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Comparative Religion

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Origin 1870 to 1900

The scholarly study of the religions of the world side by side, comparing their beliefs, practices, texts and institutions to understand each better and to discern what, if anything, they share. It grew from nineteenth-century philology and the history of religions and is the sibling of comparative mythology, which compares the myths in particular. Also called the history of religions or, in older usage, the science of religion.

Facts
Origins
Origin Period
1870 to 1900 1
Place of Origin
Global (Cross-Cultural) 1
Attributed Author / Compiler
Associated with Friedrich Max Muller and Mircea Eliade 1
Status
Status Today
In active religious use 1
Standing as a Comparative Category
A standard analytic category in the study of religion 1
Learn More
Understanding Religions by Comparing Them

Comparative religion is the scholarly study of the world's religions set side by side, comparing their beliefs, practices, texts, and institutions in order to understand each more clearly and to discern what, if anything, they genuinely share. It emerged as a distinct discipline in the nineteenth century out of the new philology and the growing European encounter with the sacred texts of Asia; Max Muller, who edited the vast Sacred Books of the East series, is often regarded as a founder, and is remembered for the maxim, adapted from Goethe, that "he who knows one, knows none", the claim that a single religion cannot be understood in isolation.

The field developed the tools of typology and cross-cultural comparison, seeking recurring categories, myth, ritual, sacrifice, prophecy, mysticism, scripture, across traditions. Its history is not without serious criticism: scholars have shown how the very category of "religion," and the neat parceling of the world into a set of discrete "world religions," is itself partly a modern European construction that can distort the traditions it classifies. Contemporary practitioners are correspondingly careful to attend to difference as much as similarity and to the historical and political contexts of comparison. As an academic discipline (overlapping with "religious studies"), it is distinguished by its commitment to studying religions descriptively and comparatively, from a standpoint that neither presumes nor denies the truth of any of them.

When the Category Itself Came Under Question

The discipline took shape in the nineteenth century, alongside empire, and its early practitioners generally assumed that religions were comparable objects of the same kind, arranged on a scale from primitive to advanced with their own tradition at the top.

Both halves of that assumption have since been attacked, and the attack on the first is the more serious. Critics have argued that religion is not a neutral category found in the world but a modern Western concept, formed in specific European arguments and then exported, and that applying it to societies which drew no line between religious and other life imposes a distinction they did not make. The Sanskrit, Chinese and Arabic words routinely translated as religion do not carry the same content, and the mismatch is not a translation problem to be tidied up.

A related criticism targets the teaching shape of the field. The convention of presenting a set of world religions, each with a founder, a scripture and a set of doctrines, fits Christianity closely and other traditions less well, and it makes textual orthodoxy the standard against which practice is measured. Work on the category of Gnosticism has made the same case in miniature, showing a scholarly label assembled from disparate material and then treated as a thing.

The discipline continues, more self-conscious about its instruments. The reasonable position is that comparison is indispensable and that the categories used to compare must be argued for rather than assumed.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Ananda Coomaraswamy, Historical Figures
Athanasius Kircher, Historical Figures

His Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652 to 1654) was the most comprehensive European study of Egyptian religion available before the nineteenth century hieroglyph decipherment, despite its central mystical premise later shown to be mistaken.

Source Athanasius KircherEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Ronald Hutton, Historical Figures
Walter Burkert, Historical Figures

Founded By

Friedrich Max Muller, Historical Figures

Related To

Afterlife, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Anthropology of Religion, Disciplines

A lens on the same subject, working from fieldwork among practitioners rather than from texts. Both are lenses on the atlas subject rather than practices operating on it.

Apostasy, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Belief and disbelief in God, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Blasphemy, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Canon formation, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Charisma, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Civil religion, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Communitas, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Determinism, fatalism and free will, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Divine command theory, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Eternal return, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Eternalism and presentism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Global (Cross-Cultural), Regions

This heading exists for subjects whose object is the comparison itself, which is what this discipline studies. An editorial adjacency recorded by the atlas, not a claim taken from a source.

Idealism, materialism and naturalism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Liminality, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Lived religion, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Miracles, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Monism, dualism and nondualism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Myth and ritual, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Natural law, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Perennial philosophy, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Phenomenology of Religion, Disciplines

A method within the wider comparative study of religion, distinguished by its insistence on describing a phenomenon before explaining it. Both are lenses on the atlas subject rather than practices operating on it, which is why neither has much to link to.

Purity and pollution, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Religious conversion, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Religious pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Religious Studies, Scholarly Disciplines

Two registers for the same concept: Religious Studies (scholarly-discipline) and Comparative Religion (discipline) both describe the comparative, non-confessional academic study of the world's religions.

Repentance, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Rite of passage, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sacred time and sacred space, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sectarianism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Secularization, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sociology of Religion, Disciplines

A lens on the same subject, asking what religion does in a society rather than what its adherents hold. Both are lenses on the atlas subject rather than practices operating on it.

Syncretism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
The nature and number of the divine, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
The sacred and the profane, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
The sacred directions, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Traditionalism, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Ubuntu, Doctrines

Studied as a cross-cultural comparative-religion category rather than a teaching of one named tradition. Classification follows the doctrine's own authored Tradition field (Cross-tradition / Cross-cultural).

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Studied

Blessing, Practices
Source The Oxford Dictionary of World ReligionsJohn Bowker (ed.)
Candle and lamp lighting, Practices
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Consecration, Practices
Source The Oxford Dictionary of World ReligionsJohn Bowker (ed.)
Ecstatic dance, Practices
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Incense offering, Practices
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Ordination, Practices
Source The Oxford Dictionary of World ReligionsJohn Bowker (ed.)
Ritual drumming, Practices
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Thanksgiving (gratitude), Practices

Found across traditions, which is what makes it a comparative subject rather than a tradition's own.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Studied By

Manly Palmer Hall, Historical Figures
Source A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical ReligionCatherine L. Albanese
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005art. Study of ReligionView the Source
The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism
Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Chicago Press, 2005The invention of the category of world religionsView the Source
Athanasius Kircher
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
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