Comparing Through Contrast: Reshaping Incongruence into a Mirror

Abstract The article will discuss comparative education and comparative religious education in particular. Comparative research on religious education has been a neglected field, it has been claimed. Although progress has been made, this article will suggest that comparative work tend to neglect fundamental questions about key terms that might lead to misunderstandings and confusion—friction, in short. A methodology to handle such cases will be suggested. Friction will reveal opportunities for gaining new insights about particularly the context of origin. The article is based on the authors’ previous research involving cross-cultural comparison of religious education.