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The phenomenology of religion concerns the
experiential Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience invol ...
aspect of
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
, describing religious phenomena in terms consistent with the orientation of worshippers. It views religion as made up of different components, and studies these components across religious traditions in order to gain some understanding of them. A different approach is that of typological or classifying
phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
, which seeks to describe and explain religion in general by analyzing the many diverse 'phenomena' of religions, such as rituals, holy places, narratives, religious roles, and the many other modes of religious expression. In this respect, the phenomenology of religion takes the generalizing role that linguistics has over philologies or that anthropology has in relation the specific ethnographies: where the history of religions produces insights into specific religious traditions, the phenomenology of religion becomes the general scholarly (or scientific) enterprise that explains and interprets religious phenomena in general.


Chantepie de la Saussaye

The first explicit use of the phrase "phenomenology of religion" occurs in the ''Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte'' (Handbook of the History of Religions), written by Pierre Daniël Chantepie de la Saussaye in 1887, wherein he articulates the task of the science of religion and gives an "Outline of the phenomenology of religion". Employing the terminology of
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
, Chantepie divides his science of religion into two areas of investigation, essence and manifestations, which are approached through investigations in philosophy and history, respectively. However, Chantepie's phenomenology "belongs neither to the history nor the philosophy of religion as Hegel envisioned them". For Chantepie, it is the task of phenomenology to prepare historical data for philosophical analysis through "a collection, a grouping, an arrangement, and a classifying of the principal groups of religious conceptions". This sense of phenomenology as a grouping of manifestations is similar to the conception of phenomenology articulated by Robison and the British; however, insofar as Chantepie conceives of phenomenology as a preparation for the philosophical elucidation of essences, his phenomenology is not completely opposed to that of Hegel.


Kristensen

Chantepie's ''Lehrbuch'' was highly influential, and many researchers began similar efforts after its publication and its subsequent translation into English and French. One such researcher was
William Brede Kristensen William Brede Kristensen (21 June 1867 – 25 September 1953) was a Norway, Norwegian born, Dutch theologian, professor and historian of religion. Biography William Brede Kristensen was born at Kristiansand in Vest-Agder, Norway. He was the so ...
. In 1901, Kristensen was appointed the first professorship relating to the phenomenology of religion at the University of Leiden. Some of the material from Kristensen's lectures on the phenomenology of religion was edited posthumously, and the English translation was published in 1960 as ''The Meaning of Religion''. James notes that Kristensen's phenomenology "adopts many of the features of Chantepie’s grouping of religious phenomena," and penetrates further into the intricacies of Chantepie's phenomenological approach. For Chantepie, phenomenology is affected by the philosophy and history of religion, but for Kristensen, it is also the medium whereby the philosophy and history of religion interact with and affect one another. In this sense, Kristensen's account of the relationship between historical manifestations and philosophy is more similar to that of Hegel than it is to Chantepie. In defining the religious essence of which he explores historical manifestations, Kristensen appropriates Rudolf Otto’s conception of ''das Heilige'' ("the holy" or "the sacred"). Otto describes ''das Heilige'' with the expression ''mysterium tremendum et fascinans''—a numinous power revealed in a moment of "awe" that admits of both the horrible shuddering of "religious dread" (''tremendum'') and fascinating wonder (''fascinans'') with the overpowering majesty (''majestas'') of the ineffable, "wholly other" mystery (''mysterium''). Like Chantepie, Kristensen argues that phenomenology seeks the “meaning” of religious phenomena. Kristensen clarifies this supposition by defining the meaning that his phenomenology is seeking as “the meaning that the religious phenomena have for the believers themselves”. Furthermore, Kristensen argues that phenomenology is not complete in grouping or classifying the phenomena according to their meaning, but in the act of understanding. “Phenomenology has as its objects to come as far as possible into contact with and to understand the extremely varied and divergent religious data”. Being a phenomenologist, Kristensen was less interested in philosophical presuppositions than in his concrete depth-research in the incidental religious phenomena. These subjects concerned mythological material (such as Creation, the Flood etc.) as well as human action (such as baptism, Olympic Games etc.), and objects of nature and handicrafts. In all of this he only made use of the authentic sources: writings and images by the believers themselves. This procedure compelled him to reduce the field of his research - he had to profoundly master all relating languages and writings in order to be able to understand his sources in a way as they would have wanted to be understood themselves. Consequently, he reduced his field of research to the phenomena in religions living around the origin of Christianity: during the millennia before and the centuries after Christ, in Iran (Avesta), Babylonia and Assyria, Israel, Egypt, Greece and Rome. The required knowledge of speeches, also, is one of the causes that only few (Van der Leeuw, Bleeker) of his pupils did carry on in his line, although many scholars showed interests in the results of his research. Apart from his synopsis ''The Meaning of Religion'', and a just simple ''Introduction in History of Religion'', his publications are mostly restricted to the results of his incidental partial researches, published in the shape of a Communication of the Royal Academy of the Netherlands.


van der Leeuw

The phenomenological approach to religion developed in Gerardus van der Leeuw’s ''Phänomenologie der Religion'' (1933) follows Kristensen in many respects, while also appropriating the phenomenology of
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...
and the
hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate ...
of
Wilhelm Dilthey Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held G. W. F. Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathic philosopher, w ...
. For van der Leeuw, understanding is the subjective aspect of phenomena, which is inherently intertwined with the objectivity of that which is manifest. Van der Leeuw articulates the relation of understanding to understood phenomena according to the schema outlined in Dilthey’s definition of the human sciences (''Geisteswissenschaften'') as sciences that are “based on the relations between experience, expression and understanding” (“''Verhältnis von Erlebnis, Ausdruck, und Verstehen''”). Van der Leeuw correlates subjective experience, expression, and understanding with three objective levels of appearing—relative concealment (''Verborgenheit''), relative transparency (''Durchsichtigkeit''), and gradually becoming manifest or revealed (''Offenbarwerden''), wherein the understanding of what is becoming revealed is the primordial level of appearing from which the experienced concealment and expressed transparency of appearing are derived. Because van der Leeuw, like Kristensen, appropriates Otto's concept of ''das Heilige'' in defining the essential category of religion, the transcendence becoming revealed in all human understanding can be further described as sacred — an overpowering “wholly other,” which becomes revealed in astonishing moments of dreadful awe (''Scheu'') and wonderful fascination. Van der Leeuw argues that this concept of religious dread is also present in Kierkegaard's work on ''
Angst Angst is fear or anxiety ('' anguish'' is its Latinate equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity. Etymology The word ...
'' and in Heidegger's statement that “what arouses dread is ‘being in the world’ itself”. Moreover, van der Leeuw recognizes that, although dreadful, Being-in-the-world is fundamentally characterized as
care Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...
(''Sorge''), the existential structure whereby '' Dasein'' is concerned with meaningful relationships in the world alongside other beings. Because all experiences disclose concealed (wholly other) transcendence to the understanding, all experiences of Being-in-the-world are ultimately religious experiences of the sacred, whether explicitly recognized as such or not. Human being as such is '' homo religiosus'', the opposite of ''homo negligens''.Van der Leeuw 1963: 50, 680 It is the task of the phenomenology of religion to interpret the various ways in which the sacred appears to human beings in the world, the ways in which humans understand and care for that which is revealed to them, for that which is ultimately wholly other mystery. Among other great phenomenologists who worked and influenced phenomenology of religion are
Henry Corbin Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 – 7 October 1978)Shayegan, DaryushHenry Corbin in Encyclopaedia Iranica. was a French philosopher, theologian, and Iranologist, professor of Islamic studies at the École pratique des hautes études. He was in ...
, Ninian Smart,
Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...
, and
C. Jouco Bleeker Claas Jouco Bleeker (1898–1983) was a Dutch religious studies, scholar of religion. Born in Beneden Knijpe, Netherlands, Bleeker received his doctorate from the University of Leiden in 1929 and was Professor of the History of Religions and the P ...
.


See also

* Postmodern Christianity * Sacred-profane dichotomy


Notes


Bibliography

*
Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...
. 1987. ''The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion'', translated by Willard R. Trask.
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. * George James. 1995. ''Interpreting Religion: The Phenomenological Approaches of Pierre Daniël Chantepie de la Saussaye, W. Brede Kristensen, and Gerardus van der Leeuw''. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. * G.W.F. Hegel. 1968. ''Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: Together with a Work on the Proofs of the Existence of God'', translated by Rev. E. B. Speirs, B. D. and J. Burdon Sanderson. 3 volumes. New York: Humanities Press, Inc. * Martin Heidegger. 1962. ''Being and Time'', translated by John MacQuarrie and Edward Robinson. New York: Harper and Row. * Martin Heidegger. 2004. ''Phenomenology of the Religious Life'', translated by Matthias Fritsch and Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. *
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
. 1970. ''The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy'', translated by David Carr. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. *
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
. 1960. '' Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone'', translated by Theodore M. Greene and Hoyt H. Hudson.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
: Harper and Brothers. *
Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
. 1980. ''The Concept of Anxiety'', edited and translated by Reidar Thomte. Princeton: Princeton University Press. *
Mario Kopić Mario Kopić (born 13 March 1965) is a philosopher, author and translator. His main areas of interest include: the history of ideas, the philosophy of art, the philosophy of culture, phenomenology and the philosophy of religion. Kopić is influ ...
. 2010. ''Sekstant''. Belgrade: Službeni glasnik. * W. Brede Kristensen. 1971. ''The Meaning of Religion: Lectures in the Phenomenology of Religion'', translated by John B. Carman. The Haugue: Martinus Nijhoff. * Rudolf Otto. '' Das Heilige. Über das Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen und sein Verhältnis zum Rationalen.'', Breslau, 1917. >> ''The Idea of the Holy'', translated by John W. Harvey. London: Oxford University Press. 1958. * Ninian Smart. 1973. ''The Phenomenon of Religion''. New York: The Seabury Press. * Gerardus Van der Leeuw. 1956. ''Phänomenologie der Religion''. 2nd edition. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr. * Gerardus Van der Leeuw. 1963. ''Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in Phenomenology'', translated by J. E. Turner. 2 volumes. New York: Harper & Row. * Jacques Waardenburg. 1978. ''Reflections on the Study of Religion: Including an Essay on the Work of Gerardus van der Leeuw''. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.


Further reading

*Bettis, Joseph D., ed. (1969). ''Phenomenology of Religion: Eight Modern Descriptions of the Essence of Religion''. London: S.C.M. Press. SBN 334-01247-3 * *Jensen, Jeppe Sinding (2003). ''The Study of Religion in a New Key. Theoretical and philosophical soundings in the comparative and general study of religion. Aarhus, Denmark:'' Aarhus University Press''.'' {{Authority control Phenomenology Philosophy of religion Religious studies