Abstract

Accurately defining the concept “community” is complicated by the disciplinary and interdisciplinary variety of treatments of the term. Therefore, this article offers an interdisciplinary comparison of community markers in classical sociology, psychology, anthropology, new media studies, and contemporary sociology. It is argued that the plurality of community markers is responsible for discrepant research outcomes. The concept is further challenged in religious studies by the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging (MRB), which denotes the combination of various religious traditions as a multiplicity of belongings. The resultant multiple community belonging is revealed to confound common community markers in religious studies. After locating multiple community belonging in broader community research, the author hypothesizes that multiple community belonging likens multiple religious community belonging. Finally, MRB scholarship is reformulated to present several viable models of community belonging. The author concludes by outlining relevant challenges to community scholars.