Within the depth-psychology and psychology-of-religion corpus, ‘religion’ emerges not as a settled category but as a contested, multidimensional phenomenon whose definition shapes every downstream inquiry. Pargament’s sustained treatment — the most comprehensive in the library — identifies two foundational traditions: the substantive, which locates religion’s distinctiveness in its orientation toward the sacred, the divine, and the supernatural; and the functional, which defines it by its engagement with ultimate issues of significance, meaning, and coping. His synthesis argues that neither tradition alone suffices: religion is the search for significance through the sacred. From this fulcrum, the literature ramifies into debates about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation (Allport, Batson), religion as orienting system, and religion’s role in constructing, preserving, and transforming significance under stress. Benveniste’s philological analysis adds etymological depth, tracing religio to relegere — reflective scruple and returning attention — rather than the Christian-imposed religare (binding obligation), a tension that illuminates religion’s dual character as both inward disposition and social constraint. The Jungian strand, represented by Papadopoulos, treats religious symbols such as the Trinity as maps of psychological individuation. Across all voices, a central tension persists: whether religion is most honestly understood as projection, coping resource, meaning-system, or encounter with genuinely transcendent reality.