On the question of religious functionality in the works of the religious scholar classics

The article raises questions about the functioning of religion in modern society. The study of religious consciousness provides answers to many anthropological questions. Reference to the works of renowned religious scholars helps to reveal the essence of the content not only of archaic consciousness, but also to understand how modern individual and his inner nature have changed and what new meanings it has been filled with. Phenomenological analysis of religious feeling allows one to move from the study of consciousness to social phenomena. According to the religious studies position, the sacred is not only the basis of religious experience, but also a condition for the existence of the individual and his world of concepts and meanings. The history of religion undoubtedly predetermines the history of mankind. It is the religion that regulates and structures society, filling it with various phenomena. To understand religious consciousness is to understand the essence of the modern society and human transformation.