Abstract: | Spirituality has increasingly featured in writings about religion. This article explores the diverse and often contradictory ways in which this term is now being employed, it questions the reasons for its present popularity, and asks to what extent it can serve the purposes to which it is being put. Finally, by using the insights of contemporary anthropology and especially the work of Michael Carrithers, it suggests a more satisfactory way in which the ideas associated with spirituality might be investigated. |