The essentialist approach to religion is an attempt to challenge the divese approaches to religion which, as external observers and through a reductionist view, have attained an incomplete understanding of religion and put the religious studies in a wrong direction. This endeavor is accomplished through the following steps: first, conceptual analyzing the distinction between essence and quiddity and truth; second, evaluating the main claim and reasons of the essentialist approach opponents, which include atheists, religious intellectuals, and sociologists, to show their shortcomings; and finally presenting some reasons regarding requirements of ‘knowledge’, ‘religion’ and ‘understanding of religion’.
