Of Bogeymen and The Promises of The Past or How to Construct a Uniform Identity

Abstract

The response to Markus Altena Davidsen’s article ‘Theo van Baaren’s Systematic Science of Religion Revisited: The Current Crisis in Dutch Study of Religion and a Way Out’ analyses the image of anthropology depicted in the article. It delineates the role anthropology plays in formulating Davidsen’s vision for a new disciplinary identity and research agenda of a ‘science of religion’. The response further questions if reanimating a research program from the mid-20th century is indeed the way forward for the discipline. The last part will discuss different views of comparison and its role in research on religion at large.