Unterscheidungen der Religion

Which differences characterize the global discourse on religion? In the debate on the Eurocentrism of the concept of religion and the identification of equivalences to "religion" from outside Europe, Adrian Hermann proposes a twofold change of perspective. In place of the search for these equivalences, he suggests an analysis of how these hypothetical equivalences are made into historical translation processes. Starting from a distinction between the perspectives of religion theory and discourse theory, Hermann describes "religion" not as a phenomenon, but as a global discourse. As a result, "plurality" and "differentiation" are shown to be two central differences for religion. Against this background, Hermann deals with religious discourse in the context of Buddhist modernism, especially in 19th-century Thailand. Finally, he places in opposition to a global theory of society Niklas Luhmann's question about the prospects and problems of a religious-studies theory of the modern, along with the possibility fo a global history of religion.