The Typological Phenomenology of Religion – Resurrected: Managing a Legacy from Geo Widengren

Abstract

Abstract The recent publication of an anthology edited by Göran Larsson concerning the legacy, life and work of the once renowned Swedish scholar Geo Widengren (1907–1996) motivates an analysis of why the then well-known Phenomenology of Religion fell into disrepute as a comparative field in the study of religion and what may be done to resurrect it. Based on a historical review of the problem, a new and different theoretical and methodological foundation for comparative studies is offered. It proceeds from a set of philosophical anthropological tenets about the basically organizing nature of human belief and behaviour – here called ‘homo ordinans’ – as manifested in language, culture, society, and religion.