IN DEFENSE OF THE COMPARATIVE METHOD

Numen ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Segal
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
William Robertson

AbstractWhile in some disciplines the comparative method is used unhesitatingly, in others it is spurned. In the field of religious studies, the method has long been rejected, and that rejection far antedates the anti-comparativist stance of postmodernism. This article identifies the main objections commonly lodged against the method and attempts to refute them all - as mischaracterizations either of the method or of the quest for knowledge itself. The article then considers the use of the method by the two figures in religious studies still singled out as the most egregious practitioners of it: James Frazer and William Robertson Smith. In actuality, not even they turn out to be guilty of any of the objections lodged against the method. At the same time they turn out to employ the method in contrary ways. Frazer uses the method to show the similarities among religions; Smith uses it as much to show the differences. The contrasting use of the same method by its most famous practitioners shows that the method is not merely malleable but indispensable to all scholars of religion - those seeking the particularities of individual religions no less than those seeking the universals of religion.

Chastening and Disciplining Comparison: Bruce Lincoln and Oliver Freiberger on the Comparative Method in the Study of Religion

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 482-490
Author(s):  
Robert A. Yelle
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Studies

Abstract The article reviews two recent books on comparison in the study of religion authored by prominent scholars. Long out of vogue, comparison now must be defended as a or even the central methodology for religious studies. Both philology and critical theory have collaborated to undermine the universalist assumptions on which earlier grand comparisons in the study of religion based themselves. The question is whether the two books considered here manage to rescue comparison from its critics. My reading here suggests that a more robust defense may be needed.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Oliver Freiberger
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Present Book ◽  
Theoretical Reflection

The introduction explains the objectives of the present book and summarizes its major arguments. Comparison has been conducted in religious studies since the early days of the discipline, and scholars have often reflected upon its problems and merits. But very few bridged the gap between actual comparative work and theoretical reflection. Against the backdrop of recent substantial criticism of the comparative method, this book holds that comparison is indispensable for the study of religion and that the comparative method can be described and analyzed more comprehensively than in past scholarship. This introduction outlines the problem and the book’s argument and provides short summaries of the subsequent chapters.

Considering Comparison

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Freiberger
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Academic Mission ◽  
Epistemological Analysis

This book seeks to rehabilitate the comparative method in the study of religion by highlighting its fundamental role for the academic mission of religious studies and by proposing both a responsible theoretical approach and a methodological framework. Analyzing the ways in which comparison is used in the study of religion, the book identifies the primary goals of this method and argues that it is constitutive for religious studies as an academic discipline. Revisiting various critiques of comparison—decontextualization and essentialization charges, postcolonialist and postmodernist critiques, and the perspectives of recent naturalistic approaches—the book incorporates insights gained from such debates into an approach that is based upon thorough epistemological analysis of comparison and that takes the scholar’s situatedness and agency seriously. Few scholars have reflected deeply upon how comparison works in practice. The book argues, and tries to demonstrate, that such reflections are useful both for producing and for evaluating comparative studies. It proposes a methodological framework for the analysis of comparison that is meant to prove relevant both for theoretical reflections and for the pragmatics of comparative work. In addition, it suggests a comparative approach—discourse comparison—that helps to confront the omnipresent risks of decontextualization, essentialization, and universalization. Arguing that the comparative method is indispensable for a deeper analytical understanding of what we call religion, this book makes a case for comparison. It seeks to enrich the considerations of both aspiring and seasoned comparativists, stimulate much-needed further discussions about methodology, and encourage scholars to produce responsible comparative studies.

The Comparative Method in the Study of Religion

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-44
Author(s):  
Oliver Freiberger
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
The Common

This chapter breaks down the common phrase “comparative method in the study of religion” and seeks to clarify the scholarly contexts in which comparativists of religion operate. It argues that religious studies ought to be recognized as an academic discipline—and as one that is grounded in comparison. Speaking of disciplinarity helps to acknowledge the scholarly discourses and goals of other comparative disciplines and to engage in productive interdisciplinary conversations. The chapter also suggests three different ways in which comparison is used in religious studies and argues that it makes sense to speak of “the comparative method.” Finally, it proposes two primary goals of comparison in religious studies and argues that with its particular configuration of goals, comparative method, and disciplinarity, religious studies makes a unique contribution to scholarship.

Section of Religious Studies in the "Knowledge" Society of Ukraine

1996 ◽  
pp. 54-55
Author(s):  
Petro Yarotskiy
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Religious Studies

The Society "Knowledge" of Ukraine began the activity of the Department of Religious Studies. The Council of Lecturers is formed consisting of 24 people, among them are well-known philosophers, historians, sociologists - religious scholars: Doctors of Philosophy B.Lobovik, M.Zakovich, A. Kolodnyy, Yu.Kalinin, P.Kosuha, M.Rybachuk, P.Yarotsky, candidate of philosophical sciences M. Babiy, S. Golovashchenko, V. Yelensky, M.Kyryushko, O.Sagan, V.Suyarko, L.Filipovich and others.

Center for Religious Studies and Expertise of UAR

1996 ◽  
pp. 51-52
Author(s):  
O. Karagodina
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
Scientific Base

At the scientific base of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies, a Center for religious scholarly consultations and expertise was formed.

Christian editions for children in Ukraine (1917 - 1929)

1996 ◽  
pp. 34-37
Author(s):  
N. Marchenko
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Research ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Scientific Circle

The Ukrainian book for children of this period and date remains little investigated link of domestic book science. Somewhere she is actually excluded from the scientific circle. In particular, in the realm of religious studies studios. And here it is indicated a number of promising areas of scientific research.

Materials for the history of the gospel-Baptist movement in Ukraine

1996 ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
S. Golovaschenko ◽  
Petro Kosuha
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Evangelical Christians ◽  
Evangelical Christian ◽  
First Results ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fruitful Cooperation ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The report is based on the first results of the study "The History of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Ukraine", carried out in 1994-1996 by the joint efforts of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Odessa Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian Baptists. A large-scale description and research of archival sources on the history of evangelical movements in our country gave the first experience of fruitful cooperation between secular and church researchers.

The phenomenon of religion

1996 ◽  
pp. 45-46
Author(s):  
Borys Lobovyk
Keyword(s):  
Religious Studies ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

"PHENOMENON OF RELIGION" - under this name on June 20-21, 1996, the All-Ukrainian Colloquium, convened by the Department of Religious Studies and the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies took place at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The purpose of the colloquium is to discuss the topical issues of Ukrainian religious studies concerning the nature, essence and functionality of religion as a social and historical phenomenon.

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