Corresponding author: Ülo Valk, University of Tartu. To quote this article: Valk, Ülo. 2024. “Religion and Folklore: Conceptual Comparisons and Current Developments.” AЯGOS 3 (2) Special Issue Towards a Global History of Religion, 145–151. DOI: 10.26034/fr.argos.2024.4767. Licence by AЯGOS and the author. Visit https://www.journal-argos.org. Abstract The article reflects on religion both as a concept and as a field of studies from a transcultural perspective, linking it to current developments in folkloristics. It sheds light on the methodology of vernacular religion, a concept introduced by Leonard N. Primiano in the 1990s, which gained momentum in the 21 st century with attention shifting from the institutional and scriptural forms of religions to vernacular beliefs, narratives, and practices in daily life. The article by Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz, “Lamas and Shamans,” initially published in German in 2013, is a contribution towards liberating scholarship on religion from its conceptual confines within the disciplinary discourse forged in Europe. We are bound by the dominant vocabulary, the power of words that frame and limit the field of studies and direct our perspectives. Critical reflexivity on the formation of theories and a sensitive examination of the abstractions formed by the Western tradition are essential, although they are unlikely to break up the enclosure of our field of vision, confined by the concepts with which we think. Kollmar-Paulenz demonstrates that the term religion, often perceived as a Western invention, finds a parallel in Mongolia, having been conceived and evolved independently from European thought. The abstract terms nom and šasin appear in 17 th -century Buddhist sources to signify dharma and Buddhist teachings, and their related rules and scriptures. Over time, these concepts were developed and processed in Mongolia, in the confrontation between Buddhism and indigenous religious practices, which were labelled as “false views” or, later, as the teachings of the shamans. The Western counterpart to these so-called false views is strikingly similar—superstition and idolatry, i.e. beliefs and practices that either opposed Christianity or appeared as remnants of a pagan era, becoming harmful or irrelevant to clerical doctrine. From a different angle, the religious conflict in Mongolia can be characterised as the confrontation between Buddhist writing and shamanic orality. The written word, bolstered by Tibetan scriptural authority, overcame, and replaced the dubious and weaker orality, the uttered word, which, in its endless variation, sounds unruly and undisciplined. In order to confront local traditions in Mongolia, lamas had to construct the image of an enemy: shamanism, which had not existed as a unified religion until Buddhism gave it definition. Religion and Folklore: Conceptual Comparisons and Current Developments Ülo Valk Published on 29/01/2024