From waste-making to recycling: A plea for an eclectic use of models in the study of religious change

The call for a new approach to the study of religious change may be heard again and again (van Binsbergen, 1976: p. 203; van Binsbergen and Buijtenhuijs, 1976: p. 10; Welbourn in La Barre, 1971: p. 34). The purpose of this paper is to suggest that we should not regard models as mutually exclusive but as inclusive.2 We must not, therefore, do away with the existing models too quickly. The new approach must be eclectic: recycling of models should take the place of the present waste-making.