oa [De eigen vraaghorizon van Theologie en Godsdienstwetenschappen, The Specific ‘Horizon of Questioning’ of both Theology and Religious Studies]

This article argues that theology and religious studies are both fully-fledged academic disciplines and that they are distinct with respect to their specific ‘horizon of questioning’. Thus neither should theology be taken up with religious studies, nor should religious studies be absorbed by theology. Following I.U. Dalferth, the author argues that the ‘horizon of questioning’ of religious studies concerns a theoretical description of religious phenomena, whereas theology is practically oriented, thus seeing the human life coram Deo and presupposing faith in theological understanding (fides quaerens intellectum). Moreover, theology as an academic discipline does not require a ‘hard’ version of methodological agnosticism.