Global Religious History

Abstract

Understandings of religion have been fundamentally transformed since the nineteenth century. The respective contradictions, ambiguities, continuities, and ruptures can be most comprehensively grasped when viewed against the background of global entanglements. For this purpose, the approach of global religious history proposes a range of theoretical and methodological tools. Its theoretical repertoire is largely informed by a critical engagement with poststructuralist epistemology and postcolonial perspectives embedded in a consistent genealogical approach. At the outset, it aims at bridging divisions, including those between postcolonial and global history, between disciplines such as religious studies and history, as well as between different area studies. This implies a theoretically robust reflexion of the question of what global entanglements mean in global religious history, along with the question of how to distinguish global religious history from approaches usually qualified by the prefix trans as, for example, in “transregional.” In this introduction, we offer an in-depth discussion of the theoretical foundations and methodological implications of global religious history.

Esotericism between Europe and East Asia: How the “Esoteric Distinction” Became a Structure in Cross-Cultural Interpretation

“…This is not to suggest a linear development, or that identifications and comparisons of supposedly "esoteric" teachings and practices should be seen as referring to the same "thing out there." Following the approach of global religious history (Strube 2022: 16-33;Maltese and Strube 2021), I examine these Numen 71 (2024) 9-28 developments in terms of translingual practices. Rather than looking for "right" or "wrong" translations and the concomitant identification of certain teachings and practices as "esoteric," I am interested in the historical context that made these translations possible, the narratives they produced and in which they were embedded, and the teachings and practices to which they referred, however indirectly and inaccurately.…”

Global Religious History and Religious Comparison: a Programmatic Outline

“…265-275; Kleine, "Wozu", p. 37; Nehring, Orientalismus; Bergunder, "Was ist Religion", pp. [50][51][52][53][54]Krech,"Religious Contacts",esp. p. 192,198;Bergunder,"What is Religion"; Kollmar-Paulenz, "Lamas und Schamanen", pp.…”