This is an exciting time to study religion. Like the massive tectonic plates of the Earth’s surface move undetected by the people living on them, there have been monumental though mostly imperceptible movements lately in the study of religion. And there’s never been such urgency to make sure we truly understand religion, as it is clearly a powerful driver of world events in this post-9/11 world. Beliefs about God shape beliefs about people – both ‘us’ and ‘them’.

The categories of world religions that we have used for over a hundred years are increasingly understood as on…