Date of Award
5-1972
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
H. Patrick Sullivan
Second Advisor
W. Taylor Stevenson
Third Advisor
William Sullivan
Abstract
In the interest of clarity concerning not only the nature and purpose of our inquiry, but also its concrete procedure, we wish to make a number of methodological remarks. First, the nature of our inquiry demands, we believe, an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, methodologically, we have selected three contemporary religious scholars who represent, at least minimally, the three basic dimensions of the study of religion which we have previously mentioned: philosophy of religion, history and phenomenology of religions, Christian systematic theology. We have selected, out of the possible field of numerous worthy scholars, three men who represent, respectively, Religionswissenschaft, Protestant systematic theology, and Catholic systematic theology. More specifically, we have selected three men who represent those three disciplines in a unique way. Joachim Wach, our representative of Religionswissenschaft, is noted for his work in the analysis of the methodological principles (especially hermeneutics) of the study of the phenomena and history of religions, his concrete comparative studies of major religions, his sociology of religion, and his keen consciousness of the need for a more explicit and concrete correlation of Religionswissenschaft and Christian theology.