Mille ajalugu on religiooniuuringute ajalugu? – Metodoloogilisi täheldusi
What is the History of Religious Studies the History of? – Methodological Reflections

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this article is to analyse the ways how scholars of religions have understood and depicted the history of the discipline itself. Specifically, the article concentrates on the question of the beginning. Typically the second half of the 19th century is understood as the time when the study of religion took shape and developed into a separate academic discipline with its own identity. However, there are also those who disagree with this assessment. Therefore, in this article I analyse the arguments in favour of one or another time period and point out the reasons why disciplinary history can be understood so differently. It is noteworthy that a very similar discussion also exists among historians of science. They as well are struggling with the question of beginning. However, Andrew Cunningham has made a rather intriguing suggestion, proposing to understand scientific practice above all as a human activity and thus study it as such. Because of these similarities and parallels I have pointed out how and why historians of religious studies should adapt a similar approach. The last part of the article focuses on the history of the study of religion in Estonia, drawing attention to the various problems and understudied research questions still present in the study of the history of the discipline in Estonia.

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