THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF THE PHENOMENON OF RELIGIOUS
The article analyzes the alternative conceptual approaches to the study of the phenomenon of religion. The variety of forms of religious, linguistic differences for these forms of expression in different cultures make it extremely difficult problem of finding the characteristics which would allow classification of certain religious phenomena. All this complicates the problem of defining religion. There are more than 250 such determinations, and the number is constantly growing, and consider them all is impossible, but all definitions can be divided into groups and to examine the characteristics of each of them. There are the following main groups of definitions of religion: the theological, philosophical, and psychological. In the understanding of the essence of religion there are two main areas: the religious and atheistic. Within these two areas there are many different interpretations. Particular attention is paid to the cultural analysis of the phenomenon of religion. Religion from the perspective of cultural approach should be seen as a social and cultural institution in the context of its interaction with other social institutions and socio-cultural dynamics of the historical process.