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Mircea Eliade's Phenomenological Analysis of Religious ExperienceAuthor(s): Douglas AllenSource:
The Journal of Religion,
Vol. 52, No. 2 (Apr., 1972), pp. 170-186Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL:
Accessed: 19/04/2009 08:40
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MirceaEliade'sPhenomenologicalAnalysisofReligiousExperienceDouglasAllen
INTRODUCTION
It seemspossibletomakethedistinctionbetweenprovidingthecriteriaforseparatingreligiousfromnonreligiousphenomenaandprovidingthecriteriaforinterpretingthemeaningofareligiousphenomenon.Thisisanalogoustothedistinctionbetweenformulatingthe criteriafordis-tinguishingaworkofart andsupplyingthe criteriaforunderstandingthemeaningofthework ofart.Interms ofthisdistinction,itismythesis thattherearetwokeynotions inMirceaEliade'smethodology:thedialecticofthesacred andtheprofane'andthe centralpositionofsymbolismorsymbolicstruc-tures.Eliade'sinterpretationof thedialectic ofthe sacredallows himtodistinguishreligiousphenomena;hisinterpretationofsymbolismpro-videsthetheoreticalframeworkinterms ofwhich he isable tounder-standthemeaningofmost ofthesesacredmanifestations.Eliade'sgeneralviewofsymbolismestablishes thephenomenologicalgroundsforhisstructuralhermeneutics;thedialecticofthesacred,whencombinedwithEliade'sanalysisofsymbolism,conveystheirreduciblyreligious"sense"evidencedthroughouthisapproach.Inthisstudyweshallfocusuponthefirstofthesekeynotions:Eliade'sattempttoprovidecriteriafordistinguishing religiousphe-nomena. Forthesake ofanalysis,weshallabstractseveralprinciplesfromhismethodology.Such anapproachmightsuggestatemporalorder inEliade'shermeneutics:firstEliade insistsupontheirreduci-bilityof thesacred,whichinvolves thephenomenological epocheand thesympatheticefforttoparticipateintheexperienceofhomoreligiosus;nextheattemptstorecreateimaginativelytheconditions of the sacredmanifestationandcapturestheintentionalityofthesacredmanifesta-
1We shalluse"thedialectic ofthesacred,""thedialecticof thesacredand theprofane,"and"thedialecticofhierophanies"interchangeably.
I70
MirceaEliade'sPhenomenologytionin termsof the dialectic of thesacred;thenheattemptstounder-stand themeaningof the sacred manifestation in terms of astructuralhermeneuticsgroundedinhisinterpretationofreligious symbolism.Itisimperativethatweclearlyrecognizethat suchaninterpretation,suggestingthistemporal sequencein Mircea Eliade'smethodology,willnotdo.Forexample,weshall describe Eliade'smethodologicalin-sistenceuponsuspendingone's owninterpretationandseeingjustwhatone's datareveal.Butsurelyeventhe most conscientiousphenomenol-ogistcannotsimply"perform"or"invoke" theepoche.hephenomeno-logicalepochemustinvolve someexplicitmethod ofself-criticism,intersubjectivecheck,factual(aswell as"free")variations. Conse-quently,we couldnotpossiblyunderstand the nature ofEliade'sphenomenologicalepocheuntil we had elucidatedtheadditionalmethodologicalprinciplesandhermeneutical frameworkinterms ofwhichone cansuspendhisown normativeudgments,graspthemean-ingof theexperiencesof homoeligiosus,tc.Inshort,we cannotoveremphasizethat thefollowinghermeneuticalprinciples,alongwith thestructuralisticprinciplesnotelucidatedinthisstudy,must beviewed asfunctioningtogetherinMirceaEliade'smethodology. Anyillusion oftemporalorderisanunfortunatecon-sequenceof the needforananalyticexposition.AccordingtoEliade,thehistorian ofreligions2"usesanempiricalmethod ofapproach"andbegins bycollectingreligiousdocumentswhich needto beinterpreted.3UnlikeMiiller,Tylor,Frazer,andotherearlyinvestigators,the modern scholarrealizes thatheworks "exclu-sivelywith historicaldocuments."4Consequently,Eliade'spointofdepartureis thehistorical data whichexpressthereligiousexperiences
2
By "historyofreligions"we meanthe entiredisciplineofReligionswissenschaft,withinwhichwemaydistinguishsuch"branches" ashistory,psychology,sociology,andphenomenologyofreligion(seeJoachimWach,Sociology fReligion[Chicago:UniversityofChicago,PhoenixBooks,I964],pp.1-2).Withinthiscontext wetakeEliadetobe ahistorianofreligions,and,morespecifically,aphenomenologistofreligion.3MirceaEliade,"MethodologicalRemarks on theStudyofReligiousSym-bolism,"inTheHistoryofReligions:EssaysinMethodology,d. MirceaEliade andJosephM.Kitagawa(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,
I966),
p.88. SeeEliade,TheMythoftheEternalReturn,rans.WillardR.Trask(NewYork:PantheonBooks,1954),pp.5-6;andPatterns nComparative eligion,trans.RosemarySheed(NewYork:MeridianBooks,I966),pp.xiv-xvi.
4
Eliade,"TheQuestfor the'Origins'ofReligion,"HistoryofReligions6,no. I(1964):I69.Withslightmodifications,thisarticle isreproducedinEliade's TheQuest:HistoryandMeaningnReligion(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,1969),
PP. 37-53 (cf.Patterns,pp.2-3).
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