Comparativism in the history of religions

Some models and key issues

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5116848
AutoresSilvia Mancini (0000-0003-0673-3347, University of Lausanne, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen37
Número4
Páginas282-293
Fecha de publicación2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReligion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/j.religion.2007.10.004
OpenAlexW2001821818
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas7

The purpose of this article is to defend a specific epistemological position, which the author places in the context of twomodes of comparativismfrequently practised in the comparative studies of some culturalproductions commonly subsumed under the adjective ‘religious’. These are, on the one hand, an anthropological/analogical comparison bent upon ‘generalizing’; on the other hand, a comparison of a historical type, which looks for ‘singularities’. Both are based on the distinction between the ‘universal’ and the ‘particular’. The author distances herself fromboth positions andmakes a plea for another one, called ‘differential comparativism’,which is based on the distinction between the ‘general’ and the ‘differential’. She submits that this third approach proves to be historically and empiricallymore firmly grounded, therefore epistemologicallymore fruitful.For the historianof religions, it has notably the advantage of serving as an efficient antidote against various risks. These risks are, namely, the essentialism which is implicit in any religiously, anti-historically oriented phenomenology; an also often implicit agnosticism; an empiricismlimited to themere, a-problematic description of the so-called religious phenomena; and, last but not least, an absolute cultural relativism. This form of comparativism, called ‘differential’, has already brought about remarkable results in the History of Religions, mainly thanks to the works of the scholars of the School of Rome founded by Raffaele Pettazzoni. The latter was, indeed, the first who successfully tried to reconcile the necessity of a truly historical knowledge of civilizations with the holistic and systemic procedures of cultural and social anthropology

Epistemology · Relativism · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Philosophy · Study and Philosophy of Religion