현대 종교학 이론의 현황과 전망 : 반 델 레에우의 종교현상학에 대한 재평가 -선행 연구 유형들과 새로운 해석의 가능성-

Abstract

Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950) was a pioneering phenomenologist of religion, who introduced psychology and 'primitive religion' into the study of religion. For him, phenomenon is the object related to the subject, and the subject related to the object. This essay explores four types of previous evaluations on van der Leeuw's phenomenology of religion and proposes new insights, which should be developed in the discourse of van der Leeuw's scholarship. First, Jacques Waardenburg argues that van der Leeuw did an ethical theology through his phenomenology of religion. This ethical theology(or phenomenology/psychology) was an attempt to mitigate the tension between empirical science(or historical theology) and dogmatic science(or systematic theology). Second, Willem Hofstee and Donald Wiebe claim that by having used his phenomenology as an ideological tool van der Leeuw resisted the nihilistic mood in Europe and attempted to revive ideological foundation based on religious renewal. Third, Jan Plavoet and Tim Fitzgerald assert that under the close harmonies of theology and scientific study of religion van der Leeuw returned to confessional theology and destroyed the uniqueness of religious studies. Fourth, George James insists that van der Leeuw's phenomenology has the common characteristics of Dutch school of phenomenology of religion: ① a-historical, ② a-theological, ③ anti-reductive. In conclusion, van der Leeuw's phenomenology of religion still works in the 21st century religious studies, but it should be reoriented in terms of balanced sympathy, complexity, context, and interdisciplinary approach to religious phenomena.