Religion and Religious Studies in Terms of Otakar Pertold (1884-1965)

Despite its emphasis on objectivity, like other disciplines, religious studies permanently deals with cultural, ethnic, political, economic and especially worldview ideas. This generates a fundamental problem concerning the theoretical elements of the discipline and the extent to which religious studies is tied with and dependent on non-scientific postulates. From the Czech perspective, the formation of the democratic system during interwar Czechoslovakia can be considered as very fruitful for the discipline’s development. Democratic society’s emphasis on pluralism of values, its respect to different lifestyles, religious freedom, and positive acceptance of secular worldview have become key to the secular understanding of humanities and sciences in general. Later, during the communist period, the attitude was opposite, characterised primarily by a close link of sciences and humanities with worldview, i.e. with the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. Striving to maintain the objectivity of scientific research was considered a “fable of bourgeois ideology” and a “harmful assumption”. Otakar Pertold, one of the most outstanding Czech figures in the field of religious studies, can be seen as a good example of a scholar cultivating both the objective and the engaged (ideological) ways of comprehending religion and religious studies as a discipline. His life confirms the very close conjunction of the state ideology with personal belief and their significant effect on the formation of an academic study of religion. Therefore the article alerts the reader to the dependence of scientific inquiry on personal and political philosophy promoted by modern forms of state.

Despite its emphasis on objectivity, like other disciplines, religious studies permanently deals with cultural, ethnic, political, economic and especially worldview ideas. This generates a fundamental problem concerning the theoretical elements of the discipline and the extent to which religious studies is tied with and dependent on non-scientific postulates. From the Czech perspective, the formation of the democratic system during interwar Czechoslovakia can be considered as very fruitful for the discipline’s development. Democratic society’s emphasis on pluralism of values, its respect to different lifestyles, religious freedom, and positive acceptance of secular worldview have become key to the secular understanding of humanities and sciences in general. Later, during the communist period, the attitude was opposite, characterised primarily by a close link of sciences and humanities with worldview, i.e. with the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. Striving to maintain the objectivity of scientific research was considered a “fable of bourgeois ideology” and a “harmful assumption”. Otakar Pertold, one of the most outstanding Czech figures in the field of religious studies, can be seen as a good example of a scholar cultivating both the objective and the engaged (ideological) ways of comprehending religion and religious studies as a discipline. His life confirms the very close conjunction of the state ideology with personal belief and their significant effect on the formation of an academic study of religion. Therefore the article alerts the reader to the dependence of scientific inquiry on personal and political philosophy promoted by modern forms of state.