Epistemology of Divine Authority: A Cross-Religious Typological Dataset

Epistemology of Divine Authority: A Cross-Religious Typological Dataset Overview This dataset maps 92 religious traditions across two continuous dimensions — locus of divine authority (centralized to individual) and doctrinal flexibility (rigid to open) — and assigns each tradition to one of five organizational types: institutional, communal, initiatory, mystical, or individual. The dataset was developed as a companion to the research note "Beyond Church, Sect, and Mysticism: The Initiatory Type as a Fifth Category in the Typology of Religious Organizations," which proposes an extension to the Weber-Troeltsch church-sect typology. Files File Description religious_power_structures_v2.csv Complete dataset (92 traditions, 9 fields) index.html Self-contained interactive visualization (React + D3) README.md This file CITATION.cff Machine-readable citation metadata Dataset Schema Field Type Description tradition string Name of the religious tradition or denomination family string Parent religious family (14 categories: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bahá'í, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, East Asian, Indigenous, New Religious, Esoteric, Secular) tradition_type string Five-category organizational taxonomy (see below) authority_score float Locus of divine authority: 1 = absolute centralized → 10 = fully individual flexibility_score float Doctrinal flexibility: 1 = rigid → 10 = highly flexible/open adherents_millions float Estimated adherent population in millions era string contemporary or historical quadrant string Derived from axis scores (Prophetic Hierarchy, Codified Individualism, Adaptive Institutions, Inner Light) notes string Scholarly rationale for placement, citing relevant typological frameworks Organizational Type Taxonomy The five-type taxonomy extends Troeltsch's (1912) church-sect-mystical framework: Institutional: Formal hierarchy mediates access to the divine (Weber: legal-rational/traditional authority). Examples: Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Sunni ulama system, Theravada sangha. Communal: Community collectively discerns and governs; authority distributed among members. Examples: Anabaptist traditions, Baptist congregations, African Traditional Religions, Reconstructionist Judaism. Initiatory: Graded advancement through progressive stages; knowledge revealed under hierarchical guidance but oriented toward personal experience. Examples: Tibetan Vajrayana, Vodou, Freemasonry, Hermetic orders, Aboriginal initiatory systems. (Proposed new type.) Mystical: Direct personal experience of the divine as primary authority source (Troeltsch's third type). Examples: Quakers, Sufi orders, Zen Buddhism, Beguines and Beghards, Spiritualism. Individual: Maximum personal autonomy; no intermediary, no required practice or belief. Examples: Unitarian Universalism, Reform Judaism, Secular Humanism, Chinese Folk Religion. Methodology The dataset was developed through iterative, AI-assisted research (Claude, Anthropic) informed by academic literature on each tradition's governance structures and doctrinal frameworks, with particular attention to Weber's (1922) authority typology, Troeltsch's (1912) church-sect-mystical continuum, Wilson's (1959) sect subtypes, and Stark and Bainbridge's (1979) religious economies framework. Demographic data draws from the Pew Research Center (2025), the World Christian Database (2026), and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. Limitations: Axis scores reflect informed scholarly judgment rather than independently validated measurements. Future work should employ expert panel methodology with inter-rater reliability testing. Scoring Frameworks Authority scores draw on: Weber's tripartite authority typology (traditional, charismatic, legal-rational) Troeltsch's church-sect continuum (compulsory/inclusive vs. voluntary/exclusive) Wilson's sect subtypes (conversionist, adventist, introversionist, gnostic) Flexibility scores draw on: Troeltsch's accommodation concept Stark & Bainbridge's "tension with society" dimension Iannaccone's rational choice models of strictness Interactive Visualization The index.html file is a fully self-contained interactive bubble chart. Open it in any modern browser — no server or build tools required. Features include: Filter by religious family and organizational type Search by tradition name Toggle historical traditions on/off Adjustable bubble scaling (sqrt, log, linear) Click any bubble for detailed scoring rationale Download the dataset as CSV directly from the visualization A live version is hosted at: https://www.benguerrero.com/divine-authority-map Citation If you use this dataset or visualization in your research, please cite: Guerrero, B. (2026). Epistemology of Divine Authority: A Cross-Religious Typological Dataset (Version 1.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.18903528 And/or the associated research note: Guerrero, B. (2026). Beyond church, sect, and mysticism: The initiatory type as a fifth category in the typology of religious organizations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion [under review]. License This dataset is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, provided appropriate credit is given. Contact Benjamin Guerrero Assistant Professor of Music, Eastern Mennonite University https://benguerrero.com