Affiliation:
1. Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Abstract
The article is devoted to the system classifi cation of religions on the basis of various criteria, the most important of which is the communication one. As the cross-cultural method shows, there is no word «religion» in many languages o f the world, but there is its equivalent, denoting the connection of man with God and supernatural forces. The system classifi cation of religions is more a system of classifi cations than a classifi cation, which based on ideal, hypothetical models. It based on the object of worship (the religion of Nature, the religion of Tradition, the religion of Revelation), on the sources of the doctrine (the religion of the scriptures), on the methods of obtaining information, or, in the religious paradigm, religious knowledge /hidden truths (prophetic, non-prophetic, etc.). The author tries to fi nd conjugations between these classifi cations. The system-communication method is one of many possible ways of scientifi c knowledge of religion, which allows us to divide complex social essences and phenomena into composite elements, and each of them in their close interconnection and interaction with other elements of systematic knowledge, taking into account the specifi city of religious communication.
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