Practical Advantages of Using Selected Descriptors of Mary Douglas’s Typology (Used to Study Religion) in Interacting With the Protestants of Ukraine

Research task. To explore the benefits of Mary Douglas' typology in interacting with Ukrainian Protestants, those advantages come as a gain of a deeper understanding of the social dynamics of the community and improving a dialogue with its members. Douglas's dynamic approach facilitates the analysis of the views and practices of religious groups, allowing for the consideration of their differences to create effective communication strategies. This will help build more constructive engagement and better adapt cultural and social ideas to the needs of the community. Main material presentation. The author introduces the reader to M. Douglas's typology, which proposes to assess societies using a coordinate system, where the horizontal dimension determines the degree of control over the individual and the boundaries of the groupness, as well as how strongly the group guards its boundaries. The vertical dimension, on the other hand, measures the level of grid and social roles. The main key descriptors considered are: communication, blame, envy, economic growth/change, scarcity, risk, apathy, and conflict resolution. Each of these descriptors is accompanied by an application to Ukrainian Protestants and an explanation of the corresponding cosmology. Conclusions. The application of Mary Douglas' paradigm to Protestant communities in Ukraine can transform the interaction between society and the religious community, provided that one avoids transferring one's own cosmology to others. Due to its interdisciplinarity, the paradigm effectively supports analysis through an emic approach, taking into account the influence of Durkheim's ideas. A particularly promising area is the study of “problematic” areas, such as missionary work, where communication difficulties are possible due to different cosmologies. This typology serves as a powerful tool for understanding the organization of Protestant communities in Ukraine and their impact on culture, values, and social development.