Compliance, Religion names and Confessional names before Religions and Confessions: Challenges to Academic Religious Studies

Abstract

In the 20th century, the concept of “compliance” gained prominence in academic publications, particularly within the realms of medical and financial-economic discourse. Recently, its application has extended to fields such as pedagogy, psychology, and philology. This concept encompasses two primary substantive dimensions: the first involves the establishment of requirements aligned with existing norms and standards, while the second pertains to the genuine and conscientious adherence to these stipulations. Contemporary sociological studies are beginning to explore the willingness of certain religious adherents to fulfill tax obligations, necessitating a theoretical framework for understanding these practices within the context of academic religious studies.

Historically, the term “compliance” — denoting agreement, indulgence, voluntary concession, and self-restraint — originated in English from Latin ecclesiastical terminology. It encapsulated specific norms governing interreligious and interfaith relations that evolved within Christian culture, particularly during the Reformation, a period marked by significant conflict. The imperative to achieve consensus with dissenters for the collective civil good prompted the formulation of new legal and literary standards, addressing challenges such as the transformation of various “religion names” and “confessional names,” wherein derogatory connotations were supplanted by neutral or respectfully affirming alternatives. This analysis draws upon resources from dictionaries, encyclopedias, the linguistic database “National Corpus of the Russian Language,” and additional scholarly sources.