Friday, April 23, 2010

What are the seven dimensions to religion, according to Ninian Smart, and mentioned in Andrea Diem's book, "When Scholars Study The Sacred?"



According to Ninian Smart the 7 Dimensions are;
1.Myths - sacred stories
2.Rituals - practices of the faith
3.Religious experiences - feelings of the overwhelming presence of something beyond this world
4.doctrines - philosophies of the religion
5.ethics - the laws of the religion
6.social institutions - churches/temples etc
7.material forms of the religion - sacred object

each of these play critical roles in a religion, and a religion would most likely fail without even one of these.

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