Eric Sharpe’s Model of Understanding Religion

This study examines the four-mode religion model that Eric J. Sharpe, one of the most important representatives of the English School of Phenomenology of Religion, has put forward in order to attain a holistic understanding of religion in over against one-sided examination of religion. Sharpe's model consists of modes which are existential including religious experience on the axis of faith, intellectual dealing with religious beliefs, organizational that contact with social constructs created by believers and ethical that points to the moral structures of religions. According to this model, there might be a different mode in the center of each religion and the differences between the religions might be evaluated in this frame. This model is based on criticism of the seven-dimensional religion model of Ninian Smart, one of the most important representatives of the same school. The main criticism of Sharpe is that the other dimensions of religion are pushed into the background by emphasizing religious experience. Since, according to him, religion is not a phenomenon that can only be confined to conscience through religious experience. However, although Sharpe’s model emphasizes that need and awareness of the need to study religion in a multifaceted way, the model appears to have remained in the developmental stage due to the fact that the modes are highly abstract and do not cover up all areas of religion