GLOCK AND STARK (1965) DIMENSIONS OF RELIGIOSITY

1. the experimental dimension (religious feeling) – attempts to measure the degree of emotional attachment to the supernatural.

2. the ideological dimension (religious belief) – refers to the degree of commitment to the religious beliefs of a person’s religion

3. the ritualistic dimension (religious practice) – counts the rate of participation in the group’s activities

subdivided into two parts: ritual (including such formal religious activities as attending religious services and devotion (includes such behavior as praying and studying sacred books and religious writings)4. the consequential dimension (religious effects) – refers to the impact of religious

commitment and involvement on an individual’s general behavior5. the intellectual dimension (religious knowledge) – measures the degree of

knowledgeability about the formal beliefs of a person’s religion.

GLOCK AND STARK TAXONOMY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

The confirming experience – most general kind of experience; indicates such experience provides a sudden feeling, knowing, or intuition that the beliefs one holds are true, that one’s Weltanschuung (worldview) provides an accurate interpretation of the ultimate meaning of reality. What is mean here is not simply the conviction that one’s beliefs are true, but rather a sudden intenstification of this conviction – a special occasion of certainty induced by an experience of the presence of sacred influence.

2. subtypes of confirming experience on the basis of the specificity of perception of divine presense

a) generalized sense of sacredness – to classify diffuse, ill-defined, emotional experiences of reverence, awe, or solemnity which lie on the borderline between the sacred and the profane. (ie instances of special ritual or emotional significance which are accompanied by a mild quickening of faith and a sense of surrounding holiness, often associated with sacramental acts (such as baptism, marriage ceremonies, deaths)

b) specific awareness of the presence of divinity – more focused subtype of confirming experience – akin to William James “something there” experience. Characteristic feature of these experiences is the perception that divinity in a specific way (close at hand, in the room) as opposed to a general sense that God

exists and is present everywhere. However to mark these events off from those to be included in later types, we must emphasize that the present divinity is not perceived as specifically acknowledging presence of the individual ( such feelings occurring in response to what strikes the person as empirical confirmation of the validity of the religious perspective.

The responsive experience – refers to occurrences when a person feels this awareness is mutual, that the divine has also taken specific notice of the person’s existence.

Subtypes a) salvational subtype denotes states during which persons feel that the divine has

chosen to count them among his own, to remark their existence by sealing their election into eternal reward.

b) miraculous c) sanctioning