Analysis of classifications and types of religious identity by means of social and psychological approach

The paper deals with the theoretical analysis of the concept of religious identity and its types. The research reviews the problem of classifying the religious identity within the social and psychological approach to the study of identity in which this phenomenon is viewed not as an independent psychological reality but as a kind of social identity emerging in the context of sociocultural processes. The paper presents the characteristics of the classifications of religious identity and provides grounds for the types of religious identity. Thus, the religious affiliation of a person is a criterion for such types of religious identity as Orthodox, Islamic, confessional, ethnic and regional, cultural ones. Based on the level, depth of religious identity and the intensity of faith, the internal and external religious identity is identified. In accordance with the social and cultural, psychological structure, one can determine the basic or institutional and specific personal religious identity. According to the behavioral features and interpersonal and intergroup relations, religious identity can be positive and negative.