Theo van Baaren’s Systematic Science of Religion Revisited: The Current Crisis in Dutch Study of Religion and a Way Out
This article revisits Theo van Baaren’s (1912-1989) call for a ‘systematic science of religion’. With this call Van Baaren urged Dutch scholars of religion to do away with the religionist biases of the phenomenology of religion, while retaining comparison as a cornerstone of the discipline. Unfortun...
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Contributors: | ; ; ; ; |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
[2020]
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In: |
NTT
Year: 2020, Volume: 74, Issue: 3, Pages: 213-241 |
IxTheo Classification: | AA Study of religion KBD Benelux countries KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia TK Recent history |
Further subjects: | B
The Netherlands
B Theo van Baaren B research history B method and theory B Science of Religion B study of religion |
Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | This article revisits Theo van Baaren’s (1912-1989) call for a ‘systematic science of religion’. With this call Van Baaren urged Dutch scholars of religion to do away with the religionist biases of the phenomenology of religion, while retaining comparison as a cornerstone of the discipline. Unfortunately, Van Baaren’s programme was never realized in the Netherlands, and Dutch study of religion became dominated instead by a particularist paradigm that, while producing eminent studies of individual religions, lacked an interest in theorizing religion in general. Deprived of a common object and aim, Dutch scholarship on religion has become fragmented, and Dutch scholars of religion have been in no good position to fend for themselves in face of institutional restructurings, budget cuts, and general hostility towards the humanities. With an eye to the Nordic countries I propose a reorientation towards a systematic science of religion à la Van Baaren as a way out of the academic and institutional crisis. |
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ISSN: | 2590-3268 |
Reference: | Kritik in "Institutional Histories, Identity Work, and Critical Theory (2020)"
Kritik in "Of Bogeymen and The Promises of The Past or How to Construct a Uniform Identity (2020)" Kritik in "Religious Studies (2020)" Kritik in "Support for the Systematic Study of Religion (2020)" Kritik in "Flourishing Diversity (2020)" |
Contains: | Enthalten in: NTT
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5117/NTT2020.3.002.ALTE |