The course aims to study religion from both a phenomenological and a philosophical perspective.

The first part begins with an introduction to the different methods for studying religion and then identifies the specificity of phenomenological study and philosophical study and its methods. This is followed by a presentation of the problem of the universality and origin of the religious phenomenon, the answer to which comes from first-person phenomenology, which seeks to grasp the essence of religion in religious experience, and comparative phenomenology (third-person), which identifies the structural and functional dimensions of religion (narrative, artistic, ritual, social, doctrinal, and ethical). It thus seeks to arrive at a phenomenological definition of religion and pave the way for the philosophical study of the ultimate causes of religion.

The second part seeks to reach the ultimate causes of religion, as well as its meaning for human life, as an individual and as a member of a society. The question of the method and limits of a philosophical science of religion will be addressed through a historical look at insufficient and reductionist interpretations of the religious phenomenon, and denials of the value of religion (atheism, secularism, fideism). In comparison with the neo-scholastic doctrine of religion, proposals for a Christian philosophy of religion from the second half of the 19th century onward will be evaluated through a reading of representatives of the major lines (epistemological, immanentist, phenomenological, transcendental, hermeneutical). Integrating the analysis done so far, a resolutio of the religious phenomenon will be sought in its intrinsic and extrinsic ultimate causes, offering an essential definition of “religion” and addressing the question of “true religion.” Finally, on the path of compositio, it will be discovered why the religious phenomenon appears structured in its essential phenomenological dimensions. A second level of ap