PREFACE -- LIST OF PARTICIPANTS -- INTRODUCTION BY LAURI HONKO -- PART ONE: ORAL AND WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION OF RELIGIOUS TRADITION -- 1A. Preliterate Stages and Formation of the Canon in Book Religions -- Helmer Ringgren, Problems of the Formation and Function of a Canon -- M. Heerma van Voss, Methodology and the Egyptian Book of the Dead -- Commentary by Jan Bergman -- Commentary by Carl-Martin Edsman -- Discussion -- 1B. Taxonomy and Source Criticism of Oral Tradition -- Juha Pentikäinen, Taxonomy and Source Criticism of Oral Tradition -- Anna-Birgitta Rooth, On the Difficulty of Transcribing Synchronic Perception into Diachronic Verbalization -- Commentary by Leander Petzoldt -- Discussion -- 1C. Literary Source Criticism -- Joseph Kitagawa, Early Shinto: A Case Study -- Kurt Rudolph, The Position of Source Research in Religious Studies -- Commentary by Ileana Chirassi-Colombo -- Commentary by William Klassen -- Commentary by Eric Segelberg -- Discussion -- PART TWO: THE FUTURE OF THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION -- 2A. Evaluation of Previous Methods -- Haralds Biezais, Typology of Religion and the Phenomenological Method -- Carsten Colpe, Symbol Theory and Copy Theory as Basic Epistemological and Conceptual Alternatives in Religious Studies -- Commentary by C.J. Bleeker -- Commentary by Walter H. Capps -- Commentary by H.-J. Klimkeit -- Commentary by Reinhard Pummer -- Commentary by Eric J. Sharpe -- Discussion -- 2B. Religio-ecological Approach -- Åke Hultkrantz, Ecology of Religion: Its Scope and Methodology -- Svein Bjerke, Ecology of Religion, Evolutionism and Comparative Religion -- Commentary by Manfred Büttner -- Commentary by Asok K. Ghosh -- Commentary by C. G. Oosthuizen -- Commentary by Edmund Perry -- Commentary by Zygmunt Poniatowski -- Discussion -- 2C. Religio-anthropological Approach.

Ugo Bianchi, The History of Religions and the 'Religioanthropological Approach' -- Melford E. Spiro, Symbolism and Functionalism in the Anthropological Study of Religion -- Commentary by Horst Cain -- Commentary by Hans H. Penner -- Commentary by Robert F. Spencer -- Commentary by Annemarie de Waal Malefijt -- Discussion -- PART THREE: RELIGION AS EXPRESSIVE CULTURE -- 3A. Theories Concerning the Ritual Process -- Lauri Honko, Theories Concerning the Ritual Process: An Orientation -- James Peacock, Notes on a Theory of the Social Evolution of Ritual -- Commentary by G. J. F. Bouritius -- Commentary by Jacques H. Kamstra -- Commentary by Anthony Jackson -- Discussion -- 3B. The Language of Religion -- James Barr, The Language of Religion -- Jacques Waardenburg, The Language of Religion, and the Study of Religions as Sign Systems -- Commentary by Aili Nenola-Kallio -- Commentary by Ninian Smart -- Commentary by Hans Wissman -- Discussion -- 3C. Depth Structures of Religious Expression -- J. van Baal, The Scandal of Religion -- Kurt Goldammer, Is There a Method of Symbol Research Which Offers Hermeneutic Access to Depth-Dimensions of Religious Experience? -- Commentary by Th. P. van Baaren -- Commentary by Ulf Drobin -- Commentary by Michael Pye -- Commentary by R.J. Zwi Werblowsky -- Discussion -- INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES -- INDEX OF SUBJECTS.