Ninian Smart's
Seven Dimensions or
Religions
I.
A religious tradition (such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
entails a great variety of forms.
a.
Differences
in sub traditions: Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Baptist, Mormon, Unitarian,
Jehovah's Witness...
b.
Differences
by region: Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox; Disciples of Christ north and
south.
c.
Acknowledging
the great varieties of sub-traditions and local variants saves us from
overgeneralization, such as in the theory of a “clash of
civilizations.”
II.
Defining Religion
III.
Seven Dimensions of Religions
1.
The Practical and Ritual Dimension: what the adherents of a religion do as part of that
religion
a.
Prayer:
private and solitary moments of quiet reflection on God; noisy, group singing
and chanting; fully prostrate, while prayer is conducted by a priest; kneeling
down, reciting memorized prayers bowing down repeatedly in direction of Mecca,
chanting from the Holy Qur'an
b.
Asceticism:
severe self-discipline, renouncing pleasure; desert fathers and martyrdom, yoga
and world-renunciation (thorns); Self-mortification: flagellation, hair
shirts - still the senses; snake handling and drinking poisons in the
c.
Possession:
hook hanging, fire walking, possession by demons, gods; speaking in tongues glossalalia): Pentecostal, divine language
d.
Modes
of dress: Muslim women and the purdah; Muslim man who
dies his beard red after pilgrimage to
e.
Pilgrimage:
to
f.
Ritual: prescribed patterned action in a religious tradition.
i.
Sacrifice:
ritual death in which a sacrificial victim is offered to god as part of a
reciprocal relationship between god and human beings. Aboriginal: life force
of victim released. Aztec human sacrifice; Hindu - buffalo sacrifice;
Hebrew bible - Abraham and Isaac. Christian: Death of Christ, sacrificial lamb,
commemoration in communion
ii.
Initiation
into religious community (often synonymous with adulthood): Sacred
thread: presented to guru receive instruction; circumcision in Aboriginal
tribes: ritual killing, resurrection of the
victim into a new existence; Bar mitzvah: 13 yr boy reads from Torah and
becomes a member of the congregation.
iii.
Transition
and Transformation
1.
Rites
of Passage – mark or bring about change of social position and status,
change in physical or spiritual being of initiate; change of life phase
(life-cycle rites: birth, puberty, marriage, death). Example: Death rite
in Hinduism: pyre, son recites prayer to fire, burns, strikes head
2.
Seasonal,
calendrical rites: harvest; rains; birth and death
2.
The Experiential and Emotional Dimension: subjective, emotional side of
religion. What goes on inside the person.
a.
Basis
of religious vitality and human significance, central to ongoing individual
religiosity, to the founding of a tradition itself
i.
Muhammad,
conversion of Paul, Buddha’s enlightenment; devotional movements;
mystical traditions (direct experience of the divine or ultimate)
ii.
The
very core of religion is experience and emotion – all else revolves
around experience
iii.
William
James (Varieties of Religious Experience):
James’ definition of religion = "…[based in] the feelings, acts,
and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend
themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine."
iv.
Is
there a unique and essential form of religious experience?
1.
Religion
as sui generis. Gerardus Van
der Leeuw, Rudolph Otto, William James.
2.
Rudolf
Otto (1869-1937): distinctive human experience of the numinous (from numina: sacred forces, spirits). Mysterium
tremendum et facinans:
mystery that awes and fascinates. Examples: Bhagavad Gita; Job.
3.
The Narrative Dimension
a.
What we learn from stories is different from what we learn from systematic
thought and concepts. Narratives convey their own types of meaning and
information. Cannot reduce the essence of a story to a group of statements
b.
Narratives
are an important part of all religions of the world.
c.
Narratives
are retained, shared, and changed in different ways: Oral/written
d.
Kinds
of narrative
i.
Historical
narratives: Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad -- Histories of: a people; saints;
prophets; nations and lands; wars ....
ii.
Creation
narratives: before history, before time
1.
How
the universe began - cosmogony.
2.
How is creation
organized -- cosmology.
iii.
Destruction
narratives: eschatological (death and final destiny)
1.
Nataraja:
Lord of the Dance, circle of fire
2.
Revelations:
describes the signs and events of final days when Christ comes to reclaim the
faithful. Final days = eschaton.
Flood myths
3.
Creation
and destruction narratives tell us about a tradition’s notion of time:
i.e., cyclical, linear.
iv.
Divine
narratives: stories about the gods
e.
Narrative
and ritual are closely connected - myth and ritual
i.
Ritual
often re enacts myth: rite of passage and primordial sacrifice.
4.
The Doctrinal and Philosophical Dimension
a.
The Intellectual components of religions, however simple or
complex.
b.
Especially
developed in literate, scholarly traditions
c.
The
role and influence of scripture upon the spread and continuity of ideas
d.
Examples
of doctrine
e.
Theology: Systematic speculation about God and God's
relationship with Human beings.
5.
The Ethical and Legal Dimension
a.
Ethics concerns what is good and bad, how one
should live.
i.
E.g.,
the ethic of love in Christianity; Covenantal ethic in Judaism
b.
Law
concerns what you must do and what will happen if you don't (rules and
punishments).
i.
Examples:
Shari'a (Law): pray (5) times daily, give alms, four
wives.… Torah ("law"): hundreds of laws, dietary (milk
and meat)
6.
The Social and Institutional
Dimension: how
people's interactions are organized as part of their religion
a.
Church,
monastic orders, Sangha, Umma.
b.
All
of society itself: totemism and tribes
c.
Institutional
and individual influences in religions
7.
The Material Dimension: physical forms in which a religion is embodied
a.
Structures:
churches, temples, synagogues.
b.
Architecture,
theology, religious practice are interconnected.
i.
Cathedral:
nave and transept = A cross, merging heaven and earth, divine light.
ii.
Doctrine
and theological debate embodied in architecture: simplicity of Cistercian,
Calvinist churches (transcendent God).
iii.
How
people build their homes and communities can reflect their religious worldview:
Navajo village: map of the cosmos. Shrines, dwellings are organized according
to four cardinal directions, points where spirit connects to the world of the
living
c.
Representations
of divine beings
i.
Orthodox
and Protestant Christianity: Icon: devotional painting, carving, or statue of
holy figure. Debate over idolatry: worship of idols as divine. Rock,
wall, relics: hair, bones, finger nails.
ii.
No
representation of Allah in Islam. Representations tell us a great deal
about a religion, more you know, the more you see: Tangkhas,
Hindu and Buddhist
d.
Ritual
objects and substances: the physical objects used in religious ritual:
i.
Cross;
Masks (South American); Scripture itself (Torah); Food.
e.
Natural
Features: sacred landmarks such as mountains, rivers, trees....
i.
ii.
River
f.
Sacred
Cities: Banaras (death),
Terms
1.
Ritual
2.
WIlliam James
3.
Rudolph Otto
4.
mysterium tremendum et fascinans