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Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics, and the nature and form of salvation. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.〔"Human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, and divine" Encyclopædia Britannica (online, 2006), cited after (What is Religion? Definitions and Quotes. )〕 In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification〔 of the main world religions includes Middle Eastern religions (including Zoroastrism and Iranian religions), Indian religions, East Asian religions, African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.〔 ==Geographical classification== According to Charles Joseph Adams, in the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification discerns〔(Charles Joseph Adams, ''Classification of religions: geographical'', Encyclopedia Britannica )〕 the main world religions as follows:〔 # Middle Eastern religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and a variety of ancient cults; # East Asian religions, the religious communities of China, Japan, and Korea, and consisting of Confucianism, Daoism, the various schools of Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, and Shintō; # Indian religions, including early Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, and sometimes also the Theravada (“Way of the Elders”) Buddhism and the Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired religions of South and Southeast Asia; # African religions, the ancient belief systems of the peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, but excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered to belong to the ancient Middle East; # American religions, the beliefs and practices of the Indian peoples indigenous to the two American continents; # Oceanic religions, the religious systems of the peoples of the Pacific islands, Australia, and New Zealand; and # Classical religions of ancient Greece and Rome and their Hellenistic descendants. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「comparative religion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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