The Idea
Arkoun maintains that the study of the monotheistic religions should not remain confined within each religion separately, but should open onto a broader horizon that compares them in their origins and shared questions. The aim is not to dissolve differences, but to overcome the isolation that leads each tradition to explain itself by itself, as though everything outside it lay beyond the sphere of understanding. In this sense, comparison becomes a path toward deeper and less closed understanding.
Condensed Formulation
Arkoun: moves toward: a comprehensive comparative theology of the monotheistic religions
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim expands the book’s argument from a critique of closed foundationalism to the proposal of a broader framework for understanding. It shows that the crisis of fundamentalist thought cannot be resolved within the limits of each separate tradition, but only by placing the religious phenomenon within a wider comparative field. For that reason, this statement appears here as a constructive step in the transition from local critique to a comprehensive epistemic horizon.
Why It Matters
The importance of this claim lies in the fact that it reveals that Arkoun is not seeking a linguistic reform within a single religious discourse, but a change in the very angle of vision. This helps the reader understand his project as an effort to break epistemic isolation, not merely as a call for tolerance. It also clarifies that, for him, comparison is a critical tool before it is a historical description.
Brief Evidence
Arkoun opens the study of the monotheistic religions onto a broader horizon than limiting oneself to a single religion explaining itself by itself. Comparison among these traditions does not aim to dissolve differences, but to overcome the epistemic isolation between them. Comparison thus becomes a means of deeper understanding of origins and shared questions.
Reading Questions
- Is comparison here intended to bring religions closer together, or to reveal what obstructs understanding within each religion?
- How does this comparative horizon change the way the book reads the religious phenomenon?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.