Teaching History of Religion by comparing different religions

Teaching History of Religion by comparing different religions: initiation rituals as a case study, Elena Franchi, University of Trento

In previous centuries religious phenomena - rituals, for example - tended very often to be explained through comparisons with similar rituals in another culture, regardless of the temporal and spatial distance between the different historical contexts. The aim of the talk is to show how to teach initiation rituals in Ancient Greece, by exploring, with our students, the similarities and differences between Greek and other initiation rituals and the pitfalls of comparativism in connection with the paradigm of initiation rituals. The talk will address the following areas; the question of the initiation rituals of boys in Ancient Greece; the use and abuse of comparativism in studying Ancient Greece and how to teach the initiation rituals of boys in Ancient Greece.