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1. Ritual/Performative
2. Narrative/Mythic
3. Experiential/Emotional
4. Social/Institutional
5. Ethical/Legal
6. Doctrinal/Philosophical
7. Material/Artistic
Ninian Smart, Phenomenologist Scholar
Symbolic actions done collectively or privately that transform the experience of the world from profane to sacred. May portray/enact a portion of a myth. Includes: holidays, religious meals, rites of passage
Stories (often regarded as revealed) that provide a meaning or explanation for the world as it is or should be. May be found in sacred scripture. Includes: Creation stories, histories of the gods, moral parables, life stories of religious figures or exemplars, stories celebrating a particular people, place, or time.
A change in consciousness, emotion, sensation, bodily states brought about through religious practices of any sort, including ritual, meditation, music, or social interaction. Includes: dread, guilt, awe, mystery, devotion, love, hate, liberation, ecstasy, inner peace, bliss, conversion.
Rules for identifying community membership, roles, identities and participation. Includes: Leaders, teachers/gurus, clerical designations/hierarchies, social/racial/political divisions, gender roles, family expectations, educational systems, sects.
Rules about human behavior (often regarded as revealed from supernatural realm). Includes: Purity regulations, including those concerning bodily processes like food, sex, birth, and death; principles for achieving personal and social well-being or harmony; social/familial duties
and obligations; provisions for meting out judgment and justice; general morals.
Systematic formulation of religious teachings in an intellectually coherent form. May be found in sacred scriptures. Includes: official dogma, theologies, delineations of godly powers/ roles, cosmologies, theodicies (theories of suffering and evil), beliefs about death and the afterlife, reincarnation, the soul, the meaning of life, human nature.
Objects or places that symbolize or manifest the sacred or supernatural. May be used in rituals. Includes: Icons, churches, temples, clothing, the human body, animals, instruments, sacred texts, food implements, statuaries, prayer/meditation facilitators.