Religious studies originated in the 19th century, when scholarly and historical analysis of the Bible had flourished, and Hindu and Buddhist texts were first being translated into European languages. Early influential scholars included Friedrich Max Müller in England and Cornelius P. Tiele in the Netherlands. Today religious studies is practiced by scholars worldwide. In its early years, it was known as "comparative religion" or the science of religion and, in the US, 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 Mircea Eliade, from the late 1950s through to the late 1980s). History Max Müller; the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University and author of Introduction to the Science of Religion.Interest in the general study of religion dates back to at least Hecataeus of Miletus ( ca. 550 BCE – ca . 476 BCE) and Herodotus ( ca . 484 BCE – 425 BCE). Later, during the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars such as Ibn Hazm (d. 1064 CE) studied Persian, Jewish, Christian, and Indian religions, among others. The first history of religion 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 Islam and made possible a Latin translation of the Qur'an. Notwithstanding the long interest in the study of religion, the academic discipline Religious Studies is relatively new. Dr. Christopher Partridge notes that the "first professorships were established as recently as the final quarter of the nineteenth century." In the nineteenth century, the study of religion was done through the eyes of science. Max Müller was the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University, a chair created especially for him. In his Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873) he wrote that it is "the duty of those who have devoted their life to the study of the principal religions of the world in their original documents, and who value and reverence it in whatever form it may present itself, to take possession of this new territory in the name of true science." Although philosophy has long been used in evaluation of religious claims (e.g. Augustine and Pelagius's debate concerning original sin), the rise of scholasticism in the 11th century, which represented "the search for order in intellectual life" (Russell, 170), more fully integrated the Western philosophical tradition (with the introduction of translations of Aristotle) in religious study. The concept of lived religion was popularized in the late 20th century by religious study scholars like Robert A. Orsi and David Hall. The study of lived religion has come to include a wide range of subject areas as a means of exploring and emphasizing what a religious person does and what they believe. Today, the field of lived religion is expanding to include many topics and scholars. Religious studies and theology Western philosophy of religion, as the basic ancestor of modern religious studies, is differentiated from theology and the many Eastern philosophical traditions by generally being written from a third party perspective. The scholar need 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. Theology according 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 theologian was traditionally seen as having the task of making intelligible, or clarifying, the religious commitments. However, many contemporary scholars of theology do not assume such a dichotomy. Instead, scholars now understand theology as a methodology in the study of religion, an approach that focuses on the religious imaginaries of any community they might study. This includes the study of their beliefs, literatures, stories and practices. Fitzgerald, Timothy. The Ideology of Religious Studies (Oxford University Press, 2000). Hart, Darryl G. The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999). Hafner, Johann. "Relating Theology and Religious Studies: Reflections on the German Academic Landscape." Toronto Journal of Theology (2015): 1-9. McCutcheon, Russell T. The Discipline of Religion: Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric (Routledge, 2003) Martin, Luther H., and Donald Wiebe. "Religious studies as a scientific discipline: The persistence of a delusion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2012) Online Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. New York: Vintage, 1996. Olson, Carl. The Allure of Decadent Thinking: Religious Studies and the Challenge of Postmodernism (Oxford University Press, 2013). Pals, Daniel L. Nine Theories of Religion. 3rd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Sharpe, Eric J. Comparative Religion: A History, London: Duckworth, 1975 (2nd revised edition 1986). Sloan Wilson, David. Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Stark, Rodney. Discovering God: The Origins of Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Torre, Renée de la, and Eloísa Martín. "Religious Studies in Latin America . "  Annual Review of Sociology 42.1 (2016).
Religious studies originated in the nineteenth century, when scholarly and historical analysis of the Bible had flourished, and Hindu and Buddhist texts were first being translated into European languages. Early influential scholars included Friedrich Max Müller in England and Cornelius P. Tiele in the Netherlands. Today religious studies is practiced by scholars worldwide. In its early years, it was known as "comparative religion" or the science of religion and, in the US, 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 Mircea Eliade, from the late 1950s through to the late 1980s). History Max Müller; the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University and author of Introduction to the Science of Religion.Interest in the general study of religion dates back to at least Hecataeus of Miletus ( BCE – c . 476 BCE) and Herodotus ( c . 484 BCE – 425 BCE). Later, during the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars such as Ibn Hazm (d. 1064 CE) studied Persian, Jewish, Christian, and Indian religions, among others. The first history of religion 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 Islam and made possible a Latin translation of the Qur'an. Notwithstanding the long interest in the study of religion, the academic discipline Religious Studies is relatively new. Dr. Christopher Partridge notes that the "first professorships were established as recently as the final quarter of the nineteenth century." In the nineteenth century, the study of religion was done through the eyes of science. Max Müller was the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University, a chair created especially for him. In his Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873) he wrote that it is "the duty of those who have devoted their life to the study of the principal religions of the world in their original documents, and who value and reverence it in whatever form it may present itself, to take possession of this new territory in the name of true science." Although philosophy has long been used in evaluation of religious claims (e.g. Augustine and Pelagius's debate concerning original sin), the rise of scholasticism in the eleventh century, which represented "the search for order in intellectual life" (Russell, 170), more fully integrated the Western philosophical tradition (with the introduction of translations of Aristotle) in religious study. The concept of lived religion was popularized in the late twentieth century by religious study scholars like Robert A. Orsi and David Hall. The study of lived religion has come to include a wide range of subject areas as a means of exploring and emphasizing what a religious person does and what they believe. Today, the field of lived religion is expanding to include many topics and scholars. Religious studies and theology Western philosophy of religion, as the basic ancestor of modern religious studies, is differentiated from theology and the many Eastern philosophical traditions by generally being written from a third party perspective. The scholar need 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. Theology according to this understanding fits with the definition which Anselm of Canterbury gave to it in the eleventh century, credo ut intelligam, or faith seeking understanding (literally, "I believe so that I may understand"). The theologian was traditionally seen as having the task of making intelligible, or clarifying, the religious commitments. However, many contemporary scholars of theology do not assume such a dichotomy. Instead, scholars now understand theology as a methodology in the study of religion, an approach that focuses on the religious imaginaries of any community they might study. This includes the study of their beliefs, literatures, stories and practices. Fitzgerald, Timothy. The Ideology of Religious Studies (Oxford University Press, 2000). Hart, Darryl G. The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999). Hafner, Johann. "Relating Theology and Religious Studies: Reflections on the German Academic Landscape." Toronto Journal of Theology (2015): 1-9. McCutcheon, Russell T. The Discipline of Religion: Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric (Routledge, 2003) Martin, Luther H., and Donald Wiebe. "Religious studies as a scientific discipline: The persistence of a delusion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2012) Online Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. New York: Vintage, 1996. Olson, Carl. The Allure of Decadent Thinking: Religious Studies and the Challenge of Postmodernism (Oxford University Press, 2013). Pals, Daniel L. Nine Theories of Religion. 3rd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Sharpe, Eric J. Comparative Religion: A History, London: Duckworth, 1975 (2nd revised edition 1986). Sloan Wilson, David. Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Stark, Rodney. Discovering God: The Origins of Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Torre, Renée de la, and Eloísa Martín. "Religious Studies in Latin America " . Annual Review of Sociology 42.1 (2016).
R
19th
nineteenth
D
ca. 550
R
ca
c
R
ca
c
R
11th
eleventh
R
20th
twentieth
R
11th
eleventh
D
.
A
.