For other uses, see Comparative religion (disambiguation).
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Anthropology of religion
In Christian art, the sculpted figures Ecclesia and Synagoga compare the Church with Judaism
Basic concepts
Afterlife
Animism
Augury
Communitas
Comparative religion
Divination
Divine language
Evolutionary origin of religion
Fetishism
Great Spirit
Henotheism
Initiation
Laying on of hands
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Magic (supernatural)
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Case studies
Magic
Coral Gardens and Their Magic
Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants
Neo-Paganism
Ritual
Angakkuq
Babaylan
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Bora
Dukun
Miko
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Wu
Revitalization movements
Cargo cult
Ghost Dance
Handsome Lake
Related articles
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Purity and Danger
Myth and ritual
Archaeology of religion and ritual
Poles in mythology
Lived religion
Elite religion
Major theorists
Augustin Calmet
Akbar S. Ahmed
Talal Asad
Joseph Campbell
Mary Douglas
Émile Durkheim
Arnold van Gennep
E. E. Evans-Pritchard
James Frazer
Clifford Geertz
Robin Horton
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Robert Marett
Roy Rappaport
Saba Mahmood
Marshall Sahlins
Melford Spiro
Stanley Tambiah
Victor Turner
Edward Burnett Tylor
Daniel Martin Varisco
Anthony F. C. Wallace
Journals
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Religions
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Afro-American religion
Alaska Native religion
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Böö mörgöl
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Native American religion
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Shamanism in Siberia
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Jainism
Digambara
Śvetāmbara
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Social and cultural anthropology
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Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and forms of salvation. It also considers and compares the origins and similarities shared between the various religions of the world. Studying such material facilitates a broadened and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.[1]
In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification[2] of the main world religions distinguishes groups such as Middle Eastern religions (including Abrahamic religions and Iranian religions), Indian religions, East Asian religions, African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.[2]
There also exist various sociological classifications of religious movements.
^"Human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, and divine" Encyclopædia Britannica (online, 2006), cited in "Definitions of Religion". Religion facts.
^ ab"classification of religions | Principles & Significance". Encyclopedia Britannica.
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