Pillar 2: Supernatural

Pillar 2. Supernatural

2.1 Theory
Meta-knowledge of the study

  • Religious studies (W)
Academic studies of religions and religiosity

  •• Philosophy of religion (W)
Philosophical studies of religion and religiosity

  •• Sociology of religion (W)
Social aspects of religions

  •• Anthropology of religion (W)
Cultural aspects of religions

  •• Psychology of religion (W)
Psychological aspects of religions

  •• History of religion (W)
Developments of religions through time

  •• Comparative religion (W)
Comparative studies of believes and practices

• Theology (W)
Religious studies of religions and religiosity

2.2 Mysticism (W)
Academic knowledge | Practical knowledge

• Studies of mysticism (W)
Phenomena beyond the sensory world

2.3 Religions (W)
Academic knowledge | Theological knowledge

2.3.1 Abrahamic religions (W)
Religions associated with God of Abraham

• Judaism (W)

• Christianity (W)

• Islam (W)

2.3.2 Indian (Dharmic) religions (W)
Religions originated in the Indian subcontinent

• Hinduism (W)

• Buddhism (W)

  • Jainism (W)

  • Sikhism (W)

2.3.3 East Asian religions
Religions originated in East Asia

• Confucianism (W)

• Taoism (W)

• Shinto (W)

2.3.4 Iranian religions
  Religions originated in Iran

• Zoroastrianism (W)

2.3.5 Ethnic religions
Ethnic-based religions

• Chinese folk religion (W)

• Korean Shamanism (W)

• Vodun (W)

• Bantu Religion (W)

2.3.6 New religions (W)
New religions, spiritual movements and sects

• Bahá'í Faith (W)

• Cao Dai (W)

• Scientology (W)

2.3.7 Ancient religions
Religions that no longer exist

• Prehistoric religion (W)

• Ancient Mesopotamian religion (W)

• Ancient Egyptian religion (W)

• Ancient Greek religion (W)

• Maya religion (W)

• Aztec religion (W)

• Inca religion (W)

The supernatural pillar

The supernatural pillar studies the supernatural. The supernatural is any "thing" that is beyond the empirical visible universe. The pillar includes fields dealing with religion and religiosity, spiritual movements and mysticism.

2.1

Religious studies is the general name for the academic study of religion and religiosity from a secular neutral approach.

2.2

Studies of mysticism is a general name for an academic study of mysticism and spirituality from a secular neutral approach. Religious mysticism is studied as part of the studies of the relevant religions.

2.3

Religions and spiritual systems. The category includes fields focusing on the study of religions and spiritual systems. Scholars estimate that there are over 4000 religions and spiritual systems. The scheme above classifies only the main religions and spiritual systems.

Categories. The religions and spiritual systems are sorted into 7 groups: (1) Abrahamic religions, (2) Indian religions, (3) East Asian religions, (4) Iranian religions, (5) Ethnic religions, (6) New religions (7) and Ancient religions. The sorting is unsystematic since the seven subcategories are exhaustive (i.e., each of the 4000 religions can be represented in at least one category), but they are not mutually exclusive (i.e., there are partial overlaps between the subcategories).

Taxonomy of religions. The difficulty of developing a systematic classification stems from disagreements among the experts on the definition of "religion". Since there is no agreement on the definitions of the concepts, it is difficult to develop a systematic conceptual classification that will be acceptable by everyone. That is, it is difficult to develop an agreed systematic classification based on a phenomenological analysis of the concept of "religion". Phenomenological analysis is an intellectual analysis of the essential characteristics of the 'phenomenon' religion. Note that In the literature one can find several approaches for classifying religions. Therefore, The classification here is based on an empirical analysis of the existing religions and the identification of common characteristics such as a founding father (Abrahamic religions), geographic origin (Indian religions, East Asian religions and Iranian religions), ethnic basis (ethnic religions) and historical basis (new religions and ancient religions). In professional terminology it is a taxonomy of religions (i.e., a generalization arising from the analysis of the existing religions), and not a classification of religions (i.e., a generalization arising from a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of religion and religiosity).