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Comparison of religions
(699 words)

The comparison of religions is an important element of religious discourse, and an independent field of study within religious science[1]; [5]. Generally, what scholars perceived as their own religion was the result of comparisons with what were felt to be other religions. The comparison of religions thus always served the consolidation of identity within concrete religious contexts (Identity 4.). This was already the case in Antiquity, with Herodotus in the 5th century BCE and many other historians after him writing ethnographies and making system…

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Stuckrad, Kocku von, “Comparison of religions”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_026550>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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