Approaching Religion

Approaching Religion Part II Edited by Tore Ahlbäck SCRIPTA INSTITUTI DONNERIANI ABOENSIS XVII: 2 APPROACHING RELIGION Part II Based on Papers Read at the Symposium on Methodology in the Study of Religions Held at Åbo, Finland, on the 4th-7th August 1997 Edited by Tore Ahlbäck Distributed by ALMQVIST & WIKSELL INTERNATIONAL STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN Approaching Religion Part II Approaching Religion Part II Based on Papers Read at the Symposium on Methodology in the Study of Religions Held at Abo, Finland, on the 4th-7th August 1997 Edited by Tore Ahlbäck Published by The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History Åbo, Finland Distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell International Stockholm, Sweden ISSN 0582-3226 ISBN 952-12-0581-4 Printed in Finland by Åbo Akademi University Printing Press Turku 1999 Contents Editorial Note 7 NORA AHLBERG Methodological Choice and the Study of Sensitive Issues 9 GUDMAR ANEER Unity and Diversity. Intentional Multidimensionality in Persian Sufi Language and the Method of Decoding It 33 UMAR HABILA DADEM DANFULANI A Masquerade Is Not Watched from One Spot. Reassessing the Study of African Religions 43 MONICA ENGELHART From the Natives Point of View – or Daddy-Knows-Best? 69 ROSALIND I. J. HACKETT Re-Envisioning the Sites and Sights of the Late Twentieth Century Study of Religion 85 HELENA HALLENBERG The Muslim Mystic Who Fasted in His Cradle — What Does a 19th Century MS Tell of a 13th Century Saint? 107 TINA HAMRIN Eric Hermelin and Mystical Hermeneutics. Interpretation Beyond Itself 115 EILA HELANDER Source Criticism and Cultural Models. Constructing Life Histories of Women Missionaries 125 MARJA-LIISA KEINÄNEN Rereading Finno-Ugrian Religion from a Gender Point of View 131 ERIKA MEYER-DIETRICH Ecology of Religion. A Hermeneutical Model 155 ABDELRHANI MÖUNDIB How to Study Religion in the Muslim World. Reflection on a Field Work Experience in the Middle of Morroco 169 BRITT-MARI NÄSSTRÖM Fragments of the Past. How to Study Old Norse Religion 177 LISA NYBERG Aesthetic Manifestations in Religious Practice — a Basic Grammar 187 PETRA PAKKANEN Methodological Remarks on Studying Prehistoric Greek Religion 201 ANNE PUURÖNEN Understanding Anorexia. An Hermeneutic Approach as an Methodological Alternative for the Field of Contemporary Anorexia Research 219 CATHARINA RAUDVERE Rooms of Their Own. Old Rituals in New Settings. Women between Sufism and Islamic Activism in Contemporary Istanbul 233 J. PETER SÖDERGÅRD The Semiosis of Prayer and the Creation of Plausible Fictional Worlds 249 KIRSTI SUÖLINNA Focusing on fieldwork. Edward Westermarck and Hilma Granqvist - before and after Bronislaw Malinowski 263 Biographical Notes 279 Information for Authors Editorial Note From the 4th to the 7th of August 1997 the Donner Institute and the Finnish Society for the Study of Comparative Religion arranged an IAHR Regional Symposium in Turku/Åbo, Finland. The topic of the symposium was "Methodology of the Study of Religions". I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Nordic Organizing Committee, Jan Bergman (Uppsala), Jeppe Sinding Jensen (Aarhus), and Einar Thomassen (Bergen), and to the members of the Board of the Finnish Association for the Study of Comparative Religion, Veikko Anttonen (Turku), Eila Helander (Helsinki), Helena Helve (Helsinki), Nils G. Holm (Turku), Ilkka Pyysiäinen (Helsinki), and Martti Junnonaho (Turku). The practical arrangements were taken care of by Tuija Hovi and Anne Puuronen from the Department of Comparative Religion at Turku University and by Monica Siren and Bjorn Dahla from the Donner Institute in Turku. I would like to express my thanks to them. In 1973, little less than a quarter of a century earlier, the Depart- ment of Folklore and Comparative Religion at Turku University had organized an IAHR Study Conference titled "Methodology of the Sci- ence of Religion". Certainly you should not arrange conferences on methodology at too short intervals. However, we were of the firm opinion that four conferences in a century is the correct amount. The main difference between these two conferences is that the lat- ter focused on the Nordic countries whereas the former was genu- inely international. As a consequence, comparisons between the two conferences are difficult to make. The conference publication from the 1973 conference Science of Re- ligion: Studies in Methodology. Ed. by Lauri Honko. The Hague: Mouton, 1979. (Religion and Reason, 13) includes the commentaries of the co-referents and the discussion among the audience. The pres- ent publication is more "traditional" which means that no commentaries or discussions have been included. We invited seven key-note speakers to the conference: Pascal Boyer (Lyon), Rosalind I. J. Hackett (Kentucky), Lauri Honko (Turku), Thomas Lawson (Kalamazoo), Thomas Luckmann (Konstanz), Wil- liam E. Paden (Burlington), and Donald Wiebe (Toronto). They repre- sent various subjects and approaches, such as cognitive analysis, the history of religions, epic studies, the sociology of religion, and the philosophy of religion. Since it was a regional IAHR-conference we circulated a call for papers in all of the Nordic countries. "Methodology of the study of religions" as a conference topic is vague. In the call for papers covering letter we tried to limit the theme to the science of religion, including the history, phenomenol- ogy, anthropology, sociology and psychology of religions. Neverthe- less, the theme remains extensive if you want to produce a coherent and well integrated conference publication. To elucidate the problem I cite from my Editorial Note in an earlier volume of this series, Dance, Music, Art, and Religion (Abo 1996): The organizers of a symposium such as this seem to face a problem that is impossible to solve: either they choose a very specific and regional theme, in which case they end up with a comprehensive and homogeneous volume but the specific theme excludes far too many from delivering a paper and attending the symposium, or they choose a very broad and woolly theme that results in a disparate, heterogeneous volume but gives almost every historian of religion in the Nordic countries a chance to deliver a relevant paper". We can at least say that the theme of this conference was "broad enough by all standards". What can be done to minimize the disadvantages of a broad topic when it comes to a publication? We have proceeded in the following way: The 37 papers — all of them relevant to the topic but very heterogeneous — have been formed into two main groups. The first group consists of papers dealing with method in an abstract or purely theoretical way. In the second group papers discussing method in a practical or applied way are included. These two groups complement each other: the papers in the first group are reflections on methods as tools for doing research whereas the papers in the second group can be considered demonstrations of how to use methods as tools in "real life". We have decided to publish the papers in two parts — the papers concerned with theory in part 1 and the case studies in part 2. Both volumes will be published during 1999. I am grateful to Ann-Mari Dahlstrom for having prepared this manuscript. Without her effort there would be no conference publication whatsoever from the 1997 IAHR Regional Conference in Turku. For more information on Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis or to view a complete listing of contents, please visit us at our World Wide Web site at: http://www.abo.fi/instut/di/scripta.htm. Tore Ahlbäck NORA AHLBERG Methodological Choice and the Study of Sensitive Issues Defining My Concern There has been relatively little concern with methodological issues within the study of religion, as compared with, for example, social or medical sciences, or somewhat surprisingly even with general history as maintained by Sjöblom (1999). The most obvious reason for this is in a tradition following on from a general resistance to what has, within the field, been labeled reductionistic views. Not infre- quently has the need for theoretical and/or methodological refine- ment been neglected as unnecessary as long as the researcher knows — that is thoroughly knows — the facts of his or her subject theme. If one excepts the requirement that one should master a sacred language, researchers within the field have been acknowledged accord- ing to their expertise within a certain world religion — more specifi- cally knowledge of its normative texts — rather than their methodological competence. Another reason for this prolonged state of affairs (i.e. neglect of methodological issues) might be found in the inter-disciplinarian nature of the subject theme. The study of religion could well be compared to other overall umbrella-like or thematically organized subjects such as women's studies or minority and refugee studies, which are my own second field of interest. When so little is shared among scholars of different persuasions, except for the subject theme, the situation offers many benefits — like getting a fuller view from different angles or contrasting findings gained by diverse methods - but it also poses a range of difficult issues — not the least of a methodological kind — which are perhaps easiest to avoid. Moreover, such a situation may invite unfortunate or half-hearted combinations of conflicting methodological approaches which are not very good by any scientific standards. For example, the widespread tendency to treat qualitative methods as if they were simply derived from quantitative ones — as a kind of miniature case (i.e. the one out of a hundred) - may confuse more than solve the problems involved. 10 NÖRA AHLBERG This article has sprung out of such considerations. As I see it, there is a need for a continuing clarification of how diverse methodological approaches relate to the study of religion in general, and what is more, of certain aspects of the role of the researcher in particular.

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