Religion: Communication with the Supernatural

The many and extremely varied forms of practice and belief which are classified as “religion” have long defied the attempts of anthropologists to find a common core or common denominator which would provide a basis for an all-inclusive definition of religious phenomena. In this article Nida discusses many of the varied forms of religious practice as communication with the supernatural, as the sending or receiving of a “message” to or from the non-earthly or non-human sphere. He feels that such communication is basic to non-personalized religious practice like magic, and that it is implicit in a concept of non-personalized religious power (mana) as well as in more obviously communicative religious forms like prayer. The significance of the theory is discussed in relation to Christianity as well as to other religious forms.