What Is Comparative Religion Comparing? The Subject Matter of 'Religious' Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID2512677
AuthorsAntonio R Gualtieri (0000-0001-5629-1490, corresponding author)
Year1967
Volume6
Issue1
Pages31
Publication date1967-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1384192
OpenAlexW2319840789
LanguageEN
Citations received2

What is the subject matter of the study of religion? Is it the external expression of religious persons and communities, i.e., the historical deposit of sacred scriptures, theologies, social institutions, ethical and liturgical prescriptions and practices? Accurate observation and description of these data and analysis to detect common structures are important and necessary. This is not, however, primary, since it excludes from its purview the personal meaning these external traditions possess for their participants. This objection suggests that enquiry should focus on the existential selfhood of individual communicants. Yet this, also, is unsatisfactory because it restricts study to the psychology of individuals. Research should concentrate, instead, on religious faith, i.e., existential selfhood or personal faith as this is evoked and expressed by an historical tradition. This entails discerning how items in a cumulative religious tradition enter into the believer's faith or selfhood by being existentially interpreted

Epistemology · Existentialism · Expression (computer science) · Faith · Meaning (existential) · Religious experience · Sociology · Subject (documents) · Subject matter · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Education and Schools · Religious studies · Social Psychology · Study and Philosophy of Religion

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