The Dimensional Model of Religion: Its Use in History of Religions, Comparative Religion, and in Defining Religion

This essay discusses the use of the dimensional model of religion in Religious Studies. First, an overview of the division of Religious Studies into History of Religions, Comparative Religion and further disciplines is given and the debate between a diachronic historical approach to Religious Studies and a synchronic, “phenomenological” approach is addressed. In chapter 2, essentialist, functional, and descriptive definitions of religion are compared. Chapter 3 describes the dimensional model of religion, and its uses. In chapter 4 this is summed up and the author opts for the division of Religious Studies proper into History of Religions and Comparative Religion, supplemented by approaches from disciplines like Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology of Religion. Furthermore, the use of the dimensional model in the historical research into religions as well as in Comparative Religion is proposed.