This page groups practices by their general category. Wikipedia notes that such practices "would include (but not necessarily be limited to) prayer, sacrifice, votive offerings, competitions, processions and construction of monuments." Browsing by category lets a visitor compare a devotional practice against a communal or a constructive one performed for the same underlying purpose.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe sustained acts by which adherents attend to a deity, ancestor or holy figure - prayer at fixed hours, recitation and chant, offerings at a shrine or home altar, veneration of saints and images, pilgrimage. It is the widest and loosest of these groupings and holds acts that are obligatory in one tradition and freely optional in another. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2 Comparison
Primary Academic Discipline Learn More
The Devotional Practices
This group gathers devotional practices, the acts by which the faithful express love, reverence and dependence toward the divine: prayer, worship, praise, offering, the reciting of names and the observance of daily and seasonal devotion. It is the largest practice grouping in the atlas, reflecting how central devotion is to religious life.
The browser will find devotional practices from across the world's traditions. The entries describe each practice's form, purpose and setting, noting the tradition to which it belongs and how it is performed.
Category of Practice
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Worship and Devotional LifeView the Source 3. Wikipedia: Comparative religion
WikipediaComparative religion, opening definitionQuote, Comparative religion, opening definition
Comparative religion is the branch of religious studies that systematically compares the doctrines, practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the worlds religions.
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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