1. Ninian Smart
Smart’s Dimensions avoid the tricky problem of trying to define “Religion”.
Ninian Smart was the single most important figure in the development of the subject in British education
He was also a strong influence more widely in Australia, North America and New Zealand.
He wrote, "The study of religions is a science that requires a sensitive and artistic heart."
He has identified seven dimensions that are found within a religion

2. Seven Dimensions of Religion
Practical and Ritual Dimension
Experiential and Emotional
Narrative or Mythic Dimension
Doctrinal and Philosophical Dimension
Ethical and Legal Dimension
Social and Institutional Dimension
Material Dimension
By Ninian Smart

3. Practical and Ritual Practices such as: Rites of Worship
Rites of Devotion/Praying (communal and private)
Regular Gatherings
Rites of Passage/Initiation Rites

4. Practical and Ritual Rituals/Ceremonies
Some form of outer behaviour matched with an inner intention to make contact with the invisible world.
Celebration of the Eucharist in Christianity
Participating in the Hajj in Islam

6. Experiential and Emotional
All religions regard an inner experience as very important.
These experiences are often highly emotional.
Mystical or highly charged experiences of ecstasy, wonder or fascination recorded by religious people.

8. Narrative or Mythic
The significant stories (either real or imagined) which explain and inspire. They help to describe the relationship between the human and the divine. Can be both printed texts and oral traditions.
Myths (creation myths etc)
Legends (stories about sacred people in history)
The Christian Bible
The Islamic Quran

9. Narrative or Mythic
Parables (stories about fictional characters which have more than one meaning to help us learn a lesson or moral)
Canons
The words of God
Words of people inspired by God
Words of holy and wise people

11. Doctrinal and Philosophical
Systems of belief and faith, a rationale for when a faith cannot address an intellectual concept.
A series of doctrines or teachings that explain what members are expected to believe in. Usually related in complex ways to the cultural/social practices of the society.

12. Doctrinal and Philosophical
A system of belief in:
Gods, spirits, angels, demons, ancestors
Sacred or important people from the past
human nature and the natural world
Salvation
About the way the universe is structured (cosmology)
The meaning of life
Holy Trinity in Christianity

14. Ethical and Legal
A code of approved moral conduct for human beings usually based on a sacred text, a sacred story, a ritual, a particular doctrine or a belief.
A set of social or ethical norms which portray the key values promoted by believers.

15. Ethical and Legal Ideas and laws that shape behaviour.
5 Precepts in Buddhism
Ten Commandments in Christianity
Beatitudes in Christianity
Jewish Torah (613 mitzvah or commandments)
The Sharia Law in Islam
Polynesian and Melanesian traditions – tapu/taboo

17. Social and Institutional
The organisation of a religion, its social structure, (for example, the hierarchical structure of persons, departments, dioceses and parishes in the Catholic Church).
Sacred Time:
When to worship, festivals, seasons, religious calendars

18. Social and Institutional
Sacred Persons
Ritual experts, spiritual guides and leaders, different roles for different people. How families are structured etc.
Church
Rabbis
The Caste
System

21. Material
The most visible aspect of religions to portray a religious experience/encounter.
Some religions may not have buildings, but sacred spaces/parts of the landscape

22. Material Buildings will have varying reasons for their creation:
To house gods or sacred objects
Mark especially important places
House sacred people or spiritual leaders
Gathering places for communal or private rituals
Music
Art
Symbol
Architecture

25. Ninian Smart
Some religions emphasise certain dimensions more than others.
In some religions, one or more dimensions may be almost non-existent.
No succinct definition of Religion, however it can give us an insight into the nature of religion.

26. Ninian Smart
The Seven Dimensions can also be applied to secular or humanistic worldviews such as nationalism or Marxism even though Smart agreed that these are not religions.
Religion:
Addresses the most fundamental questions about what it is to be human.
Goes to the very heart of what we believe we are.
Has brought out the very best and the very worst in human behaviour.