Home›Initiatory Practices›Scholarly Standing›A standard analytic category in the study of religionBrowse ByA standard analytic category in the study of religionThis page groups practices by how settled their scholarly classification is. Wikipedia notes that "starting about 1920, 'cult' acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions," a term whose meaning has shifted considerably. Browsing this way lets a visitor see which practices scholars describe consistently and which remain genuinely contested.FactsLearn MoreA standard analytic category in the study of religionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedPreparations and disciplines undertaken to enter, or in the course of entering, a status a tradition confers by transmission - preliminary practices before tantric instruction, formal ordination, the seeking of a vision under a people's own law. The atlas records that they exist and on whose authority; it does not set out what is transmitted, which in several of these traditions is closed. 2Contested UseContested or Appropriated Modern UseWell-attestedSourced to the subject's own accountSeveral practices grouped here are closed by the traditions that hold them and have been widely imitated by people without standing. The Lakota Summit V declaration of June 1993 objected by name to the conduct of the vision quest by outsiders. A published ethnographic account is a description, not a licence. 3DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2Learn MoreThe initiatory practices This group gathers initiatory practices, the rites and disciplines by which a person is admitted into a tradition, order or stage of spiritual life, marking a passage from outsider to insider or from one level of attainment to the next. The browser will find initiatory practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's form and meaning, noting the tradition and the transition it marks.A standard analytic category in the study of religionFilter Results5 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll200 (1)1100 (1)Solitary or CommunalAllPerformed alone (1)Performed by a gathered group (4)TraditionAllAmish (1)Eastern Orthodoxy (1)Roman Catholicism (2)Tibetan Buddhism (1)Category of PracticeAllInitiatory (1)Who Performs ItAllAll adherents of the tradition (1)Initiates only (1)The candidate undergoing the rite (2)Trained or authorised specialists (1)Practice StatusAllLiving tradition, practised today (4)CadenceAllContinuous: a standing discipline, not an event (1)Once, or at a turning point in a life (3)ObligationAllObligatory on those who meet its conditions (1)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (3)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 5CatechumenateA standard analytic category in the study of religionNgondro (preliminary practices)A standard analytic category in the study of religionOrdinationA standard analytic category in the study of religionRumspringaA standard analytic category in the study of religionVision questA standard analytic category in the study of religionSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensionstier 1Catherine Bell, Oxford University Press, 1997Basic Genres of Ritual ActionView the Source3. Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spiritualitytier 1Lakota Summit V, 1993the holders' own accountDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.