This editorial introduces the inaugural issue of Dissertia Research Reviews, which foregrounds comparative, cross-regional, and cross-cultural inquiry as essential for understanding religion, culture, and society beyond the limitations of WEIRD-centered knowledge production. Drawing on recent methodological debates, it highlights comparison as a reflexive scholarly craft that holds similarity and difference in productive tension, following the insights of Jonathan Z. Smith, Robert A. Segal, and others. The Special Issue on Comparative Religion exemplifies this approach through contributions spanning cosmology, metaphysics, theology, gender, interreligious encounter, cultural policy, and spirituality, employing diverse theoretical and methodological frameworks. Emphasizing research rooted in Iranian, Turkish, and wider West Asian contexts, the issue amplifies local cultures of understanding religion and spirituality that remain underrepresented in global academic discourse. Together, these studies advance a multi-voiced, critically attentive comparative practice and inaugurate the journal’s commitment to epistemic inclusivity, methodological rigor, and global scholarly dialogue.

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