Hans H. Penner

Is a Science of Religion Possible

involves a consideration of such questions as: Can religion be defined ? Is religion irreducible ? Can religion be explained? Is there a special method of understanding religion ?2 The discussion of these questions often appears deadlocked because of a lack of clarification concerning the exact meaning of the key terms being employed. Nevertheless, there is a recognition of the essential importance of the problems of definition, reduction, explanation, and understanding. The truth of this observation can be easily confirmed by a quick survey of books and articles dealing with the study of religion. Once having recognized the importance of definition, reduction, explanation, and understanding, it seems odd that there has been so little explicit analysis of these problems. Only recently have a few scholars attempted to delineate and clarify what is at stake when these problems are confronted directly.3 It is interesting that the burden of their analyses depends upon the continuing discussion of these crucial