REFLECTION ON GEO WIDENGREN'SPHENOMENOLOGICAL METIHOD
Abstract
The article demonstrates the value of Geo Widengren's phenomenological method. This method resolves the problem of syncretism lurking in any attempt at a comparative study of religion, and is viewed against the background of the history of philosophy in Scandinavia. Widengren's method is theoretically constituted by a descriptive analysis of religious phenomena in the concreteness of its im mediate context with all its particularity and specificity. The relevance of the method for Old Testament hermeneutics is further illustrated: the justification of the. theory in relation to. the problematic phenomena is discussed. Widengren's method is analysed as a "hermeneutic of transcendence" contingently situated in the concreteness of human life. It is non-dialectical as opposed to Hegelian Idealism. Human life provides the common ground on which the reader comes to terms with the text of the Old Testament. The method merges the reader and the text into union. Writing a theology of the Old Testament becomes writing a theology of ourselves.Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this Journal.
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