For the last decades, Bruce Lincoln has been a leading scholar within the field of the history of religions. His philological skills, historical accuracy and innovations on a concrete "low-theoretical" level as well as his critical approach toward theology and discourse of the religious elites and overall ethical commitment has been widely estimated. This review article aims to uncover some of the prerequisites for the ideology criticism that has been the hallmark of Lincoln's work and to discuss some alternative tracks to continue that tradition of scholarship.