It is possible, and may even be preferable, to avoid general definitions of religion any more specific than the loose characterization offered in the first chapter – that for purposes of this book the term denotes the domain of the Holy, the constituents of which include the sacred, the numinous, the occult and the divine, and also ritual, the form of action in which those constituents are generated.

Such a sketchy representation – a verbal equivalent of pointing – is sufficient to indicate the region to be explored, its very vagueness suggesting the indefiniteness of the shape and extent of the territory religion occupies and the haziness of its boundaries. The concept of religion is irreducibly vague, but vagueness is not vacuity, and we know well enough what people mean by the term to get on with things.

The situation is very different with respect to religion's elements. For one thing uses of these terms, particularly “holy” and “sacred,” vary widely, and “numinous” is less familiar than the others. For another, these conceptions both participate directly in and are the specific objects of analysis, whereas “religion” is simply the domain within which these analyses are conducted. As such our understandings of them must be much more specific than our general understanding of the term “religion.” Because one of the main goals of this book is to develop a fuller grasp of the nature of religion, that is a better grasp of the Holy and its constituents, they will not be defined a priori.