{ "model": { "rank": 10561, "code": "thing-q846742", "model_id": "vr.tr.history-of-religions", "name": "history of religions", "purpose": "Let an agent describe the history of religions as a field, relay its methods, subfields and major findings with attribution, distinguish it from theology and from religious studies more broadly, and route to entries for specific traditions and regions.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q846742/", "tier": 2, "score": 44, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Religious life and social practices in modern Serbia", "history of magic", "Female homosexuality and bisexuality in religious orders", "history of Hinduism", "history of religion in Saudi Arabia", "history of Shinto", "history of religion in China", "History of the Czech and Slovak Eastern Orthodox Church", "history of religion in Japan", "history of the Catholic Church", "History of Shaktism", "Coptic history", "history of religion in Malta", "history of Roman Catholicism in Belize", "history of Confucianism", "history of the Society of Jesus" ], "aliasCount": 16, "merged": 16, "knownIn": 44, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q846742", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q846742", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T23:13:44Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q846742", "registryId": "vr.tr.history-of-religions", "name": "history of religions", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q846742/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.history-of-religions", "name": "history of religions", "purpose": "Let an agent describe the history of religions as a field, relay its methods, subfields and major findings with attribution, distinguish it from theology and from religious studies more broadly, and route to entries for specific traditions and regions.", "definition": "The academic study of religions as historical phenomena, tracing their origins, development, institutions, practices and interactions over time, including the histories of specific traditions such as Hinduism and Shinto, of religion in particular countries and periods, of magic and of religious life in society; the field draws on history, philology, archaeology and religious studies and aims at description and analysis rather than theological evaluation.", "what_it_is_for": "Understanding religions historically.", "affordances": [ "explain the field and its methods", "relay findings with attribution", "distinguish from theology", "route to specific traditions" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Historical method", "Comparative scope", "Non-confessional stance", "Interdisciplinary" ], "appearance": "Not visible; a field found in books, journals and departments.", "visual_identification": [ "Historical study of religions", "Traditions, regions, periods and themes", "Theology studies from within a faith; religious studies includes non-historical approaches" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "histories of specific religions such as Hinduism and Shinto", "history of religion in specific countries such as Saudi Arabia and Serbia", "history of magic and esotericism", "social and gender history of religious life, including sexuality in religious orders", "comparative history of religions" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "study of history", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "religious studies", "why": "a historical branch" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "theology", "why": "which evaluates from within" }, { "relation": "studies", "target": "religion", "why": "the subject" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No regulation; scholarly standards and research ethics" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confessional bias presented as history", "Eurocentric or evolutionist framing", "Presenting contested interpretations as settled" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "field", "name": "Field", "description": "What the field is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "scope", "name": "Scope", "description": "Scope and methods.", "findings": [ { "id": "scope-finding", "name": "Scope", "description": "Scope.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does the history of religions study, and with which methods?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about historical study, theology or a specific tradition with its own entry?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "subfields", "name": "Subfields", "description": "Subfields.", "findings": [ { "id": "subfields-finding", "name": "Subfields", "description": "Subfields.", "questions": [ { "text": "What subfields exist, by tradition, region, period and theme?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific subfield?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "findings", "name": "Findings", "description": "Findings and debates.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "themes", "name": "Themes", "description": "Major themes.", "findings": [ { "id": "themes-finding", "name": "Themes", "description": "Themes.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are major findings on the origins, spread and change of religions, with attribution?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific tradition?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where do historians of religion disagree, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and non-confessional?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "sources", "name": "Sources", "description": "Sources and methods.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "sources", "name": "Sources", "description": "Sources.", "findings": [ { "id": "sources-finding", "name": "Sources", "description": "Sources.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which textual, archaeological and ethnographic sources underpin the field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "references", "name": "References", "description": "Reference works.", "findings": [ { "id": "references-finding", "name": "References", "description": "References.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which reference works and journals are standard?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History of the field and teaching.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History of the field.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did the history of religions develop as a discipline, and how has it addressed its colonial and evolutionist past?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits religious studies?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is the history of religions taught, and which texts are standard?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each tradition history be a separate entry?", "How should reference works be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific histories and themes; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a history of religions, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent describe the history of religions as a field, relay its methods, subfields and major findings with attribution, distinguish it from theology and from religious studies more broadly, and route to entries for specific traditions and regions.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Religious life and social practices in modern Serbia, history of magic, Female homosexuality and bisexuality in religious orders, history of Hinduism, history of religion in Saudi Arabia, history of Shinto, history of religion in China, History of the Czech and Slovak Eastern Orthodox Church, history of religion in Japan, history of the Catholic Church, History of Shaktism, Coptic history.", "16 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 44 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a history of religions, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Religious life and social practices in modern Serbia", "history of magic", "Female homosexuality and bisexuality in religious orders", "history of Hinduism", "history of religion in Saudi Arabia", "history of Shinto", "history of religion in China", "History of the Czech and Slovak Eastern Orthodox Church", "history of religion in Japan", "history of the Catholic Church", "History of Shaktism", "Coptic history" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 44 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 16 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one history of religions from another, and a history of religions from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a history of religions sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a history of religions from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a history of religions passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a history of religions between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a history of religions, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a history of religions is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a history of religions says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a history of religions contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a history of religions and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What history of religions studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does history of religions take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does history of religions establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where history of religions is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark history of religions as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place history of religions, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a history of religions came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a history of religions and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a history of religions is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a history of religions, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a history of religions, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a history of religions is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }