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Various Religious symbols

Religious studiesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secularstudy of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes,compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic,historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.

While theology attempts to understand the nature of transcendent orsupernatural forces (such as deities), religious studies tries to studyreligious behavior and belief from outside any particular religiousviewpoint. Religious studies draws upon multiple disciplines and theirmethodologies including anthropology, sociology, psychology,philosophy, and history of religion.

Religious studies originated in the nineteenth century, when scholarly andhistorical analysis of the Bible had flourished, and Hindu and Buddhisttexts were first being translated into European languages. Early influentialscholars included Friedrich Max Müller, in England, and Cornelius P. Tiele, in the Netherlands. Today religious

studies is practiced by scholars worldwide.[1] In its early years, it was known as Comparative Religion or theScience of Religion and, in the USA, there are those who today also know the field as the History of religion(associated with methodological traditions traced to the University of Chicago in general, and in particular MirceaEliade, from the late 1950s through to the late 1980s). The field is known as Religionswissenschaft in Germanyand Sciences des religions in the French-speaking world.

The term "religion" originated from the Latin noun "religio", that was nominalized from one of three verbs: "relegere"(to turn to constantly/observe conscientiously); "religare" (to bind oneself [back]); and "reeligere" (to choose

again).[2] Because of these three different meanings, an etymological analysis alone does not resolve the ambiguityof defining religion, since each verb points to a different understanding of what religion is. During the MedievalPeriod, the term "religious" was used as a noun to describe someone who had joined a monastic order (a"religious"). Despite this change in meaning, it is important to note the term "religion" is primarily a Christian term.Judaism and Hinduism, for example, do not include this term in their vocabulary.

Contents

1 Theology

2 Intellectual foundation and background

3 History

3.1 Anthropology of religion

3.2 Cultural anthropology of religion

3.3 Economics of religion

3.4 Geography of religion

3.5 History of religion

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3.6 Literary approaches

3.7 Neurological approaches

3.8 Origin of religion

3.9 Psychology of religion

3.10 Sociology of religion

3.11 Law and Religion

4 Methodologies

4.1 Phenomenology

4.2 Functionalism

4.3 Lived religion

5 Criticism

6 Influential figures

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

10.1 Academic societies

10.2 Online Works and Sources

Theology

Western philosophy of religion, as the basic ancestor of modern religious studies, is differentiated from theology andthe many Eastern philosophical traditions by generally being written from a third party perspective. The scholarneed not be a believer. Theology stands in contrast to the philosophy of religion and religious studies in that,generally, the scholar is first and foremost a believer employing both logic and scripture as evidence. Theologyaccording to this understanding fits with the definition which Anselm of Canterbury gave to it in the 11th century,credo ut intelligam, or faith seeking understanding (literally, "I believe so that I may understand"). The theologianthen has the task of making intelligible, or clarifying, the religious commitments to which he or she subscribes. The

scholar of religious studies has no such allegiances.[3]

Intellectual foundation and background

Before religious studies became a field in its own right, flourishing in the United States in the late 1960s, several keyintellectual figures explored religion from a variety of perspectives. One of these figures was the famous pragmatistWilliam James. His 1902 Gifford lectures and book The Varieties of Religious Experience examined religion froma psychological-philosophical perspective and is still influential today. His essay The Will to Believe defends therationality of faith.

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Max Müller

Max Weber studied religion from an economic perspective in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism(1904-5), his most famous work. As a major figure in sociology, he has no doubt influenced later sociologists ofreligion. Émile Durkheim also holds continuing influence as one of the fathers of sociology. He explored Protestantand Catholic attitudes and doctrines regarding suicide in his work Suicide. In 1912 he published his mostmemorable work on religion, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.

History

Interest in the general study of religion dates back to at least Hecataeusof Miletus (ca. 550 BCE – ca. 476 BCE) and Herodotus (ca. 484 BCE– 425 BCE). Later, during the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars studiedPersian, Jewish, Christian, and Indian religions. The first history ofreligion was the Treatise on the Religious and Philosophical Sects(1127 CE), written by the Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Shahrastani.Peter the Venerable, also working in the twelfth century, studied Islamand made possible a Latin translation of the Qur'an.

Notwithstanding the long interest in the study of religion, the academicdiscipline Religious Studies is relatively new. Dr. Chris Partridge notesthat the "first professorships were established as recently as the finalquarter of the nineteenth century."[1]

(http://www.uccf.org.uk/yourcourse/rtsf/docs/academicstudyofreligion.pdf) In the nineteenth century, the study ofreligion was done through the eyes of science. Max Müller was the first Professor of Comparative Philology atOxford University, a chair created especially for him. In his Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873) hewrote that it is "the duty of those who have devoted their life to the study of the principal religions of the world intheir original documents, and who value and reverence it in whatever form it may present itself, to take possessionof this new territory in the name of true science."

Partridge writes that "by the second half of the twentieth century the study of religion had emerged as a prominentand important field of academic enquiry." He cites the growing distrust of the empiricism of the nineteenth centuryand the growing interest in non-Christian religions and spirituality coupled with convergence of the work of socialscientists and that of scholars of religion as factors involved in the rise of Religious Studies.

One of the earliest academic institutions where Religious Studies was presented as a distinct subject was UniversityCollege Ibadan, now the University of Ibadan, where Geoffrey Parrinder was appointed as lecturer in Religious

Studies in 1949.[4]

In the 1960s and 1970s, the term "religious studies" became common and interest in the field increased. Newdepartments were founded and influential journals of religious studies were initiated (for example, Religious Studiesand Religion). In the forward to Approaches to the Study of Religion, Ninian Smart wrote that "in the English-

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speaking world [religious studies] basically dates from the 1960s, although before then there were such fields as 'thecomparative study of religion', the 'history of religion', the 'sociology of religion' and so on..."

In the 1980s, in both Britain and America, "the decrease in student applications and diminishing resources in the1980s led to cut backs affecting religious studies departments." (Partridge) Later in the decade, religious studiesbegan to pick up as a result of integrating religious studies with other disciplines and forming programs of study thatmixed the discipline with more utilitarian study.

Philosophy of religion uses philosophical tools to evaluate religious claims and doctrines. Western philosophy hastraditionally been employed by English speaking scholars. (Some other cultures have their own philosophicaltraditions including Indian, Muslim, and Jewish.) Common issues considered by the (Western) philosophy ofreligion are the existence of God, belief and rationality, cosmology, and logical inferences of logical consistencyfrom sacred texts.

Although philosophy has long been used in evaluation of religious claims (e.g. Augustine and Pelagius's debateconcerning original sin), the rise of scholasticism in the 11th century, which represented "the search for order inintellectual life" (Russell, 170), more fully integrated the Western philosophical tradition (with the introduction oftranslations of Aristotle) in religious study.

There is some amount of overlap between subcategories of religious studies and the discipline itself. Religiousstudies seeks to study religious phenomena as a whole, rather than be limited to the approaches of itssubcategories.

Anthropology of religion

The anthropology of religion is principally concerned with the common basic needs of man that religion fulfills.

Cultural anthropology of religion

The cultural anthropology of religion is principally concerned with the cultural aspects of religion. Of primaryconcern to the cultural anthropologist of religions are rituals, beliefs, religious art, and practices of piety.

Economics of religion

Gallup surveys have found that the world's poorest countries may be the most religious. Of those countries withaverage per-capita incomes under $2000, 95% reported that religion played an important role in their daily lives.This is contrasted by the average of 47% from the richest countries, with incomes over $25000 (with the United

States breaking the trend by reporting at 65%).[5] Social scientists have suggested that religion plays a functional

role (helping people cope) in poorer nations.[5][6] The New York Times offers a graphic illustrating the correlation(not necessarily causation) between religion and poverty (http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/religions-correlation-with-poverty/).

Geography of religion

The geography of religion is principally concerned with the spatial elements of religious practice and embodiment. Inthe 1960s and 1970s, geographers of religion such as Wilbur Zelinsky and David Sopher were mostly associatedwith the "Berkeley school" of cultural geography and focused mostly on the cultural imprints of religion on the

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landscape. Since the turn in the new cultural geography of religion through the work of James Duncan on the City asText, geographers of religion have focused on what Lily Kong has called the "politics and poetics" of religion,especially in relation to the political geographies of secular nation-states. Recent interest in the geography of religionhas focused on how religious practitioners enact sacred space through their embodied sacred practices as well asthe relationship between religion and geopolitics.

History of religion

The history of religions is not concerned with theological claims apart from their historical significance. Some topics

of this discipline are the historicity of religious figures, events, and the evolution of doctrinal matters.[7]

Literary approaches

There are many approaches to the study of sacred texts. One of these approaches is to interpret the text as aliterary object. Metaphor, thematic elements, and the nature and motivations of the characters are of interest in thisapproach. An example of this approach is God: A Biography, by Jack Miles.

Neurological approaches

The temporal lobe has been of interest which has been termed the "God center" of the brain. (Ramachandran, ch.9) Neurological findings in regard to religious experience is not a widely accepted discipline within religious studies.Scientific investigators have used a SPECTscanner to analyze the brain activity of both Christian contemplatives and

Buddhist meditators, finding them to be quite similar.[8]

Origin of religion

The "origin of religion" refers to the emergence of religious behavior in prehistory, before written records.

Psychology of religion

The psychology of religion is concerned with what psychological principles are operative in religious communitiesand practitioners. William James was one of the first academics to bridge the gap between the emerging science ofpsychology and the study of religion. A few issues of concern to the psychologist of religions are the psychologicalnature of religious conversion, the making of religious decisions, religion and happiness, and the psychologicalfactors in evaluating religious claims.

Sigmund Freud was another influential figure in the field of psychology and religion. He used his psychoanalytictheory to explain religious beliefs, practices, and rituals in order to justify the role of religion in the development ofhuman culture.

Sociology of religion

The sociology of religion concerns the dialectical relationship between religion and society; the practices, historical

backgrounds, developments, universal themes and roles of religion in society.[9] There is particular emphasis on therecurring role of religion in all societies and throughout recorded history. The sociology of religion is distinguishedfrom the philosophy of religion in that it does not set out to assess the validity of religious beliefs, though the process

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of comparing multiple conflicting dogmas may require what Peter L. Berger has described as inherent

"methodological atheism".[10] Whereas the sociology of religion broadly differs from theology in assuming theinvalidity of the supernatural, theorists tend to acknowledge socio-cultural reification of religious practise.

It may be said that the modern formal discipline of sociology began with the analysis of religion in Durkheim's 1897study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations. The works of Max Weber emphasised therelationship between religious belief and the economic foundations of society. Contemporary debates have centredon issues such as secularization, civil religion, and the cohesiveness of religion in the context of globalization andmulticulturalism.

The sociology of religion also deals with how religion impacts society regarding the positive and negatives of whathappens when religion is mixed with society. Theorist such as Marx states that “religion is the opium of the people”- the idea that religion has become a way for people to deal with their problems. At least one comprehensive studyrefutes this idea. Research has found that secular democracies like France or Scandinavia outperform more theisticdemocracies on various measures of societal health. The authors explains, "Pressing questions include the reasons,whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a muchhigher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do

the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions?"[11]

Law and Religion

Vogel reports that in the 1970s a new "Law and Religion" approach has progressively built its own contribution toreligious studies. Over a dozen scholarly organizations and committees were formed by 1983, and a scholarlyquarterly, the Journal of Law and Religion first published that year and the Ecclesiastical Law Journal opened

in 1999.[12] Many departments and centers have been created around the world during the last decades. As of2012, major Law and Religion organizations in the U.S. included 500 law professors, 450 political scientists, andspecialists in numerous other fields such as history and religious studies. Between 1985 and 2010, the field saw the

publication of some 750 books and 5000 scholarly articles.[13] Scholars are not only focused on strictly legal issuesabout religious freedom or non establishment but also on the study of religions as they are qualified through judicialdiscourses or legal understanding on religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law,

often in comparative perspective.[14][15] Specialists have explored themes in western history regarding Christianity

and justice and mercy, rule and equity, discipline and love.[16] Common topics on interest include marriage and the

family,[17] and human rights.[18] Moving beyond Chirtianity, scholars have looked at law and religion interrelations

in Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East,[19] and pagan Rome.[20]

Methodologies

A number of methodologies are used in Religious Studies. Methodologies are hermeneutics, or interpretive models,that provide a structure for the analysis of religious phenomena.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology is "arguably the most influential approach to the study of religion in the twentieth century."(Partridge) The term is first found in the title of the work of the influential philosopher of German Idealism, GeorgWilhelm Friedrich Hegel, entitled The Phenomenology of Spirit. Phenomenology had been practiced long before its

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being made explicit as a philosophical method by Edmund Husserl, who is considered to be its founder. In thecontext of Phenomenology of religion however, the term was first used by Pierre Daniel Chantepie de la Saussayein his work "Lehrbuch der Religiongeschichte" (1887). Chantepie's phenomenology catalogued observablecharacteristics of religion much like a zoologist would categorize animals or an entomologist would categorizeinsects.

In part due to Husserl's influence, "phenomenology" came to "refer to a method which is more complex and claimsrather more for itself than did Chantepie’s mere cataloguing of facts." (Partridge) Husserl argued that the foundationof knowledge is consciousness. He recognized "how easy it is for prior beliefs and interpretations to unconsciouslyinfluence one’s thinking, Husserl’s phenomenological method sought to shelve all these presuppositions andinterpretations." (Partridge) Husserl introduced the term "eidetic vision" to describe the ability to observe without"prior beliefs and interpretations" influencing understanding and perception.

His other main conceptual contribution is the idea of the epoche: setting aside metaphysical questions and observingphenomena in and of themselves, without any bias or commitments on the part of the investigator. The epoche, alsoknown as phenomenological reduction or bracketing, involves approaching a phenomenon or phenomena from aneutral standpoint, instead of with our own particular attitudes. In performing this reduction, whatever phenomenonor phenomena we approach are understood in themselves, rather than from our own perspectives. In the field ofreligious studies, a contemporary advocate of the phenomenological method is Ninian Smart. He suggests that weshould perform the epoche as a means to engage in cross-cultural studies. In doing so, we can take the beliefs,symbols, rituals etc. of the other from within their own perspective, rather than imposing ours on them. Anotherearlier scholar who employs the phenomenological method for studying religion is Gerardus van der Leeuw. In hisReligion in Essence and Manifestation (1933), he outlines what a phenomenology of religion should look like:

Firstly, argues van der Leeuw, the student of religion needs to classify the religious phenomena

into distinct categories: e.g. sacrifice, sacrament, sacred space, sacred time, sacred word,

festivals, and myth.

Secondly, scholars then need to interpolate the phenomena into the their own lives. That is to

say, they need to empathetically (Einfühlung) try and understand the religion from within....The

life examined by the religious studies scholar, insists van der Leeuw, needs to "acquire its place

in the life of the student himself who should understand it out of his inner self."

Thirdly, van der Leeuw stresses perhaps the fundamental phenomenological principle, namely

epoch, the suspension of value-judgements and the adoption of a neutral stance.

Fourthly, scholars needs to clarify any apparent structural relationships and make sense of the

information. In so doing, they move towards a holistic understanding of how the various aspects

of a religion relate and function together.

Fifthly, this leads naturally to a stage at which "all these activities, undertaken together and

simultaneously, constitute genuine understanding [Verstehen]: the chaotic and obstinate 'reality'

thus becomes a manifestation, a revelation" (eidetic vision).

Sixthly, having thus attained this general grasp, there is a continual need to make sure that it

tallies with the up-to-date research of other disciplines, such as archaeology, history, philology

etc. For van der Leeuw, as for other phenomenologists, the continual checking of one’s results

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is crucial to the maintenance of scholarly objectivity. In order to avoid degeneration into

fantasy, phenomenology must always feed on facts.

Finally, having gone through the above six stages, the phenomenologist should be as close as

anyone can be to an understanding of the 'meaning' of the religious phenomena studied and be

in a position to relate his understanding to others.

The subjectivity inherent to the phenomenological study of religion makes complete and comprehensiveunderstanding highly difficult. However, phenomenologists aim to separate their formal study of religion from theirown theological worldview and to eliminate, as far as possible, any personal biases (e.g., a Christianphenomenologist would avoid studying Hinduism through the lens of Christianity).

There are a number of both theoretical and methodological attitudes common among phenomenologists:source(http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/phenom.htm)

Phenomenologists tend to oppose the acceptance of unobservable matters and grand systems

erected in speculative thinking;

Phenomenologists tend to oppose naturalism (also called objectivism and positivism), which is

the worldview growing from modern natural science and technology that has been spreading

from Northern Europe since the Renaissance;

Positively speaking, phenomenologists tend to justify cognition (and some also evaluation and

action) with reference to what Edmund Husserl called Evidenz, which is awareness of a matter

itself as disclosed in the most clear, distinct, and adequate way for something of its kind;

Phenomenologists tend to believe that not only objects in the natural and cultural worlds, but

also ideal objects, such as numbers, and even conscious life itself can be made evident and thus

known;

Phenomenologists tend to hold that inquiry ought to focus upon what might be called

"encountering" as it is directed at objects and, correlatively, upon "objects as they are

encountered" (this terminology is not widely shared, but the emphasis on a dual problematics

and the reflective approach it requires is);

Phenomenologists tend to recognize the role of description in universal, a priori, or "eidetic"

terms as prior to explanation by means of causes, purposes, or grounds; and

Phenomenologists tend to debate whether or not what Husserl calls the transcendental

phenomenological epochê and reduction is useful or even possible.

Functionalism

Functionalism, in regard to religious studies, is the analysis of religions and their various communities of adherentsusing the functions of particular religious phenomena to interpret the structure of religious communities and theirbeliefs. A major criticism of functionalism is that it lends itself to teleological explanations. An example of a

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functionalist approach is understanding the dietary restrictions contained in the Pentateuch as having the function ofpromoting health or providing social identity (i.e. a sense of belonging though common practice).

Lived religion

Lived religion is the ethnographic and holistic framework for understanding the beliefs, practices, and everydayexperiences of religious and spiritual persons in religious studies. The name lived religion comes from the French

tradition of sociology of religion "la religion veçue".[21]

The concept of lived religion was popularized in the late 20th century by religious study scholars like Robert A. Orsiand David Hall. The study of lived religion has come to include a wide range of subject areas as a means ofexploring and emphasizing what a religious person does and what they believe. Today, the field of lived religion isexpanding to include many topics and scholars.

Criticism

A group of scholars have criticized religious studies beginning in the 1990s as a theological project which actuallyimposes views onto the people it aims to survey. Prominent voices in this critical view include Robert A. Orsi,Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, Tomoko Masuzawa, G.A. Oddie, Richard King, Russell T. McCutcheon, and

Daniel Dubuisson. Their areas of research overlap heavily with postcolonial studies.[22]

Influential figures

Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach (1845), and Das Kapital (1867)[23]

James Frazer, The Golden Bough (1890)[23]

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912)

Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (1913), The Future of an Illusion (1927)[23]

Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1917)

Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East (1938)

Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), The Power of Myth (1988)

Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity (1953)

Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (1960)[23]

Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (1962)

E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories of Primitive Religion (1965)[23]

Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy (1967)

Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind (1969) (retitled The Religious Experience in 1991

edition)

Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (1969)

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J. Z. Smith, Map is not Territory: Studies in the History of Religions (1978) [24]

David Chidester, Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa (1996)

Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (1993)

Mark C. Taylor, [Ed.] Critical Terms for Religious Studies (1998)

Tomoko Masuzawa, The Invention of World Religions (2005)

Bruce Lincoln, Discourse and the Construction of Society (1989)

Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques (1955)

Caroline Walker Bynum, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in

Medieval Religion (1991)

Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (1992)

Charles H. Long, Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion (1986)

See also

List of religious scholars

Metatheories of religion in the social sciences

International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion

Relationship between religion and science

International Society for the Sociology of Religion

Religious education

References

1. ^ C.S. Adcock (2013). The Limits of Tolerance: Indian Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom

(http://books.google.com/books?id=2UMfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA67). Oxford University Press. pp. 67–70.

2. ^ McBrien, Richard P. Catholicism. New York: HarperCollins, 1994, p. 359.

3. ^ John M. Riddle (2008). A History of the Middle Ages, 300-1500 (http://books.google.com/books?

id=rhWpPr93KjMC&pg=PA291). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 291.

4. ^ http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/aug/05/guardianobituaries.religion

5. ̂a b http://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx

6. ^ http://www.gallup.com/poll/116449/Religion-Provides-Emotional-Boost-World-Poor.aspx

7. ^ Kevin M. Schultz and Paul Harvey, “Everywhere and Nowhere: Recent Trends in American Religious History

and Historiography,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 78 (March 2010), 129–62.

8. ^ Newberg, Andrew; Eugene D'Aquili and Vince Raus (2001). Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the

Biology of Belief . New York: Ballantyne Books. ISBN 0-345-44033-1.

9. ^ Kevin J. Christiano, et al., (2nd ed., 2008), Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments, Lanham, MD:

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-6111-3

10. ^ Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (1967). Anchor Books 1990

paperback: ISBN 0-385-07305-4

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11. ^ Gregory S. Paul, "Cross-national correlations of quantifiable societal health with popular religiosity and

secularism in the prosperous democracies," Journal of Religion & Society (2005) 1#1 pp 1-17 online

(http://globalhealth.washington.edu/docs/Bezruchka%202.pdf).

12. ^ Howard J. Vogel, "A Survey and Commentary on the New Literature in Law and Religion," Journal of Law and

Religion (1983) 1#1 pp. 79-169 in JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1051074)

13. ^ John Witte, "The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report," Ecclesiastical Law Journal

(2012) 14#3 pp: 327-354.

14. ^ Norman Doe, Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction (2011)

15. ^ W. Cole Durham, and Brett G. Scharffs, eds. Law and religion: national, international, and comparative

perspectives (Aspen Pub, 2010).

16. ^ John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, eds., Christianity and Law: An Introduction (Cambridge U.P. 2008)

17. ^ John Witte Jr, From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition (1997)

18. ^ John Witte, Jr., The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism

(2008)

19. ^ Ann Elizabeth Mayer, "Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East," American Journal of Comparative Law

(1987) 35#1 pp. 127-184 in JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/stable/840165)

20. ^ Alan Watson, The state, law, and religion: pagan Rome (University of Georgia Press, 1992)

21. ^ David Hall, "Lived Religion In America: Toward A History Of Practice", Princeton University Press (1997), p. vii

22. ^ Daniel Dubuisson. "Exporting the Local: Recent Perspectives on 'Religion' as a Cultural Category." Religion

Compass 1.6 (2007).

23. ̂a b c d e Pals, Daniel L. 1996. Seven Theories of Religion. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508725-9

24. ^ Alles, Gregory D. "Religious studies: a global view". Psychology Press, 2007, p. 182.

Further reading

Curtis, Finbarr. "The study of American religions: critical reflections on a specialization." Religion (2012)

42#3 pp 355–372.

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask.

San Diego: Harcourt, 1987.

Fikentscher, Wolfgang. Modes of thought: A study in the anthropology of law and religion (Mohr

Siebeck, 2004)

Hart, Darryl G. The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education (Johns

Hopkins University Press, 1999)

McCutcheon, Russell T. The discipline of religion: structure, meaning, rhetoric (Routledge, 2003)

McCutcheon, Russell T. Critics not caretakers: Redescribing the public study of religion (SUNY Press,

2001)

Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. New York: Vintage, 1996.

Pals, Daniel L. Eight Theories of Religion. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Sloan Wilson, David. Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society. Chicago:

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University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Stark, Rodney. Discovering God: The Origins of Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief. New

York: HarperCollins, 2007.

Steinbock, Anthony. "Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience". Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 2009.

Witte, John. "The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report," Ecclesiastical Law

Journal (2012) 14#3 pp 327–354. online

(http://freedom4faith.mycms.com.au/resources/Reading/Witte_The%20Study%20of%20Law%20and%20R

eligion%20in%20the%20United%20States_An%20Interim%20Report_Eccl%20LJ.pdf)

External links

The Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion (IBCSR) (http://ibcsr.org/index.php)

IBCSR Research Review (http://ibcsr.org/index.php?

option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=55&Itemid=86) - briefly annotates and furnishes

online information about scholarly articles and books related to brain, behavior, culture, and religion.

The Religious Research Association (http://rra.hartsem.edu/)

The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) (http://www.sssrweb.org/)

The Institute for the Study of American Religion (http://www.americanreligion.org/)

The International Society for the Sociology of Religion (http://soc.kuleuven.be/ceso/sisr/eng/) No such page

found - October 21, 2012

Academic societies

Australian Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) (http://www.aasr.org.au/).

American Academy of Religion (AAR) (http://www.aarweb.org/).

Council of Societies for the Study of Religion (http://cohesion.rice.edu/CentersAndInst/CSSR/).

European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) (http://www.easr.eu/).

International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) (http://www.iacsr.com).

International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) (http://www.iahr.dk/).

International Philosophy of Religion Association (IPRA) (http://www.csu.edu.au/research/ipra/).

New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions (NZASR) (http://www.nzsar.ac.nz/). No such page

found - October 21, 2012

North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) (http://www.naasr.com/).

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) (http://www.sssrweb.org/).

European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) - Anthropology of Religion

6/30/2014 Religious studies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_studies 13/13

(http://www.easaonline.org/networks/religion/index.shtml) Accessed October 21, 2012

Online Works and Sources

Studying Religion: An Introduction (http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/introduction.html) Accessed October 21, 2012

What is the Academic Study of Religion? A Student's Perspective

(http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/whystudyreligion.html). Accessed October 21, 2012

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Religious_studies&oldid=611225968"

Categories: Study of religion Religion and science Academic disciplines

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