TABLE 1.1. Some Multidimensional Approaches to the Study of Individual Religion
Allen and Spilka (1967)
"Utilizes an abstract philosophical perspective: multiplex religious ideas are
relatively clear in meaning and an open and flexible framework of
commitment relates religion to daily activities" (p. 205).
"Vague, non-differentiated, bifurcated, neutralized" (p. 205). A
cognitively simplified and personally convenient faith.
Allport(1966)
"Faith as a supreme value in its own right... oriented toward a unification
of being that take seriously the commandment of brotherhood, strives to
transcend all self-centered needs" (p. 455).
"Religion that is strictly utilitarian; useful for the self in granting safety,
social standing, solace, and endorsement of one's chosen way of life" (p.
455).
Batson and Ventis (1982)
"Religion is a means to other self-serving ends" (p. 151). "Religion
is an ultimate end in itself" (p. 151).
Clark (1958)
"An authentic inner experience of the divine combined with
whatever efforts the individual may make to harmonize his life with
the divine" (p. 23).
"A very routine and uninspired carrying out. . . an obligation"
(p. 24).
"A matter of religious routine or convention accepted on the
authority of someone else" (p. 25).
Fromm (1950)
"The main virtue of this type of religion is obedience, its cardinal sin is
disobedience" (p. 35).
"This type of religion is centered around man and his strength .. . virtue is
self-realization, not obedience" (p. 37).
Glock (1962)
"The religious person will.. . achieve direct knowledge of ultimate reality or
will experience religious emotion" (p. S-99).
"The religious person will hold to certain beliefs" (p. S-99).
"Specifically religious practices [are] expected of religious
adherents" (p. S-99).
"The religious person will be informed and knowledgeable about the basic
tenets of his faith and its sacred scriptures" (p. S-99).
"What people ought to do and the attitudes they ought to hold as a
consequence of their religion" (p. S-99).
Hunt (1972)
Taking "at face value any religious statement without in any way
questioning it" (p. 43).
A simple rejection of literalist religious statements.
A reinterpretation of religious statements to seek their deeper symbolic
meanings.
Committed religion
Consensual religion
Intrinsic religion
Extrinsic religion
Means religion
End religion
Primary religious behavior
Secondary religious behavior
Tertiary religious behavior
Authoritarian religion
Humanistic religion
Experiential dimension
Ideological dimension
Ritualistic dimension
Intellectual dimension
Consequential dimension
Literal religion
Antiliteral religion
Mythological religion
Healthy-mindedness
Sick souls
Doctrinal orthodoxy
Devotionalism
Guilt-oriented, extrapunitive
Guilt-oriented, intropunitive
Love-oriented, self-centered
Love-oriented, other centered
Culture-oriented, conventional
James (1902/1985)
An optimistic, happy, extroverted, social faith: "the tendency that
looks on all things and sees that they are good" (p. 78).
A faith of pessimism, sorrow, suffering, and introverted reflection:
"the way that takes all this experience of evil as something essential" (p.
36).
Lenski(1961) "Stresses intellectual assent [to]
prescribed doctrines" (p. 23).
"Emphasizes the importance of private, or personal communion with
God" (p. 23).
McConahay and Hough (1973)
"Religious belief centered on the wrath of God as it is related to other
people ... emphasizes punishment for wrong-doers" (p. 55).
"A sense of one's own unworthiness and badness ... a manifest need
for punishment and a conviction that it will inevitably come" (p. 56).
Belief "oriented toward the forgiveness of one's own sins" (p. 56).
Belief that "emphasizes the common humanity of all persons as
creatures of God, and Goďs love ... related to the redemption of the
whole world" (p, 56).
"Values which are more culturally than theologically oriented" (p. 56).