Translations

The article raises the question how the multiplication of topics, turns, and perspectives in the currents of the study of religions can be explained. After the concept of a paradigm shift (Thomas Kuhn) is introduced, the study examines the epistemological consequences of the question What is religion? It is based on analyzing the practice of defining “religion” in German language encyclopedias of the past three centuries. Surprisingly, the structure of these articles is largely persistent throughout this long period and consists mainly of etymology, definition (Wesensdeutung), and a typology of “religion”. From this, an Aristotelian paradigm can be deduced. The claim for universality entailed in this paradigm ultimately led to a crisis and since the 1960s the Study of Religion has developed alternative approaches that emphasize aspects of human interaction, communication, and reciprocal relationships. I propose to subsume these new perspectives under the term “relational paradigm.” Examples and consequences for this paradigm are offered in the conclusion.

Religious traditions form, establish and develop in mutual dependency. This, at least, is the main assumption of the Dynamics in the History of Religions international research consortium at Bochum University, Germany. Thus, religious contacts and transfers are its main topic. The special issue of Religion covers selected case studies of the consortium’s work. In the following, I will give a short introduction into some aspects of its research programme. The original text in English is available as Krech 2012a.

La traduzione rispetta sia la forma linguistica che la struttura compositiva del testo originale. Per questo motivo si è ritenuto di non dover tradurre le definizioni green religion, dark green religion, spiritual but not religious e greening of religion in quanto non ci sono corrispettivi italiani già in uso che rendano la complessità delle suddette categorie. Riteniamo che i termini possano risultare comunque comprensibili ad un pubblico italofono che si approcci al testo.