Comparative Method in Theology and Religion

Few methods have been more foundational to the scholarly study of religion, or more subject to searching criticism, than the practice of comparison. This seminar offers an advanced introduction to comparative method in the contemporary academy by means of a close study of 4-6 significant comparative projects published in the last decade. Examples will be drawn from different sub-disciplines of theology and religion, including but not limited to ritual studies, philosophy of religion, comparative theology and/or ethnography. Students will engage various foundational questions of comparative method, including the presuppositions of the comparativist, the skillful construction of comparative examples, and the role of theory.