종교학의 발전과 비교종교학의 과제

The development and tasks on comparative study of religion

The purpose of this study is to search for a development of 'religionswissenschaft' and a 'comparative study' in this process. Also, this paper seeks to evaluate three tasks related to the comparative study of religion. The 'science' of religion began with F. Max Müller(1823-1900 Germany/UK). He emphasized the comparative study between various religions and the quoted words of Goethe, "He who knows one, knows none". The science of religion was developed by Cornelius P. Tiele(1830-1902) and Pierre D. Chantepie de la Saussaye(1848 -1920). Saussaye used the term 'phenomenology of religion' at first instead of the 'comparative study of religion'. The 'phenomenology of religion is a boundary or middle position between the history of religion and the philosophy of religion. Nathan Söderblom(1866-1931) attempted a phenomenological study on religion and settled for providing a good example to bring harmony between the comparative study of religion and theology. Rudolf Otto(1869-1937) brought to a focus the comparative study between Hinduism and Christianity. W. Brede Kristensen(1867-1953) rejected the evolutional comparative study on religions and emphasized an objective survey considered from phenomenology. Mircea Eliade(1907-) understood the liturgy of religion as 'hierophany' which means the appearance of God. He reached the peak of the typological study on religions. Raffaelo Pettazzoni(1883-1959) emphasized the combination of the history of religion and phenomenology for two types of religions. Wilfred Cantwell Smith(1916-) attempted a personal approach on religions and divided them into cumulative tradition and faith. He gave a definition of faith as the 'universal human quality' and emphasized the importance of dialogue on the comparative study of religion. This paper suggested three useful tasks regarding a comparative study of religion. First, syncretism is the 'deskriptiv-phänomenologisch' terminology used in the scientific area of religion but this term brought about a negative meaning in the area of theology. Secondly, dialogue among living various living religious believers is very useful for understanding other people. Thirdly, continuity and discontinuity between the Gospel and non-Christian faith is actually a major issue in the plurality of religions in the world.