Researching religious communities in the twenty-first century : the phenomenology of religion, local agency and the joint ownership of knowledge

James L. Cox

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

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The phenomenology of religion increasingly is being criticized as outdated.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 languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStepping Back and Looking Ahead: Twelve Years of Studying Religious Contact at the Kate Hamburger Kolleg Bochum
EditorsMaran Freudenberg, Frederik Elwert, Tim Karis, Martin Radermacher, Jens Schlamelcher
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherBrill
Pages97-123
Number of pages27
ISBN (Electronic)9789004549319
ISBN (Print)9789004516274
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Open Access - Access Right Statement

This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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