Introduction: Methodical Aspects of Comparison
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 3
Abstract
Much ink has been spilled over the significance, the risks and benefits, and even the very possibility of comparison in the study of religion, but few scholars have reflected on how comparison actually works. Which methodical components should a comparative study include? Which problems does the comparativist encounter in deploying the comparative method? How is the design of the method related to the outcome of the study and to its value for the study of religion? The essays in this special issue begin to tackle these questions through analyses of concrete comparative studies. The special issue has an unusual format which requires an explanation. The essays emerged from a panel on methodical aspects of comparison at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta in 2015. The panelists—who are also the authors of the present essays—were experienced comparativists in their respective fields: Francis X. Clooney (Harvard University), David M. Freidenreich (Colby College), Barbara A. Holdrege (University of California, Santa Barbara), and Jens Kreinath (Wichita State University). Kathryn McClymond (Georgia State University) served as a respondent at the panel session but contributed her own full essay here. These comparativists were invited to analyze and reflect upon their own comparative work along the lines of a basic methodological framework that I had outlined. Originally this was meant to be more of a specialists’ roundtable, an opportunity for experienced comparativists to exchange ideas about the ways they employ the comparative method. Surprisingly, to me at least, the panel session was very well attended (with an audience of ca. 50 members), and afterwards some audience members requested that the contributions be published. Apparently this discussion struck a chord.
Authors and Affiliations
Oliver Freiberger
Keywords
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- EP ID EP25945
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9030077
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