Jacques WaardenburgCritiques

A study of religious behavior in various societies with a special focus on the work of Gerardus van der Leeuw.

This includes the "classics" of religion. This is followed by an anthology of religion.

One of the most well-known scholars who study Islam is Jacques Waardenburg, a Professor of Comparative Study of Religion at Utrecht University, who was concerned with the issue of “objectivity-subjectivity” in the discipline of religious study. This is reflected in his Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion (2 vols.), and Reflections on the Study of Religion. Apparently, Waardenburg’s main concern is to “criticise” the works of Muslim scholars, the classical as well as the contemporary, in the light of the dominant Western concepts and methodologies. To Waardenburg, the classical Muslim scholars have failed to understand and represent other religions objectively. What the Muslims saw, according to him, were “images” (subjective understandings) “developed within their own cultural and religious orbit.” To him, this is the main problem that has prevented the emergence of the discipline of “objective” and “scientific” study of religions in the Muslim world. This is all the more difficult, according to Waardenburg, because of the adage that “Islam is the final and
true religion.”