The Ultimate World Religions Quiz

The World Religions paradigm is a category used in the study of religion to identify the five largest and most widespread religious movements, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, also known as the “Big Five.” Other religions such as Taoism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and the Baháʼí Faith are sometimes included in the category. The paradigm was developed in the UK during the 1960s to broaden the study of religion from its heavy focus on Christianity. The World Religions paradigm is often used by lecturers teaching undergraduate students in the study of religion and is also the framework used by school teachers in the UK and other countries. However, the paradigm has faced critique from scholars of religion, who argue that it is based on a model of religion that relies heavily on using the Protestant version of Christianity as its base example. Critics also argue that the paradigm encourages an uncritical, sui generis model of religion and makes a value judgement as to what constitutes “major” and what does not. Many scholars have suggested alternative frameworks to teach religion, such as the “lived religion” paradigm and the “material religion” framework.