Historical fundamentals and the study of religions : Haskell lectures delivered at the University of Chicago

the long version

The scholarly tradition which the author represents sees the history of religions as a discipline historically grounded, philogically informed and independent of the claims of the theology and philosophy of religion. These latter claims, in his view, have served often to misdirect and confuse attempts to construct a truly scientific study of the history of religions. The chief argument of these lectures emerges clearly in the three final lectures. "Religion in the singular is an abstraction of metaphysics or theology, inherited from the age of Rationalism, from German Idealism and Romanticism. I think here especially of Hegel and Schleiermacher. Thus, 'religion' is a loaded term and any historian who adopts it without testing is thereby dependent upon a philosophical or theological theory."