The History of Religions Essays in Methodology

In this work seven well-known scholars from various parts of the world consider the methodological problems of the history of religions- problems that necessarily must be met if the study is to function s a discrete discipline. As these studies show, the history of religions strives to do more than describe and compare religions as such. It attempts to integrate both the historical and the systematic aspects of the forms of religious expression. Covering a variety of topics, the essays range from the more general- such as Joseph M. Kitagawa's paper on the history of religions in America, a staight-forward approach to methodology, and Ernst Benz's discussion of the difficulties encountered in trying to under5stand non-Christian faiths- to the more particular subjects of the history of religions, such as the essay by Raffaele Pettazzoni on the recurring phenomenon of a Supreme Being in diverse cultures and Mircea Eliade's observations on the interpretation and function of religious symbolism.