COMPARATIVE-HISTORICAL METHOD [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]. The central focus of the comparative-historical method is to develop comparisons between religious formations (comparative) while accounting for their development within particular contexts through time (historical). As such, the method can be distinguished from the following: the phenomenology of religion, which tends toward ahistorical typologies; theology, which operates within single traditions; social scientific (psychological, sociological) approaches, which are usually not as rigorously historical; and from formalist, philosophical approaches to religion. The comparative-historical method converges unavoidably on other articles from the Encyclopedia of Religion besides Ninian Smart's, most notably "History of Religions" and "Comparative Religion". It is reasonable to say that Bianchi viewed the comparative-historical method as the dynamic fulcrum of the history of religions.

The comparative-historical method is very much at the heart of the academic discipline of religion. The process of comparative religion proper, taking its place...