THEORETICAL CONFIGURATIONS OF THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES’ PARADIGM: FROM METHODOLOGICAL MONISM TO METHODOLOGICAL PLURALISM

Abstract

This paper focuses on the theoretical configurations and conceptual-problematic field of the modern religious studies paradigm, as well as religious studies discourse in the mirror of methodological reflection. The key idea of the article is that the provisions of methodological monism and pluralism are not limited only to the sphere of scientific knowledge and epistemology, but can be extrapolated to various areas of humanities discourse, in particular mythological and religious studies. The pluralism of research methodologies makes it possible to study mythological and religious consciousness on different levels, to explicate the mythological-religious episteme as an object of philosophical and cultural analysis. The paradigm of methodological pluralism has its own conceptual and theoretical consequences, namely, a possibility of trans-disciplinary and interdisciplinary synthesis. The concept of "introepisteme" (internal episteme), which is quite natural for mythological-religious experience, is introduced into the science of religious studies. This concept allows one to explicate the nature of religious knowledge from an immanent perspective. The concept of introepistemе implies internal self-evidence, self-evidence of religious introspection. Introepistemе is understood as the subject's introspection, the subject's introspective going through religious experience, its interior dimension.