Religioznawstwo – drogi ku naukowości. Tradycja i nowoczesność. Ludzie, problemy i metody

Abstrakt

The main thesis of the article is the conviction that from the very beginning, religious studies has been subject to various cultural, political, ideological and, especially, worldview influences. These have given rise to questions such as: what is the basis of scientific knowledge about world religions? To what extent does it depend on the beliefs of the researchers? What are the scientific methods of acquiring this knowledge and what theories apply to it? In the article, I document that inspiration has come, and continues to come, from various directions. The ranks of religious scholars include linguists, ethnographers, anthropologists, archaeologists, orientalists, educationalists, psychologists, historians or even biblical scholars. Secular and denominational persons. Furthermore, on the basis of hermeneutic analyses of texts, I prove that Polish religious studies is not inferior in its research to Western scientific thought on religion and religiosity. I postulate a minimum of objectivity in this research, realising that it is virtually impossible without emotional involvement.