecture Professor Stephen Prothero discusses what religion is and why it still matters in the modern age. He provides a number of important definitions of religion from its origins up to definitions by modern thinkers such as Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and William James. While many scholars predicted the decline of religion and the rise of secularism in the 20th century, professor Prothero points out many ways in which religion is as widely practiced now as at any time in history.