oa The Principal Religions. A Landmark in the Early Study of Religion in the Netherlands

This essay looks at a remarkable initiative taken by the publisher A.C. Kruseman in the early 1860s to launch a series called ‘The Principal Religions’. The series is an important landmark of the early study of religion in the Netherlands outside academia. Various contributors showed a new methodological awareness in that they believed that the major religions, including Christianity, were to studied in the same (comparative) way. The making of the series also nicely illustrates the progressing ‘ acadernization’ of the field. Moreover, the project shows the growing interest of an educated public in the scholarly study of religions in the plural.