In this article we set out to broaden the scope of comparative education in relation to change. Following what various scholars have already shown, we argue that the world we are exploring is contingent, as too is comparative research, reflecting particular epistemological perspectives. We use this dual focus on contingency and analyze the differences among epistemological understandings of change in a strategic sample of three theoretical traditions in comparative education: borrowing and lending (specifically cross-national attraction), the world culture approach, and the functional-cum-configurational model. We argue that the borderlines of the different traditions emerge from their different epistemological starting points, relating to how they cope with complexity and resulting in different methodological consequences. We conclude that comparative education should both be more aware of the contingency of its sense-making and bolder in theorizing complex contexts.