Based on this, the editors of The
Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (ERN) adopted a working definition of religion as “that dimension of human experience engaged with sacred norms, which are related to transformative forces and powers and which people consider to be dangerous and/or beneficent and/or meaningful
in some ultimate way” (x).
In his introduction Taylor further states that “for many, this meaningfulness and the sacred norms associated with it have much to do with nature” (x).
He acknowledges that nature itself is a problematic and contested term, but defines it as “that world which includes—but at the same time is perceived to be beyond—our human bodies, and which confronts us daily with its apparent otherness” (x).
These “minimalist definitions” (x), when combined into the term “nature religion”, become “any religiosity that considers nature to be sacred (extraordinarily powerful in both dangerous and beneficial ways) and worthy of reverent care” (x).
Muzaffar Iqbal
Book Review
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cis-ca.org%2Fjol%2Fvol4-no1%2Freviews.pdf&rct=j&q=King%2C%20David%2C%20In%20Synchrony%20with%20the%20Heavens%2C%20Studies%20in%20Astronomical%20%0D%0ATimekeeping%20and%20Instrumentation%20in%20Medieval%20Islamic%20Civilization&ei=YcI8U7bGM6jKsAS844GICw&usg=AFQjCNH4ZVOvMc3IOD0hIAIjHFv6ZNWxkA&bvm=bv.63934634,d.cWc
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