Origins of the shift in usage/meaning of the word "religion"

Question

I need some research help regarding the shift in the meaning/usage of the word "religion" in Christian parlance.

Background: In recent years the use word "religion" has changed from its classic dictionary definition (e.g., "the belief in a god or in a group of gods; an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods" - Websters).

Some segments of Christianity regularly (mis)use the word strictly as a pejorative, nearly always intended as a damning reference system of works-based righteousness or, less often, as a sweeping reference to liturgy or ceremony. Quite simply, bashing "religion" has become quite a fad for at least a decade. Unfortunately, this word is so widely misused that online research in the origins of its shift in usage has proven fruitless so far.

What I am researching is this:

1. When/where did this word start to shift meaning? (Was this an Emergent era thing? Before that?)
2. Can you cite any examples (books, speeches, articles) from online or even from memory where you first heard "religion!!!!" (mis)used as a pejorative synonym for works righteousness or ceremony?
3. This peculiar misuse of the word seems entirely confined to western Protestantism, but perhaps some of you can cite non-Protestant examples?

Here's an example: in 2009, popular (now former) pastor Mark Driscoll published a book called "Religion Saves, and Nine Other Misconceptions" based on his 10-part sermon series of the same name. As is common nowadays, Driscoll used the word "religion" to mean earning a right standing before God through good behavior. But he and others in his circle has been using that meaning in sermons and writing for at least 5 years before then.

NOTE: This research request is NOT intended to serve as a debate thread over the meaning of the word "religion." I'm asking for some very specific information, hopefully with citations, examples or information from those with historical knowledge of the answers.

Answer 1

In my (admittedly limited) experience, the word more likely to be used in a transparently pejorative way is not religion but religiosity, which Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) lists as the noun form of the adjective religiose, defined as follows:

religiose adj (1853) RELIGIOUS; esp : excessively, obtrusively, or sentimentally religious — religiosity n

That same entry (minus the first recorded occurrence date) goes back to the Seventh Collegiate Dictionary (1963). The Sixth Collegiate Dictionary (1949), however, has an entry for religiosity but no mention of religiose:

religiosity n. Religiousness, esp. when intense, excessive or affected.

The earliest occurrence of either term in the Webster Collegiate Dictionary series is on the Third Collegiate (1916):

religiosity n. Quality of being religious, esp., excessively or affectedly religious ; religiousness.

It thus appears that the farther you get from religiosity as simple "religiousness," the more pejorative the sense of religiosity becomes.

Finding early matches for religiose is complicated by the fact that religiose is a Latin word and so turns up in many books where it is not being used as an English word, as well in some very early ones where it seems to signify "religious."

The noun religiosity, on the other hand is easier to isolate. It first appears in Acta Fratrum Unitatis in Anglia (1749):

As a forced keeping them ["foreign Children"] in Religiosity is of the most dangerous Consequence for Childrens Minds, so far, as even to obstruct their Conversion when riper in Years; we are not forward in upbraiding Children with regard to any particular Persuasion, or consequent Duty, in a religious way, if the least accidental, and (after the most universal manner of thinking) possibly separable from the very main Point of the Bible: Which Book, being acknowledged for a Divine Revelation a thousand Miles round, is certainly preferable to unfixed and severally contradicted Rules of Natural Light ; which now are as much removed from true Simplicity, and, by learned Speculations, as much subtilized and corrupted, as the most embroiled system in the Scripturary Way.

But however positive the notion of religiosity was in 1749, it seemingly had come to be interpreted critically 65 years later. From a letter from William Taylor to Robert Southey (March 1, 1816), regarding Southey's epic poem, Roderick the Last of the Goths, reprinted in J.W. Robberds, A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor, of Norwich, volume 2 (1843):

Wordsworth carries no further than you the narratory manner, and the magnification of trifles, but you Wordsworthize too often. Another fault of the poem is its incessant religiosity. All the personages meet at prayers ; all the heroes are monks in armour ; all the speeches are pulpit exhortations ; all the favourites are reconciled to the church. and die with the comfort of absolution, as if, not the deliverance of Spain, but the salvation of the court constituted the action of the epopea. And in this religiosity there is more of methodism and less of idolatry than marked the Spanish catholicism of that era.

Overall, the frequencies of religiosity (red line) and religiose (blue line) show very different trajectories across the years 1700–2005:

In any case, I think that the emergence and rise of religiosity as an unflattering term for effusive or excessive religiousness is well worth examining in conjunction with possible changes in tenor of the use of the term religion itself.

Answer 2

This is not a recent^* (last decade or so) phenomenon. It it is certainly neither a product of, nor restricted to, the emergent church movement (my own experience is of hearing language such as this in Pentecostal and Evangelical circles back in the '80s). Google Ngram results shows us that in terms of published literature, the phrase "Christianity is not a religion" was relatively common in the 19th Century. The peaks shown are consistent with the impact of the Second Great Awakening (significant increase in Evangelicalism) and the rise of Restorationist sects (eg Mormons, Adventists etc.).

_{*Although the Ngram results do show a more recent spike - no doubt through internet-assisted promulgation of the underlying concepts/phraseology.}

Answer 3

In response to the poster’s three questions:

1. When/where did this word start to shift meaning? (Was this an Emergent era thing? Before that?)

This is not a "new" phenomenon, as other answers have pointed out. I do not know when the meaning shifted, but I will point out an early example further down.

2. Can you cite any examples (books, speeches, articles) from online or even from memory where you first heard "religion!!!!" (mis)used as a pejorative synonym for works righteousness or ceremony?

The King James Authorized Version of the Bible, one of the definitive English texts of Christianity, was originally published in 1611. It contains a total of eleven instances of the word "religion". The first nine of them refer to one of the two definition that you quoted: in short, a belief in some god or another or a system of worship. None of these instances talk about Christian religion.

The last two are found in the letter from James "to the twelve tribes scattered", and refer specifically to belief in the God of the Jews and of the Christians, and to systems used to worship the same. From this letter, I quote: "[26] If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. [27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (KJV Bible, James Ch. 1)

Here is a clipping from a picture of an early printing:

The first use here seems to refer to "a pejorative synonym for works righteousness or ceremony". The second use is the only instance in this work to refer to a "good" Christian religion.

3. This peculiar misuse of the word seems entirely confined to western Protestantism, but perhaps some of you can cite non-Protestant examples?

Western Protestants of various sorts were the first ones to translate the whole Bible to English, so they naturally have had a deep influence on Modern English Christianese. However, I offer a frame challenge: perhaps it is a different use, but please consider that it may not be a mis-use. King James had many foibles and faults, but he had some good translators.

Answer 4

This has been an ongoing argument in Christianity since Martin Luther, if not before -- the whole "works vs faith" thing. And Driscol is apparently using "religion" to mean "organized religion", a common sort of "shorthand" in English. (I'm guessing that Luther was equally "loose" with German a time or two in his day.)

You offer no "evidence" that "religion" is being maliciously redefined.

EL&U is not here to do research for you to ferret out references to support your argument -- there is Google for that, and, often helpful, Ngram.