Jonathan Z. Smith: A Reflection on the Meaning and Concept of Comparison in the Study of Religions

Jonathan Zittell Smith is one of the most important critics of Mircea Eliade's approach to comparative religious studies, who has written works in fields such as "comparative methodology", "Classification of Religions" and religion in the contemporary world. One-sided focus on similarity and homogenization and the discovery of similar patterns in the comparative studies of religions was the dominant method in religious studies, which was expressed by Eliade. In fact, the most important criticism of Eliade's approach is absence of serious attention to historical details, cultural and social contexts, and economic and political elements. Zittell Smith accused Eliade's comparative method to "Colonizing" the subject of research and believed that comparison does not only indicate to common and similar factors. He sought to present a comparative model that includes both differences and similarities. He reviews the main methods of comparison including (ethnological, encyclopedic, morphological, evolutionary and comprehensive comparison of religious patterns) and finally chooses the "morphological-structural" approach with emphasis on historical and anthropological components. He considers it a more correct comparative method than other methods.