The Methodology of Comparative Studies of Mysticism

Subject Areas : Christianity

علی صادقی شهپر ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2014-10-18 Accepted : 2014-10-18 Published : 2008-09-22

Keywords: Methodology, comparative mysticism, the problems of comparison, different and similarities,

Abstract :

Comparative studies of mysticism tries to compare mysticalphenomena in different cultures in order to bring about a betterunderstanding of these cultures and make an intercultural relationbetween them.This article classifies the sources of the study into the first hand,second hand and third hand sources, and differentiate the translatedsources from exegeses. It reviews the difficulties of the comparativemethod of research on mysticism, like: unavailability of the first handsources, misunderstanding of the original sources by the foreignresearchers, and word by word translation of mystical terms. It alsosuggests some resolutions for dealing with such problems (e. g.functionalist approach).