- Læs teksten om begreber og klassifikation
- Hvad foregår der på billederne i kilde 2?
- Hvilke religiøse fænomener er i fokus på billederne?
- Diskutér religiøse fænomener blandt flertallet i dit eget land. Find eksempler på myter, ritualer, hellige bygninger osv.
- Hvad menes der med ’komparativ religion’ eller ’religionsfænomenologi’?
- Hvordan undersøges religion via denne tilgang?
- Diskutér fordele og ulemper ved denne metode i religionsstudiet.

1. Comparative religion (or phenomenology of religion) – For teachers
Introduction
The combination and importance of historical and comparative approaches and methods means that the study of religions may also be called history of religions or comparative religion. On the one hand, the religions are very different from each other, each of them originating, developing and formed in a special historical (and thus also social and political and economic) context. On the other hand, there are recurring cross-cultural and cross-historical features that may be detected when religions past and present and religions across the world, big or small, are compared. There are thus several good reasons for studying such features systematically and comparatively. Just like a mechanic’s experience with different cars means that he does not have to invent the gasoline engine each time a new car brand rolls into his workshop, so does the comparative history of religion - especially its systematic side which is often referred to as “phenomenology of religion” - have the same purpose. A systematic overview of religious phenomena and analytical concepts developed in a methodic process of comparison enables us to describe and understand the similarities between the various religions and the differences between them. To compare is not to find 'identical' features, but features sufficiently similar for us to see if we can work out a pattern or meaning of that particular religious phenomenon at the same time as we detect and become aware of the important differences. When we work with the religions, the specific texts and religious phenomena, we see them in the light of the definitions and mini-theories, which we have developed through comparative studies. In this way, we are constantly working on both understanding and interpreting the specific religion, the specific phenomenon, but also the class of similar phenomena and our theories and concepts about them.
What is the difference between history and history of religions?
History is the science of the development of the human society, living conditions and ideas. History studies how people have lived in different times and areas, and how economic, social, cultural and political issues have shaped mankind. History also studies how knowledge about the past is established.
History of religions is the study of how people create religion through practices and ideas, and how religion and specific religions have developed throughout history up until today shaped by and also shaping other aspects of history, e.g. the social, political, and economical aspects.
In history of religions, the concept of religion is also studied as well as how this concept has been perceived and changed over time. The methods used in the academic discipline history of religions are typically analysis of written or pictorial sources, such as sacred texts or cult buildings, or analysis of rituals, the religious discourse or other religious phenomena. A history-of-religions approach to religion combines a diachronic study of religion with a synchronic, i.e. the comparative study of religion is part and parcel of the study of the history of religions within the academic discipline called history of religions. The synchronic study is the systematic study of religion and affords the historical study of religions with theories, tools and models for analysis. It helps us see similarities as well as differences between religions.
Comparative religion or phenomenology of religion
The classical so-called 'phenomenology of religion' worked on making inventories of religious phenomena, i.e. classifying and systematizing religion. The classical phenomenology of religion saw the religious phenomena as natural expressions of religion, and religion was seen as a stable unit, somehow sort of isolated at least as regards a postulated core from non-religious things and matters.
Now scholars working within history of religion and comparative religion are more aware that religion and the various religious phenomena are, largely, the researcher's analytical concepts - in the light of which we can analyze and understand what we have then tried to set aside as 'religion'. Hence, 'phenomenology of religion' seen as the systematic part of the study or history of religions is a kind of theory and method. At the same time, scholars have also become conscious of the fact that religious phenomena cannot solely be interpreted as having a special symbolic or narrow religious significance. Religion is a historical, and thus human and social phenomenon and so is each of the religious phenomena. They are always part of the interest and strategy of various groups or individuals at specific times and places in history. Women were not the first to tell the myth of Adam and Eve, and low-caste people did not invent the myth of the origin of the caste system in the Purusha hymn in India. The religious creativity, which has shaped religious expressions, has always had an agenda that could not be limited to 'pure' religious purposes. Therefore, it is important to consider religious phenomena as tools for the religious and social life, and as tools for analysis of religion.
Didactical proposals
Task 1
The purpose of this exercise is getting the students to transfer what they read about religious phenomena to “real life situations”. Insert more pictures - this is only an example
Task 2
The purpose in this task is student’s reflections upon what they learned in the module(s) concerning comparative religion. This exercise does not have to take more than 15 minutes and could be organized as a discussion in the end of a class.
Introduction to the Study of Religions: Comparative religion
I1. Komparativ religion (eller religionsfænomenologi)
Begreber og klassifikationer
Kombinationen med samt vigtigheden af historiske og komparative tilgange og metoder betyder, at religionsstudiet også kan kaldes for religionshistorie og for komparativ religion. På den ene side er religioner vidt forskellige fra hinanden, hver især udspringer af, udvikles i og formes af en bestemt historisk (og dermed også social, politisk og økonomisk) kontekst. På den anden side findes der reelt tilbagevendende tværkulturelle og tværhistoriske aspekter, som kan spores, når nutidige og fortidige religioner samt religioner fra hele verden, store som små, sammenlignes med hinanden. Der er derfor adskillige gode grunde til at studere sådanne aspekter systematisk og komparativt. Nogle af de vigtigste begreber og klassifikationer nævnes her:
1. Myter En type fortællinger, der kan udtrykkes mundtligt, skriftligt, i billedform og i ritualer
2. Ritualer En type handlinger, der kan kombineres i eksempelvis jævnlige og gentagne former for gudsdyrkelse, eller en type handlinger, der udføres som individuelle ritualer, såsom:
- Årstidsritualer og fester: religiøse fester og simple ritualer relateret til årstidernes gang, vigtige for landbrug og kvæghold samt samfund knyttet til disse; fornyelsen af tiden, mennesker, den sociale orden og forholdet til det guddommelige; inkluderer højtider som nytår, pesach og ramadanen.
- Kriseritualer: kulter og ritualer knyttet til krisesituationer (akutte eller tilbagevendende), såsom sygdom, fejlslagent fiskeri eller tørke.
- Overgangsriter og initiering som dramatiserer overgang via hellig tid og hellige steder, såsom overgangen fra barn til voksen, fra ugift til gift, fra liv til død eller fra en almindelig person til en religiøs specialist.
- Kollektive og private ritualer, altså ritualer udført sammen med andre og måske til fælles gavn samt ritualer udført af individet, måske til gavn for hans eller hendes egen familie.
3. Hellige eller religiøse steder og bygninger, der også kan kaldes kultsteder, fordi kollektive ritualer og fælles gudsdyrkelse finder sted der med jævne mellemrum. Deltagerne kan opfatte dem som og/eller gøre dem til hellige steder.
4. Det hellige:
I princippet er der ingen grænser for, hvad der kan opfattes og behandles som ”helligt” i verdens religioner, historiske og nuværende.
Naturfænomener, visse mennesker, bestemte menneskelige handlinger, særlige tidspunkter, steder og skrifter kan betragtes som og behandles som hellige og dermed opnå en speciel status i sammenligning med det, der ikke er helligt – altså det ”profane” (fra latin profanum, ’foran templet’, ’uden for helligdommen’).
Den klassiske religionsfænomenologi så det hellige som grundlaget for al religion, men ligesom ”religion” har det ”hellige” ikke særstatus i og med sig selv. Nogen betragter noget som helligt eller gør noget helligt – og forvandler det dermed til noget, der indgyder respekt, og som er en kilde til autoritet.
Dette sker som regel på én af følgende to måder eller som en kombination af dem begge:
- I diskurs eller tale: for eksempel i myter, hvor frem for alt fortællingen tildeler steder, personer, regler, bøger, fællesskaber og institutioner status og autoritet.
- I praksis: eksempelvis gennem ritualer. Ved at overholde påbud og forbud kan man vise såvel som vedholde, at noget er eller burde være helligt.
Teksten er en omskrivning af et engelsksproget udkast til en indledning til Horisont – en tekstbog for danske gymnasieskoler, redigeret af lektorer Annika Hvithamar og Tim Jensen samt gymnasielærere Allan Ahle og Lene Niebuhr, udgivet af Gyldendal, København 2013. Den oprindelige indledning er skrevet af Annika Hvithamar og Tim Jensen ud fra bidrag af J. Podemann Sørensen.
Rituel soldans
![[ img load fail ]](crimages/Fort_Hall_Reservation._Shoshone_Indian_Sun_Dance.jpg)
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Public domain
Billede hentet fra:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danza_del_sole#/media/File:Fort_Hall_Reservation._Shoshone_Indian_Sun_Dance_-_NARA_-_298649.tif
Muslimsk bøn
![[ img load fail ]](crimages/Muslims_praying_in_a_Masque_in_Bangladesh.jpg)
CC BY-SA 2.0
Billede hentet fra:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Salat#/media/File:Muslims_praying_in_a_Masque_in_Bangladesh.jpg
Alter

CC BY 2.5
Billede hentet fra:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Altar?uselang=it#/media/File:Hoogaltaar_Kapel.jpg