RELIGIOLOGY
1)
BY
HIDEO
KISHIMOTO
t
Tokyo
THE SCOPE OF RELIGIOLOGY
r) Scientific
Study
of Religion
Religiology 2) is a branch of science and its aim is the scientific
study of religion. It seeks to acquire a basic knowledge of religion as
a phase of culture, without the bias of a specific belief-system. Only
the scientific study of religion can achieve this aim.
But can religion be studied scientifically at all? Is religion not a
phenomenon bound up with emotional associations and considered the
most cherished and intimate of experiences ? Do not religion and
science essentially conflict with each other?
Such questions are often raised against the possibility of a science of
Yet in spite of the
religion, and tend to restrict its development.
objections, some have not only believed that a scientific study of
religion is possible, but have created religiology, and begun the process
of analysis.
f.
1) This short article is the first chapter of an unpublished translation of the
late Professor Kishimoto's book on Religiology, published in Japanese and used
in Japan as a textbook. The contents of the book is the following: Translator's
Note I - IV. I) The Scope of Religiology I. 2) Definition of Religion II.
3) Basic Structure and Function of Religion 13. 4) Religion and Personality 34.
5) Form of Religious Behavior 47. 6) Formation of the Belief System 63. 7) Varieties of Religious Thought 74. 8) Religion in Society 102. Conclusions 125.
Bibliography 135. In view of the prominence of Kishimoto in IAHR we have
much pleasure in publishing the introductory chapter of his book (The Editor).
2) (Jap. Shukyogaku. The author proposes to coin the word "Religiology".
However, we will also translate the term as "science of religion" according to
the content.-Trans.)
The European term closest to shukyogaku is the German Religionswisschenschaft.
"Science of religion" was used in English earlier, but has given way to the
older word "comparative religion."
82
This book must begin by meeting these questions, and clarifying
what a "scientific" study of religion means. What, for example, is its
object? What methods does it adopt? What meaning does it have for
human experience? These are the points to be considered.
The word "science" in the phrase we have used refers to the
"humanistic sciences," 3) and not the natural sciences. The latter takes
as its object of study natural phenomena devoid of human values.
Humanistic
science, in studying cultural phenoma, includes human
values.
Here, then, is the difference between natural and humanistic science,
and religiology exists as a branch of the latter. Hence its object is
and as observable
human
as a cultural
phenomenon
religion
behavior.
That religiology takes a scientific position means that it studies
religion empirically and that it is a sub-field of the experimental
humanistic sciences. Religiology deals with publicly available 4) objects
and from a value-neutral
viewpoint. Such objects are empirically
observable by any student. Metaphysical perspectives, where issues
transcend empirical observation, are excluded from the direct treatment of religiology. For example, such questions as whether an immaterial divinity exists in the world beyond human experience do not
come into the area of religiology.
But this does not mean that metaphysical religious thought and
questions of doctrine are always out of bounds. They enter into the
research area of religiology indirectly, in so far as they make their
in human behavior. Metaphysical
appearance
questions are human
and behavioral questions in as much as their author is man himself.
The issue of whether an immaterial divinity exists and the question
of man's speculation about such existence are matters of a completely
different nature. It is vitally important to recognize the difference
between them. What a person as a subject thinks concerning the
existence of God is nothing but human behavior, and may be studied
as such. Thus, religiology is able to introduce metaphysical thinking
3) (Jimbunkagaku) Jimbunkagaku is commonly used to indicate the "humanities," and may include philosophy and literature, which are strictly excluded
from scientific studies. In this book we use the term to mean the scientific study
of human phenomena. The English counterpart is "behavioral science."
4) (Kokaisei.)