| Summary: | On the ethnographer’s view from afar or the relationship between theory and observation. “Let the field be your guide; leave behind any preconceived ideas”: such is the advice often given to students and young researchers. We propose to defend and illustrate the opposite thesis: the preconceived idea, hypothesis or set of hypotheses — in short, theory — is what makes observation possible.This thesis is not original. Familiar to historians of the natural sciences, it was brilliantly defended by Hocart in anthropology. It entails making systematic use of the comparative method. Here we will demonstrate its relevance for the study of Christian and republican myths and rituals.
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