Two Traditions in the Study of Religion.

Bainbridge and Stark's essay on The Consciousness Reformation illustrates conceptual and theoretical ambiguities characteristic of research in the scientific study of religion more generally. This paper traces these ambiguities to the presence of two competing, but poorly differentiated, epistemological traditions. An examination of the assumptions implicit within each of these traditions provides a basis for clarifying the distinction between religious symbolism and religious belief, the concept of meaning, the difference between consistency as an attribute of belief and coherence as an attribute of reality, and the role of interpersonal bonds in maintaining the plausibility of religious symbolism. An emerging third perspective that appears to circumvent some of the limitations of the two major epistemological traditions is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]