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This textbook offers a brief overview of the basic approaches to the scientific scrutiny of religion. It emphasizes not only knowledge of religions, but also how to find ways to get closer to impartiality in relation to religious topics and people.

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This textbook offers a brief overview of the basic approaches to the scientific scrutiny of religion. To remain uninterested in examining religion is more difficult than examining any other object of research. In relation to issues of religion, we cannot stand as impartial observers, because we are always somehow involved. Therefore, this book emphasizes not only knowledge of religions, but also how to find ways to get closer to impartiality. It offers an overview of topics, questions, and context, rather than a coherent theory.

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Contents: What is Religion - The Insider and Outsider Perspective - Theories about the Origin and Development of Religions - Comparative, Sociological, Psychological, Hermeneutic, Phenomenological, and Cognitive Approaches to Religion - New Religiosity.

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Adrián Slavkovskì is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Trnava University, Slovakia.

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