Cross-Cultural Generalisation in Three Research Practices: Historicising, Comparing, and Theorising in the Study of Religion\s*

Abstract

This article argues for a re-appreciation of explicit and self-reflective historicising, comparing, and theorising as three research practices that offer the best answers to the main challenges that the historical study of religion\s faces today. In examining these research practices, I stress the intersection of particularising and generalising tendencies. First, the practice of historicising requires a contextualisation of the historical object(s) and the historian's own situatedness; such a dual contextualisation dovetails with the relational paradigm that characterises current studies of religion\s. Second, comparative research practices make explicit what is often concealed: the methodological back-and-forth between the contemporary researcher's frameworks and the selected data set. Rather than delegitimising comparison, this awareness should lead to deeper scrutiny and an ambition to carefully generalise. Third, shifting to a processual notion of theorising rather than engaging solidified theory enables cross-disciplinary collaboration on and public engagement with large themes in history and society. By illustrating these three research practices and highlighting several of their operational steps, I hope to contribute to the dialogue between historians and social-scientific theory.