Implicit Religion from Below

Abstract

As I was writing this paper, I realized that a better title than ‘Implicit Religion from Below’ would have been ‘The Birth and Development of Implicit Religion’. The fact is that little has been written on this topic. Why? Because implicit religions illustrate wonderfully well that aphorism that religion is not created but encountered. Of course, this is the perspective of the believer or practitioner, not that of the scholar of religion. However, even the founder denies making up the doctrine and ethics that he promulgates; instead he ‘receives’ this knowledge; he is only a ‘messenger’.