René Gothóni, Attitudes and Interpretations in Comparative Religion.
Folklore Fellows’ Communications No. 272. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (Academia Scientiarum Fennica), 2000. xxxviii + 117 pp.
Hard (ISBN 951-41-0876-0), FIM120,-
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The present book is a collection of essays by René Gothóni published over a period of almost twenty years. Certain essays appear here in revised form. There are ten essays in all, together with a preface, an illustrated appendix, a bibliography and an index. The book is an excellent illustration of Gothóni’s academic interests: we get a good introduction to what a Finnish scholar of comparative religion can have studied during the course of a scholarly career. The emphasis is on an anthropological approach combined with field studies, together with a comparativist angle _ one might call the results a phenomenological perspective.
The essays cover quite a broad range of interests. We are first given a preface, which is enlightening with regard to the author and his personal interest in the study of religion. This is followed by discussion of the term religion itself, an eternal question in this context. In a wise and illuminating move, the author introduces the concept of family resemblances, as elaborated by Wittgenstein.
This is followed by a discussion of the main different attitudes towards religion and what these signify for study of the field. In this context, the author draws examples from his own teaching experience at the University of Helsinki. Teaching religion is often a sensitive issue, which can provoke reactions both in conservative religious quarters and in the new-religious and enthusiastic camps. The author argues for a methodical detachment, which does not however preclude personal commitment.
The majority of the essays in the book deal with the monasticism. The areas covered are the lives of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, studied by the author in his doctoral dissertation, and those of Orthodox monks on Mount Athos in Northern Greece, a place that has become something of a retreat for the author in recent years. The author has previously published two books in English about monastic life on Mount Athos. The material included here consists largely of central elements from Gothóni’s doctoral dissertation and his books about Athos. We are given descriptions of monastic life within both religions. The author highlights both similarities and differences, although it is the latter which perhaps predominate in his accounts. There is no doubt, however, that the reader is given a good insight into monastic life in both places. We become acquainted with the tribulations of daily life, together with the great goal of Nirvana or heavenly peace which provide the monk’s hope and final goal. In his descriptions, the author comes close to his own personal experiences and can to some extent communicate these to the reader, too.
The final essay is entitled “What is to be attained?” Here the author poses the question of what purpose is served by all the asceticism and spiritual effort. What is the aim of the spiritual exercises? He answers by suggesting that, when we establish the objective world, we must also see another world that exists within it. Or, as he puts it, “…we realize that although it is invisible, it is nevertheless an empirical reality in our mind, the witness of which is manifest in the writings and lives of spiritual masters (in all religions)” (p. 153). Through spiritual exercises one internalizes the spiritual world and can begin to inhabit it, an experience that exalts the individual in question. One finds one’s “spiritual pleasure” in the development of this inner world, something that characterizes not only the monk but also anyone else who takes religion seriously.
At this point, the author introduces perspectives clearly related to religious psychology, thus demonstrating an intellectual breadth and a willingness to extend scholarly perspectives. It is not just the matter of historical and comparative studies, then, which concerns Gothóni, but there are other viewpoints, too: an attitude that I greatly appreciate. The author, finally, has a great facility for clear and simple diagrams, as emerges in many of these essays. Where the discussion of religion in relation to its “derivatives” is concerned, one might wish for clearer criteria. As things stand now, religion can easily emerge in an exclusively positive light, whereas sects, particularly suicide sects are treated as mere derivatives – and hardly even religious ones. More detailed psychological and sociological discussion would be useful here.
By and large, the book is an interesting and rewarding collection of research findings, based partly on more theoretical considerations and partly on field studies. It is eminently suitable as a university textbook.
Nils G. Holm
Åbo Akademi University
FF Network No. 21
(March): 19-20