Concept History and Religious Discourse

ABSTRACT

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the history of concepts (Begriffsgeschichte) has made important contributions to the study of political and social thought, as well as to cultural history more generally. Reinhart Koselleck has argued that, during the eighteenth century, basic concept use in Europe experienced widespread trends of (1) democratization, (2) temporalization, (3) ideologization, and (4) politicization. This article will consider the possibility of a conceptual history of religious discourse. While conceptual history has thus far focused primarily on political and social concepts, some research has more recently turned to religious concepts. This work should be expanded and can be improved by the insight of theologians and ethicists who often have a better understanding of religious concept use than conceptual historians whose main focus is political thought. I will summarize how concept history could be applied to religious concepts, how theologians might make a contribution to the theory behind Koselleck's understanding of modern concept use, and offer a critique of a recent methodological introduction to religious concept history.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual history
• Reinhart Koselleck
• concepts
• religious discourse

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this paper was presented at The University of Chicago Theology and Religious Ethics Workshop, November 3, 2015. I would like to thank Lisa Landoe Hedrick in particular for her public response to the paper and helpful suggestions for how to interpret Lucian Hölscher's “Contradictory Concepts.” I would also like to thank the Theology and Religious Ethics Workshop and the Philosophy of Religions Workshop for sponsoring the event, as well as the workshop attendees for their helpful critique.