Dimensions of Religions
Sound definitions strive to be universal in scope. Along with a sound definition, a means of categorizing the common, though not necessarily universal, components of a subject of study can often prove beneficial.
We now explore possibilities for identifying religious phenomena, in part to bring home the important point that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to go about categorizing them. Instead, we seek the most useful means given the task at hand. This will lead naturally to clarifying how this book goes about organizing its presentation of material.Some scholarly approaches to the world’s religions feature specific categories of phenomena as the primary means of organizing information. Religious scholar Ninian Smart’s (1927- 2001) “dimensional” scheme, for example, divides the various aspects of religious traditions into seven dimensions:
• The mythic (or sacred narrative)
• The doctrinal (or philosophical)
• The ethical (or legal)
• The ritual (or practical)
• The experiential (or emotional)
• The social
• The material15
Such an approach to the content of religious traditions is very useful, especially if one focuses on a comparative analysis that emphasizes particular motifs (that is, “dimensions” or aspects thereof).
In this book, we draw on Smart’s dimensions for our organizational scheme, but rather than dividing things into seven categories we divide them into three main ones: teachings, historical development, and way of life. Although each chapter of this book is organized around these three main categories, we do not devote equal attention to each category. To do so would be to ignore the varying nature of the religious traditions and to force an inappropriately rigid structure. Judaism, for example, calls for extensive attention to historical development in order to best understand the context of its teachings and practices; Jainism, for which an early historical record barely exists, does not.
We will continue to explore Smart’s dimensions and their interrelationships as we proceed with an overview of these three main categories.