The Impact of Liberal Christian Theology on Comparative Religious Studies

Comparative Religious research faced many challenges in its relations with Christianity and science from its inception in the 19th century. Christianity and modern science were critical of theology from both religious and scientific points of view respectively. During the same period, a pioneering school in Protestant Theology known as Liberal Theology was established, which sought compatibility with the new developments, paved the way for the nascent Comparative Religious research, and exerted some impact on it, too. The analytical and descriptive approach in this study has elaborated on some of the effects of liberal theology on Comparative Religious research. Liberal theology was not an exclusivist and held a broader view of religion, took the non-rational and intuitional experiences more seriously, made revisions in metaphysical Christian doctrines and, while lessening the importance of some of them, attached more significance to some others. It underlined the importance of morality, and historical research on early Christianity and the Bible. Moreover, it attempted to reconcile science and religion. These characteristics of Liberal Theology were instrumental in resolving the difficulties in the path of Comparative Religious research. By introducing these subjects, Liberal theology paved the ground for the establishment of Comparative Religious research. In addition, the liberal tendencies of some scholars sparked in Comparative Religious research discussions about such concepts as pacifism, the conciliation of religions, and the emergence of an attitude of non-rational experience based on Rudolph Otto’s idea of the numinous.