Comparison and the Spectre of Perennialism: A Reply to Craig Martin

Craig Martin accuses me of repeating the mistakes of perennialism, perpetuating an irresponsible and covertly theological approach to research that rushes to identify dubious “similarities” in religious experience across culture and history. While it is true that I identify cross-cultural similariti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Blum, Jason N. 1977- (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
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Publicado: Brill 2017
En: Method & theory in the study of religion
Año: 2017, Volumen: 29, Número: 4/5, Páginas: 340-346
(Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar:B Blum, Jason N. 1977-, Zen and the unspeakable god / Experiencia religiosa / Mística / Comparación intercultural / Philosophia perennis
Clasificaciones IxTheo:AB Filosofía de la religión
AG Vida religiosa
AX Relaciones inter-religiosas
Otras palabras clave:B Comparison perennialism experience mysticism contextualism constructivism
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Verlag)
Descripción
Sumario:Craig Martin accuses me of repeating the mistakes of perennialism, perpetuating an irresponsible and covertly theological approach to research that rushes to identify dubious “similarities” in religious experience across culture and history. While it is true that I identify cross-cultural similarities in the accounts of mystical experience that I examine in Zen and the Unspeakable God, that argument is based on historical evidence, and does not imply the questionable theological conclusions for which classical perennialism has been criticized. Learning from the mistakes of perennialism does not mean dismissing comparison as an illegitimate enterprise or rejecting cross-cultural similarities as prima facie impossible; it means insisting on evidentially-grounded and historically sensitive research that is willing and able to identify both differences and similarities. It also means resisting the temptation to oversimplify our task by reducing all research on religion to one preferred analytical category.
ISSN:1570-0682
Reference:Kommentar zu "“Yes, ... but ...”: The Neo-Perennialists (2017)"
Kommentar in "Rejoinder (2017)"
Obras secundarias:In: Method & theory in the study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700682-12341394