Philosophy 300
CSM
Ninian Smart’s - 7 Dimensions of Religion
1. Practical and Ritual Dimension
 Worship
 Preaching
 Prayers
2. Experiential and Emotional
 Visions – Mohammad, Buddha
 Conversions – Saint Paul
 Enter the feelings it generates: Sacred Awe, Calm Peace, Rousing Inner Dynamism, Hope,
Gratitude, “Born Again”
 Mysterium et fascinans: mysterious something drawing us to it
3. Narrative or Mythic
 Story of a Religion
 Historical
 Mysterious Primordial Time
 End of Time
 Parables and Edifying Tales
4. Doctrinal and Philosophical
 Underpinning Narrative is Doctrinal
 Stories provide analysis of the nature of the divine.
 An intellectual support for basis of faith
 Knowledge of religions comes from documents passed on by intellectual elite.
5. Ethical and Legal
 Values determined by a worldview addressing Salvation or Ultimate Liberation
 Laws incorporated are Ethical: Ten Commandments, Binding Precepts of Buddhism, Sharia law,
etc.
6. Social and Institutional
 Embodied in the people, Church, Sangha, or umma.
 How does it work for people? (Sociology of Religion)
7. Material
 Buildings: Temples, Mosques, Synagogues, Churches, etc.
 Art: paintings, sculptures, music etc.
 Sacred Places: Natural or Man-Made
 Lack of Representational Expression
Three Main Categories
 1. Teachings
 Doctrines, Creeds
 Beliefs held by the adherents
 Myths (This word does NOT mean falsehood; it’s the source of sacred truth.)
 2. Way of Life
 Practices: External - rituals, prayer, patterned behavior, silent meditation, etc.
 Modes of Experience: Internal, phenomenological, experiential, and inaccessible to others.
 3. Historical Development
 Long Intricate Histories
 Artistic, Social, Cultural (architecture)