Description:This book explores the emergence of the science of religion in the Netherlands in the second half of the nineteenth century. This development is examined in a broad academic context, covering various disciplines, and in terms of socio-historical processes. The life and work of scholars such as Cornelis Petrus Tiele and Pierre Daniël Chantepie de la Saussaye, as well as less known scholars are discussed in some detail. The emphasis is on processes of institutionalization, professionalization, and internationalization on the one hand, and on contemporary discussions about method and conceptualization on the other. In this way a new perspective is offered on early Dutch scholarship of religion, which sought to “understand and explain one of the mightiest motors in the history of mankind” (Tiele). Readership: All those interested in the history of theology, religious studies and ethnology, and nineteenth-century European intellectual history in general.