If the ‘studies in religion’ are to be reinvented, we should ask: what foundation for this reinvention? or What foundation is appropriate for this particular historical horizon? This paper will take one stance towards this issue of foundation – in relation to the question of the meaning of Religion as a notion.

I take this theme of reinvention to be an opportunity to pose the question of the meaning of Religion as foundational in three ways: as the foundational concept of the study of religion, as the question of the methodological foundation of studies in religion, and finally, the question of an ontological foundation that provides a rigorous and flexible conceptualisation of Religion.