Summary Of Ninian Smart's Seven Dimensions Of Religion

Ninian Smart’s Seven Dimensions of religion all seem to be expressed in Judaism. The ways they are expressed may be different across the differing sects, which include Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reform, and Reconstructionism. There are certain dimensions, though, that seem to be consistent and are prioritized throughout all of the sects in Judaism. These dimensions, the ritual or practical dimension, the ethical or legal dimension, and the narrative or mythical dimension, which play an important role in the lives of Jews, are prioritized in similar ways and often overlap each other.

In Judaism, the ritual or practical dimension is expressed in many different ways across sects, but there are many consistencies that are prioritized. For example,

Smart writes, “The Jew owes allegiance to the Torah, and usually this Law [halacha] is taken to impose a great number of injunctions . . . the observance of the Sabbath . . . is laid down to the Jews” (Smart 15). The Torah, dictated to Moses by God, is seen as divine and infallible. It is considered to be the original law code of Judaism. Jews practice this law code, the halacha, and it enables them to sanctify daily life and fulfill the Ten Commandments imparted to Moses on Sinai. The rituals of Judaism are also a result of Jews following the laws proposed in the texts. For example, one of the Ten Commandments states, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8), which also indicates one of the ways this ethical dimension overlaps with the ritual dimension. Because this commandment is one of the texts that dictates how Jews should live, as a result, Jews follow and perform the ritual of praying on the Sabbath day. Also, this dimension overlaps with the ritual dimension in that halacha is a type of traditional behavior that dictates the ways Jews live out their faith today. Although different sects of Judaism choose how strictly to follow the halacha and the Torah, all Jews base their actions on them, as they are very important aspects of the

This dimension overlaps with the other two dimensions previously mentioned. The narratives include creation stories of the Earth and Sabbath in Genesis 1-3, along with stories of God’s covenant with Abram in Genesis 15-17. The stories of God’s covenant with Abram are also manifested in the ritual and ethical dimensions. God says, “Every male among you shall be circumcised” (Genesis 17), showing how the narrative dimension overlaps with the ritual dimension. Exodus 12-14 consists of a narrative that tells the history of Pesach, or Passover, which is also involved in ritual practices of Judaism. Also, there are other narratives such as 2 Kings 24-¬25 that are used to explain the history of Judaism. In this text, the narrative explains a part of Jewish history concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. These narratives in the Hebrew Bible and Torah play a fundamental role in explaining a wide variety of accounts, ranging from how humans were created to how practices and rituals came to be