Diverse Cultural Contributions to a “Science of Religion”: An Emerging Asia-Europe Dialogue on the Scientific Study of Religion

The study of religion is, in one sense, as old as religion itself. In another sense, it is also considered to be a new enterprise—referred to variously as the science or the scientific study of religion, the history of religions, comparative religions, religiology, the academic study of religion, the non-confessional study of religion, Religionsforschung, Religionswissenschaft , the rational exploration of religion, and, most commonly, religious studies—that only emerged in the West in the last half of the nineteenth century. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.