Abstract
The phenomenology of religion increasingly is being criticized as outdated. This chapter argues that phenomenology retains relevance to contemporary research methods, as illustrated by two differing projects in Australia on the repatriation of Indigenous knowledge. After presenting these cases, they are analyzed in light of the contrasting arguments of the phenomenologist Wilfred Cantwell Smith and the philosopher Wayne Proudfoot about the influence of believers on research findings. The chapter concludes that the phenomenological method, when re-configured in terms of relationality, local agency and the joint ownership of knowledge, can play a decisive role in determining future directions in religious studies.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Stepping Back and Looking Ahead: Twelve Years of Studying Religious Contact at the Kate Hamburger Kolleg Bochum |
Editors | Maran Freudenberg, Frederik Elwert, Tim Karis, Martin Radermacher, Jens Schlamelcher |
Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | Brill |
Pages | 97-123 |
Number of pages | 27 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9789004549319 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789004516274 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |