The Relationship Between Religion, Superstition and Spirituality

This chapter begins with defining religionReligion/religious/religiosity, spirituality and superstition and explores the complexities involved in tracing the relationships amongst them. It also introduces related concepts, such as luck, fortune and magic. The chapter considers the dynamic nature of religionReligion/religious/religiosity, spirituality and superstition and those influences that alter how the phenomena are perceived, the terminology adopted and the extent to which they may be regarded as distinct or similar, both conceptually and in practice. Specifically, the chapter explains how historical, cultural, political andDisciplines and professionseconomics economicEconomics shifts affect the interrelationship amongst superstition, spirituality and religion. No subheadings to this chapter have been incorporated since describing the interrelationship of these concepts gives rise to a somewhat circulatory, holistic and analogue (see Noma and Crossman in Asian Academy of Management Journal 17(1):115–129, 2012) approach to the discussion that does not lend itself well to the conceptual linearity that subheadings seem to require.