신종교현상학(New Style Phenomenology of Religion)의 쟁점들: 지향성(intentionality)과 문제 중심의 종교현상학

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is a closer inspection of the background of the formation and development of an approach to the study of religion which has been labeled New Style Phenomenology of Religion, and of its special characteristics, especially in view of its thematic and methodological divergence from what has come to be called the Classical Phenomenology of Religion.Particularly influential approaches within this New Style Phenomenology of Religion may be grouped into two distinct yet related branches. One of these centers around J. Waardenburgs critical reflections on the shortcomings of the methodology of the Classical Phenomenology of Religion and his use of the concept of intentionality. On the basis of this concept I attempt to show the possible relevant contributions of the New Style Phenomenology of Religion to the discussions around the insider-outsider problem in the study of religion. The second branch, called here the Problem-focused Phenomenology of Religion (problemorientierte Religionsphanomenologie) drawing from H. J. Klimkeits terminology, is being examined for its own particular significance as well.Eventually, a discussion of three examples for the application of these approaches follows, which cover the topics of religious space, time, and symbols as three eminent objects of research in the New Style Phenomenology of Religion. I propose to label this New Style Phenomenology of Religion an Empirical Phenomenology of Religion because of its stronger methodological connection to the social scientific approach to the study of religion, and also a Critical Phenomenology of Religion because the researcher holds up a more critical distance to his or her object of inquiry.