Understanding and explanation in J. Waardenburg's neo-phenomenology: between hermeneutics and empirical study of religion

Ruslan F. Yarullin
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Ruslan F. Yarullin: Kazan Federal University

Russian Social and Humanitarian Studies, 2026, vol. 18, issue 2, 333-347

Abstract: Background. Jacques Waardenburg's neo-phenomenology occupies an intermediate position between classical phenomenology of religion, hermeneutics and empirical study of religion. Its methodological importance is connected with the problem of how a scholar can reconstruct subjective religious meanings scientifically when they are not directly accessible and are mediated by texts, rituals, institutions, self-descriptions and social contexts. Purpose. The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the methodological mechanism of Waardenburg's neo-phenomenology through the relationship between understanding, explanation and validation of interpretation. Materials and methods. The study is based on Waardenburg's methodological works on "new style" phenomenology of religion, the category of faith, the open concept of religion and religious actors. The article uses historical analysis in the study of religion, hermeneutic analysis, conceptual reconstruction and a comparative methodological approach; studies by J. Daniels, J. Gebelt and T. S. Samarina are used for contextualization. Results. The article shows that Waardenburg's neo-phenomenology may be described as an empirically disciplined hermeneutics of religion. Its hermeneutic dimension is linked to the movement from fact to meaning, its anthropological dimension to the focus on actors and practices, and its methodological core to the reconstruction of intentions. The reconstruction of religious intentions requires validation through sources, context, actors' self-understanding, logical consistency and comparison with alternative explanations. The article concludes that, for Waardenburg, understanding and explanation are not opposing methods but complementary operations of the study of religion.

Keywords: Jacques Waardenburg; neo-phenomenology of religion; hermeneutics of religion; Verstehen; Erklären; intention; subjective meaning; methodological validation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cxm:russhs:18:2:2026:333-347

DOI: 10.12731/3033-5981-2026-18-2-589

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