religion research paper example

Exploring Faith and Belief: Religious Research Paper Topics

Table of contents

• 1 Challenges in Religious Research Paper Topics
• 2.1 Christian Research Paper Topics
• 2.2 Islam Research Topics
• 2.3 Siddhartha Essay Topics
• 2.4 Buddhism Essay Topics
• 2.5 Hinduism Research Paper Topics
• 2.6 Judaism Religion
• 2.7 Theology Research Paper Topics

Exploring the realm of religion opens a multitude of avenues for scholarly inquiry. Research papers on religion delve into profound questions that have captivated humanity throughout history. These studies not only illuminate the intricacies of faith and belief systems but also examine their profound impact on culture, society, and personal identity.

Choosing a research topic about religion requires a thoughtful consideration of a wide spectrum of beliefs, practices, and philosophical interpretations. From the rituals that bind communities to the spiritual philosophies that drive individual conduct, religion research topics offer a rich tapestry of areas for academic exploration. With such diversity, the challenge lies in pinpointing a singular path that resonates with both current discourse and timeless questions of the human experience.

Challenges in Religious Research Paper Topics

Navigating religious research paper topics presents a unique set of challenges. Crafting research questions about religion demands sensitivity and a deep understanding of diverse belief systems. Scholars often grapple with the subjective nature of spirituality, striving to maintain academic rigor while exploring profoundly personal and often religious controversial topics. The multifaceted nature of religious research paper topics also requires an interdisciplinary approach, intersecting with history, sociology, psychology, and theology.

Additionally, researchers must balance insider and outsider perspectives, often working to gain the trust of faith communities while preserving critical distance. Research papers on religion must also contend with varying interpretations of sacred texts and practices, which can vary widely even within a single tradition. Moreover, the dynamic nature of religion, constantly evolving in the face of modernity and globalization, poses a challenge to researchers aiming to capture the contemporary religious landscape accurately. The task, then, is to approach these topics with a blend of scholarly curiosity, methodological precision, and cultural competence.

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List of 70 Religion Topics to Write About

Embark on an intellectual journey with this curated list of 70 religion topics, each offering a unique window into the diverse ways faith shapes and is shaped by the world we live in.

Christian Research Paper Topics

Diving into Christianity offers a rich vein of inquiry for scholars. These biblical topics for research papers present fresh perspectives on age-old discussions, inviting a deeper understanding of one of the world’s most-followed faiths.

• The Evolution of Christian Thought in Postmodern Society
• Analyzing the Role of Women in Early Christian Communities
• The Influence of Christian Ethics on Modern Business Practices
• Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Christian Symbols in Global Contexts
• The Impact of Digital Media on Christian Worship and Community
• Environmental Stewardship and its Theological Roots in Christianity
• The Psychological Effects of Christian Practices on Mental Health
• A Comparative Study of Christian Mysticism and Contemporary Spiritual Movements
• The Political Expressions of Liberation Theology in Latin America
• Christian Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Bioethics

Islam Research Topics

The study of Islam uncovers a tapestry of cultural, theological, and historical themes. These research topics on religion provide a platform for a nuanced exploration of Islam’s multifaceted impact on the world.

• Modern Interpretations of Sharia Law in Various Islamic Societies
• The Role of Sufism in Contemporary Islamic Practice
• Islamic Economic Principles and Their Application in the 21st Century
• Gender Dynamics within Islamic Theology and Practice
• Islamic Artistic Expression in the Digital Age
• The Influence of Islam on Classical Scientific Discovery and Philosophy
• The Political Significance of Islam in Non-Majority Muslim Countries
• Interfaith Dialogues between Islamic and Western Philosophical Traditions
• The Evolution of Islamic Educational Institutions from Classical to Modern Times
• The Representation of Islam in Western Media and its Societal Impact

Siddhartha Essay Topics

Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha” is a rich narrative ripe for exploration, intertwining themes of self-discovery and spirituality. These religion topics to write about offer a pathway to understanding the profound messages embedded in this classic tale.

• The Concept of Enlightenment in Siddhartha Versus Traditional Buddhist Teachings
• River Imagery as a Symbol of Life’s Journey in Siddhartha
• Siddhartha’s Relationship with Nature as a Reflection of His Spiritual Quest
• The Influence of Hermann Hesse’s Personal Beliefs on the Portrayal of Religion in Siddhartha
• Comparing Siddhartha’s Ascetic Life with Modern Minimalist Movements
• The Role of Mentorship and its Impact on Siddhartha’s Spiritual Evolution
• The Dichotomy of Material Wealth and Spiritual Fulfillment in Siddhartha
• Siddhartha’s Search for Authenticity Amidst Societal Expectations
• The Function of Love in Siddhartha’s Journey Towards Self-Actualization
• Relevance of Siddhartha’s Lessons in the Context of Contemporary Religious Practice

Buddhism Essay Topics

Buddhism, with its profound philosophical foundations and global influence, provides a fertile ground for scholarly exploration. These religious research topics and world religion paper topics delve into the heart of Buddhist doctrine and its practical implications in today’s world.

• The Intersection of Buddhist Philosophy and Contemporary Psychotherapy
• Ethical Consumption and Environmentalism through the Lens of Buddhist Teachings
• The Role of Meditation in Modern Healthcare as Influenced by Buddhism
• Analysis of Buddhist Responses to the Challenges of Globalization
• The Adaptation of Zen Aesthetics in Western Art and Architecture
• Buddhist Principles in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Efforts
• The Impact of Technological Advancements on Traditional Buddhist Practices
• A Study of Gender Roles within Buddhist Monastic Communities
• The Influence of Buddhism on Western Philosophical Thought
• Exploring the Growth of Buddhist Tourism and its Cultural Impacts

Hinduism Research Paper Topics

Hinduism’s rich tapestry of mythology, philosophy, and cultural practices presents an expansive field for academic inquiry. The following religion topics for research paper encompass both the depth of Hindu traditions and contemporary issues, offering a platform for insightful discourse.

• Analyzing the Impact of Hinduism on India’s Environmental Policies
• Feminine Divinity in Hinduism and its Influence on Gender Roles
• The Evolution of Hindu Temple Architecture Over Centuries
• Caste System Interpretations in Modern Hindu Society
• Yoga as a Global Phenomenon: Origins and Transformations from Hindu Traditions
• The Role of Hinduism in Forming India’s National Identity
• The Philosophy of Karma and its Relevance to Modern Ethics
• Ayurveda: Ancient Hindu Science of Health in the Modern Wellness Industry
• The Dynamics of Hindu Pilgrimage: Economy, Ecology, and Tradition
• Hindu Rituals and their Psychological Implications in Contemporary Practice

Judaism Religion

The exploration of Judaism offers insights into one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, rich with history and tradition. While the following topics are not centered on religion research paper topics, they reflect the depth and diversity inherent in Jewish studies.

• The Influence of Jewish Mysticism on Contemporary Religious Thought
• The Preservation of Jewish Traditions in Diaspora Communities
• Jewish Perspectives on Bioethics and Modern Medical Dilemmas
• The Role of the Synagogue in Jewish Cultural and Religious Life
• The Impact of the Holocaust on Theological Understandings in Judaism
• Jewish Contributions to Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding
• The Evolution of Kosher Laws and Their Application in the Food Industry
• The Intersection of Jewish Law and Modern State Legislation
• The Role of Hebrew Language Revival in Jewish Identity Formation
• Jewish Feminist Theology and its Quest for Gender Equality in Religious Practice

Theology Research Paper Topics

Theology, the systematic study of the divine, invites scholars to probe the depths of religious belief and practice. These theology research paper topics are designed to inspire critical thought and original analysis on various aspects of spiritual inquiry.

• The Role of Prophecy in Abrahamic Religions Comparative Study
• Liberation Theology’s Influence on Social Justice Movements
• Theological Responses to the Problem of Evil in Different Faiths
• The Impact of Feminist Theology on Traditional Religious Practices
• The Integration of Theology and Science in the Modern World
• The Concept of the Afterlife in Theological and Philosophical Perspectives
• Ecumenism and the Pursuit of Christian Unity in Theology
• Theological Underpinnings of Contemporary Environmental Ethics
• The Influence of Digital Media on Theological Education
• The Role of Ritual in Expressing and Shaping Theological Beliefs

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• v.2012; 2012

Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications

Harold g. koenig.

1 Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, P.O. Box 3400, Durham, NC 27705, USA

2 Department of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21413, Saudi Arabia

This paper provides a concise but comprehensive review of research on religion/spirituality (R/S) and both mental health and physical health. It is based on a systematic review of original data-based quantitative research published in peer-reviewed journals between 1872 and 2010, including a few seminal articles published since 2010. First, I provide a brief historical background to set the stage. Then I review research on R/S and mental health, examining relationships with both positive and negative mental health outcomes, where positive outcomes include well-being, happiness, hope, optimism, and gratefulness, and negative outcomes involve depression, suicide, anxiety, psychosis, substance abuse, delinquency/crime, marital instability, and personality traits (positive and negative). I then explain how and why R/S might influence mental health. Next, I review research on R/S and health behaviors such as physical activity, cigarette smoking, diet, and sexual practices, followed by a review of relationships between R/S and heart disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, immune functions, endocrine functions, cancer, overall mortality, physical disability, pain, and somatic symptoms. I then present a theoretical model explaining how R/S might influence physical health. Finally, I discuss what health professionals should do in light of these research findings and make recommendations in this regard.

1. Historical Background and Introduction

Religion, medicine, and healthcare have been related in one way or another in all population groups since the beginning of recorded history [ 1 ]. Only in recent times have these systems of healing been separated, and this separation has occurred largely in highly developed nations; in many developing countries, there is little or no such separation. The history of religion, medicine, and healthcare in developed countries of the West, though, is a fascinating one. The first hospitals in the West for the care of the sick in the general population were built by religious organizations and staffed by religious orders. Throughout the Middle Ages and up through the French Revolution, physicians were often clergy. For hundreds of years, in fact, religious institutions were responsible for licensing physicians to practice medicine. In the American colonies, in particular, many of the clergy were also physicians—often as a second job that helped to supplement their meager income from church work.

Care for those with mental health problems in the West also had its roots within monasteries and religious communities [ 2 ]. In 1247, the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem was built in London on the Thames River [ 3 ]. Originally designed to house “distracted people,” this was Europe's (and perhaps the world's) first mental hospital. In 1547, however, St. Mary's was torn down and replaced by Bethlehem or Bethlem Hospital [ 4 ]. Over the years, as secular authorities took control over the institution, the hospital became famous for its inhumane treatment of the mentally ill, who were often chained [ 5 ], dunked in water, or beaten as necessary to control them. In later years, an admission fee (2 pence) was charged to the general public to observe the patients abusing themselves or other patients [ 4 ]. The hospital eventually became known as “bedlam” (from which comes the word used today to indicate a state of confusion and disarray).

In response to the abuses in mental hospitals, and precipitated by the death of a Quaker patient in New York asylum in England, an English merchant and devout Quaker named William Tuke began to promote a new form of treatment of the mentally ill called “moral treatment.” In 1796, he and the Quaker community in England established their own asylum known as the York Retreat [ 6 ]. Not long after this, the Quakers brought moral treatment to America, where it became the dominant form of psychiatric care in that country [ 6 ]. Established in Philadelphia by the Quakers in 1813, “Friends Hospital” (or Friends Asylum) became the first private institution in the United States dedicated solely to the care of those with mental illness [ 7 ]. Psychiatric hospitals that followed in the footsteps of Friends Asylum were the McLean Hospital (established in 1818 in Boston, and now associated with Harvard), the Bloomingdale Asylum (established in 1821 in New York), and the Hartford Retreat (established in 1824 in Connecticut)—all modeled after the York Retreat and implementing moral treatment as the dominant therapy.

It was not until modern times that religion and psychiatry began to part paths. This separation was encouraged by the psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. After being “introduced” to the neurotic and hysterical aspects of religion by the famous French neurologist Jean Charcot in the mid-1880s, Freud began to emphasize this in a widely read series of publications from 1907 through his death in 1939. Included among these were Religious Acts and Obsessive Practices [ 8 ], Psychoanalysis and Religion [ 9 ], Future of an Illusion [ 10 ], and Moses and Monotheism [ 11 ]. These writings left a legacy that would influence the practice of psychiatry—especially psychotherapy—for the rest of the century and lead to a true schism between religion and mental health care. That schism was illustrated in 1993 by a systematic review of the religious content of DSM-III-R, which found nearly one-quarter of all cases of mental illness being described using religious illustrations [ 12 ]. The conflict has continued to the present day. Consider recent e-letters in response to two articles published in The Psychiatrist  about this topic [ 13 , 14 ] and an even more recent debate about the role of prayer in psychiatric practice [ 15 ]. This conflict has manifested in the clinical work of many mental health professionals, who have generally ignored the religious resources of patients or viewed them as pathological. Consider that a recent national survey of US psychiatrists found that 56% said they never, rarely, or only sometimes inquire about religious/spiritual issues in patients with depression or anxiety [ 16 ]. Even more concerning, however, is that the conflict has caused psychiatrists to avoid conducting research on religion and mental health. This explains why so little is known about the relationship between religious involvement and severe mental disorders (see Handbook of Religion and Health ) [ 17 ].

Despite the negative views and opinions held by many mental health professionals, research examining religion, spirituality, and health has been rapidly expanding—and most of it is occurring outside the field of psychiatry. This research is being published in journals from a wide range of disciplines, including those in medicine, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, social work, public health, sociology, psychology, religion, spirituality, pastoral care, chaplain, population studies, and even in economics and law journals. Most of these disciplines do not readily communicate with each another, and their journal audiences seldom overlap. The result is a massive research literature that is scattered throughout the medical, social, and behavioral sciences.

To get a sense of how rapidly the research base is growing see Figure 1 . The graphs plot the number of studies published in peer-reviewed journals during every noncumulative 3-year period from 1971 to 2012. Note that about 50% of these articles are reports of original research with quantitative data, whereas the other 50% are qualitative reports, opinion pieces, reviews, or commentaries. Google Scholar presents a more comprehensive picture since it includes studies published in both Medline and non-Medline journals. These graphs suggest that the volume of research on R/S and health has literally exploded since the mid-1990s.

Religion spirituality and health articles published per 3-year period (noncumulative) Search terms: religion, religious, religiosity, religiousness, and spirituality (conducted on 8/11/12; projected to end of 2012).

2. Definitions

Before summarizing the research findings, it is first necessary to provide definitions of the words religion and spirituality that I am using. There is much controversy and disagreement concerning definitions in this field, particularly over the term “spirituality,” and space here does not allow a full discussion of these complex issues. For an in depth discussion, including an exploration of contamination and confounding in the measurement of spirituality, I refer the reader to other sources [ 18 – 20 ]. Here are the definitions we provided in the Handbook .

“[Religion] Involves beliefs, practices, and rituals related to the transcendent , where the transcendent is God, Allah, HaShem, or a Higher Power in Western religious traditions, or to Brahman, manifestations of Brahman, Buddha, Dao, or ultimate truth/reality in Eastern traditions. This often involves the mystical or supernatural. Religions usually have specific beliefs about life after death and rules about conduct within a social group. Religion is a multidimensional construct that includes beliefs, behaviors, rituals, and ceremonies that may be held or practiced in private or public settings, but are in some way derived from established traditions that developed over time within a community. Religion is also an organized system of beliefs, practices, and symbols designed (a) to facilitate closeness to the transcendent, and (b) to foster an understanding of one's relationship and responsibility to others in living together in a community.” [ 21 ].

“Spirituality is distinguished from all other things—humanism, values, morals, and mental health—by its connection to that which is sacred, the transcendent . The transcendent is that which is outside of the self, and yet also within the self—and in Western traditions is called God, Allah, HaShem, or a Higher Power, and in Eastern traditions may be called Brahman, manifestations of Brahman, Buddha, Dao, or ultimate truth/reality. Spirituality is intimately connected to the supernatural, the mystical, and to organized religion, although also extends beyond organized religion (and begins before it). Spirituality includes both a search for the transcendent and the discovery of the transcendent and so involves traveling along the path that leads from nonconsideration to questioning to either staunch nonbelief or belief, and if belief, then ultimately to devotion and finally, surrender. Thus, our definition of spirituality is very similar to religion and there is clearly overlap.” [ 22 ].

For the research review presented here, given the similarity in my definition of these terms and the fact that spirituality in the research has either been measured using questions assessing religion or by items assessing mental health (thereby contaminating the construct and causing tautological results), I will be using religion and spirituality interchangeably (i.e., R/S).

3. Method of the Review

I summarize the research findings between R/S and health first in the area of mental health outcomes, then for health behaviors, and finally for physical health outcomes. The information presented here is based on a systematic review of peer-reviewed original data-based reports published though mid-2010 and summarized in two editions of the Handbook of Religion and Health [ 23 , 24 ]. How these systematic reviews were conducted, however, needs brief explanation. This is particularly true for ratings of study methodology that are used to summarize the findings below.

The systematic review to identify the studies presented in the Handbooks and summarized in this paper was conducted as follows. We utilized a combination of strategies to identify the studies (excluding most reviews or qualitative research). First, we systematically searched online databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, etc.) using the search words “religion,” “religiosity,” “religiousness,” and “spirituality” to identify studies on the R/S-health relationship. Second, we asked prominent researchers in the field to alert us to published research they knew about and to send us research that they themselves had conducted. Third, if there were studies cited in the reference lists of the studies located, we tracked down those as well. Using this method, we identified over 1,200 quantitative original data-based publications during the period 1872 to 2000 and 2,100 studies examining the R/S-health relationship from 2000 to 2010. All of these studies are described in the appendices of the two editions of the Handbook. Based on other reviews of the research conducted around this same time period (but more limited), we estimate that our review captured about 75% of the published research. Bear in mind that many, many more qualitative studies have been published on the topic that were not included in this review.

In order to assess the methodological quality of the studies, quality ratings were assigned as follows. Ratings of each of the more than 3,300 studies were made on a scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high) and were performed by a single examiner (HGK) to ensure rating consistency. Scores were determined according to the following eight criteria: study design (clinical trial, prospective cohort, cross-sectional, etc.), sampling method (random, systematic, or convenience), number of R/S measures, quality of measures, quality of mental health outcome measure, contamination between R/S measures and mental health outcomes, inclusion of control variables, and statistical method, based on a scheme adapted from Cooper [ 25 ]. Cooper emphasized the definition of variables, validity and reliability of measures, representativeness of the sample (sample size, sampling method, and response rates), research methods (quality of experimental manipulation and adequacy of control group for clinical trials), how well the execution of the study conformed to the design, appropriateness of statistical tests (power, control variables), and the interpretation of results.

To assess the reliability of the ratings, we compared HGK's ratings on 75 studies with the ratings made by an independent outside reviewer (Andrew Futterman, Ph.D., professor of psychology, College of the Holy Cross, a scientist familiar with the scoring criteria and active in the field of R/S-health research). When we examined correlations between HGK and Futterman's ratings, we found them moderately correlated (Pearson r = 0.57). Since scores of 7 or higher indicated higher quality studies, we also compared the scores between the two raters in terms of lower (0–6) versus higher (7–10) quality. This was done by dichotomizing scores into two categories (0–6 versus 7–10) and comparing the categories between the two examiners. The kappa of agreement ( κ ) between the two raters was 0.49 (where kappas of 0.40 to 0.75 indicate good agreement [ 26 ]). Overall, the raters agreed on whether quality was low or high in 56 of the 75 studies or 75%. I now summarize the results of the systematic review described above.

4. Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health

Approximately 80% of research on R/S and health involves studies on mental health. One would expect stronger relationships between R/S and mental health since R/S involvement consists of psychological, social, and behavioral aspects that are more “proximally” related to mental health than to physical health. In fact, we would not expect any direct or immediate effects of R/S on physical health, other than indirectly through intermediary psychosocial and behavioral pathways. With regard to mental health, we would expect R/S to boost positive emotions and help neutralize negative emotions, hypothesizing that it serves as both a life-enhancing factor and as a coping resource. With regard to the latter, there is both qualitative and quantitative research suggesting that R/S helps people to deal better with adversity, either external adversity (difficult environmental circumstances) or internal adversity (genetic predisposition or vulnerability to mental disorders).

In the present paper, I have chosen to cite original reports as examples of the most rigorous studies in each area based on ratings in the Handbooks (i.e., 7 or higher on 0–10 scale). Cited here are both positive and negative studies reporting significant relationships. For some topics, such as well-being and depression, there are too many high-quality studies to cite, so only a few examples of the best studies are provided.

4.1. Coping with Adversity

In the first edition of the Handbook [ 27 ], we identified 110 studies published prior to the year 2000 and 344 studies published between 2000 and 2010 for a total of 454 studies. Among these reports are descriptions of how R/S helped people to cope with a wide range of illnesses or in a variety of stressful situations. These include people dealing with general medical illness [ 28 , 29 ], chronic pain [ 30 ], kidney disease [ 31 ], diabetes [ 32 , 33 ], pulmonary disease [ 34 ], cancer [ 35 , 36 ], blood disorders [ 37 ], heart/cardiovascular diseases [ 38 , 39 ], dental [ 40 ] or vision [ 41 ] problems, neurological disorders [ 42 ], HIV/AIDS [ 43 ], systemic lupus erythematosus [ 44 ], irritable bowel syndrome [ 45 ], musculoskeletal disease [ 46 ], caregiver burden [ 47 – 49 ],  psychiatric illness [ 50 , 51 ], bereavement [ 52 , 53 ], end-of-life issues [ 54 , 55 ], overall stress [ 56 – 58 ], natural disasters [ 59 , 60 ], war [ 61 , 62 ] or acts of terrorism [ 63 ], and miscellaneous adverse life situations [ 64 – 66 ]. In the overwhelming majority of studies, people reported that R/S was helpful.

4.2. Positive Emotions

Positive emotions include well-being, happiness, hope, optimism, meaning and purpose, high self-esteem, and a sense of control over life. Related to positive emotions are positive psychological traits such as altruism, being kind or compassionate, forgiving, and grateful.

4.2.1. Well-Being/Happiness

By mid-2010, at least 326 quantitative, peer-reviewed studies had examined relationships with R/S. Of those, 256 (79%) found only significant positive associations between R/S and well-being (including eight studies at a statistical trend level, that is, 0.05 < P < 0.10). Only three studies (<1%) reported a significant inverse relationship between R/S and well-being. Of the 120 studies with the highest methodological rigor (7 or higher in quality on the 0–10 scale), 98 (82%) reported positive relationships (including two at a trend level) [ 67 – 77 ] and one study reported a negative relationship (but only at a trend level) [ 78 ].

4.2.2. Hope

At least 40 studies have examined relationships with R/S, and of those, 29 (73%) reported only significant positive relationships with degree of hope; no studies found an inverse relationship. Of the six highest quality studies, half found a positive relationship [ 79 – 81 ].

4.2.3. Optimism

We located 32 studies examining relationships with R/S, and of those, 26 (81%) reported significant positive relationships. Of the 11 best studies, eight (73%) reported significant positive relationships [ 82 – 85 ]. Again, as with hope, no studies reported inverse relationships.

4.2.4. Meaning and Purpose

At least 45 studies have examined relationships with R/S, and 42 (93%) reported significant positive relationships. These studies were often in populations where there was a challenge to having meaning and purpose, such as in people with chronic disabling illness. Of the 10 studies with quality ratings of 7 or higher, all 10 reported significant positive associations [ 86 – 89 ].

4.2.5. Self-Esteem

Critics have claimed that R/S adversely affects self-esteem because it emphasizes humility rather than pride in the self [ 90 ]. Furthermore, R/S could exacerbate guilt in some for not living up to the high standards of conduct prescribed by religious traditions, resulting in low self-esteem. We found 69 studies that examined associations with R/S, and of those, 42 (61%) found greater self-esteem among those who were more R/S and two (3%) reported lower self-esteem. Of the 25 studies with the highest methodological rigor, 17 (68%) reported greater self-esteem [ 91 – 98 ] and two (8%) found worse self-esteem [ 99 , 100 ]. Not surprisingly, these findings are parallel to those of depression below (in the opposite direction, of course).

4.2.6. Sense of Control

Although one might expect R/S to correlate positively with an external locus of control (i.e., the Transcendent controlling events), and some studies confirm this, the majority of research finds a positive correlation with an internal not an external sense of control. Of 21 studies that have examined these relationships, 13 (61%) found that R/S was related to a greater sense of personal control in challenging life circumstances. Of the nine best studies, four reported significant positive relationships (44%) [ 101 – 104 ] and three report significant negative relationships (33%) [ 105 – 107 ], whereas the two remaining studies reported complex or mixed results (significant positive and negative associations, depending on R/S characteristic). R/S beliefs may provide an indirect sense of control over stressful situations; by believing that God is in control and that prayer to God can change things, the person feels a greater sense of internal control (rather than having to depend on external agents of control, such as powerful other people).

4.2.7. Positive Character Traits

With regard to character traits, the findings are similar to those with positive emotions. With regard to altruism or frequency of volunteering, 47 studies have examined relationships with R/S. Of those, 33 (70%) reported significant associations, whereas five (11%) found less altruism among the more R/S; of the 20 best studies, 15 (75%) reported positive relationships [ 108 – 113 ] and two (10%) found negative associations [ 114 , 115 ] (both concerning organ donations, which some religions prohibit). With regard to forgiveness, 40 studies have examined correlations with R/S, and 34 (85%) reported significant positive relationships and no studies found negative associations. Among the 10 highest quality studies, seven (70%) reported greater forgiveness among the more R/S [ 116 – 119 ], a finding that recent research has supported [ 120 ]. Regarding gratefulness, five of five studies found positive associations with R/S [ 121 , 122 ], and with regard to kindness/compassion, three of three studies reported significant positive relationship with R/S [ 123 ]. Admittedly, all of the studies measuring character traits above depend on self-report.

4.3. Depression

As with self-esteem, mental health professionals have argued that R/S might increase guilt by focusing on sin and could thus lead to depression. Again, however, this has not been found in the majority of studies. Given the importance of depression, its wide prevalence in the population, and the dysfunction that it causes (both mental and physical), I describe the research findings in a bit more detail. Overall, at least 444 studies have now examined relationships between R/S and depression, dating back to the early 1960s. Of those, 272 (61%) reported significant inverse relationships with depression (including nine studies at a trend level), and 28 (6%) found relationships between R/S and greater depression (including two studies at a trend level). Of the 178 studies with the highest methodological rigor, 119 (67%) reported inverse relationships [ 124 – 135 ] and 13 (7%) found positive relationships with depression [ 136 – 148 ].

Of 70 prospective cohort studies, 39 (56%) reported that greater R/S predicted lower levels of depression or faster remission of depression, whereas seven (10%) predicted worse future depression and seven (10%) reported mixed results (both significant positive and negative associations depending on R/S characteristic). Of 30 clinical trials, 19 (63%) found that R/S interventions produced better outcomes than either standard treatment or control groups. Two studies (7%) found standard treatments were superior to R/S interventions [ 149 , 150 ] and one study reported mixed results.

Note that an independent review of this literature published in 2003 found that of 147 studies involving 98,975 subjects, the average correlation between R/S and depression was −0.10. Although this is a small correlation, it translates into the same effect size that gender has on depressive symptoms (with the rate of depression being nearly twice as common in women compared to men). Also, the average correlation reported in the 2003 review was 50% stronger in stressed versus nonstressed populations [ 151 ].

A widely renowned psychiatric epidemiology group at Columbia University, led by Lisa Miller and Myrna Weissman, has come out with a series of recent reports on R/S and depression studying a cohort of low- and high-risk children born to parents with and without depressive disorder. The findings from this cohort support an inverse link between R/S and depression, particularly in high-risk individuals [ 152 – 154 ].

4.4. Suicide

Correlations between R/S and suicide attempt, completed suicide, and attitudes toward suicide are consistent with those found for depression, self-esteem, and hope. Those who are depressed, without hope, and with low self-esteem are at greater risk for committing suicide. At least 141 studies have now examined relationships between R/S and the suicide variables above. Of those, 106 (75%) reported inverse relationships and four (3%) found positive relationships. With regard to the 49 studies with the highest methodological rigor, 39 (80%) reported less suicide, fewer suicide attempts, or more negative attitudes toward suicide among the more R/S [ 155 – 170 ] and two (4%) found positive relationships (one study in Delhi, India [ 171 ], and one in college students distressed over R/S concerns [ 172 ]).

4.5. Anxiety

Anxiety and fear often drive people toward religion as a way to cope with the anxiety. Alternatively, R/S may increase anxiety/fear by its threats of punishment for evil deeds and damnation in the next life. There is an old saying that emphasizes this dual role: religion comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comforted. Sorting out cause and effect here is particularly difficult given the few prospective cohort studies that have examined this relationship over time. However, a number of clinical trials have also examined the effects of R/S interventions on anxiety levels. Overall, at least 299 studies have examined this relationship, and of those, 147 (49%) reported inverse association with R/S (three at a trend level), whereas 33 (11%) reported greater anxiety in those who were more R/S. Of the latter, however, only one was a prospective study, one was a randomized clinical trial, and 31 (94%) were cross-sectional studies (where it was not clear whether R/S caused anxiety or whether anxiety increased R/S as a coping response to the anxiety). Of the 67 studies with quality ratings of seven or higher, 38 (55%) reported inverse relationships [ 173 – 182 ] and seven (10%) found positive relationships (greater anxiety among the more R/S) [ 183 – 189 ].

Among these 299 studies were 239 cross-sectional studies, 19 prospective cohort studies, 9 single-group experimental studies, and 32 randomized clinical trials. Of the 19 longitudinal studies, 9 (47%) reported that R/S predicted a lower level of anxiety over time; one study (5%) found an increase in anxiety (among women undergoing abortion for fetal anomaly) [ 189 ], seven reported no association, and two reported mixed or complex results. Of the nine experimental studies, seven (78%) found a reduction in anxiety following an R/S intervention (before versus after comparison). Of the 32 randomized clinical trials, 22 (69%) reported that an R/S intervention reduced anxiety more than a standard intervention or control condition, whereas one study (3%) found an increase in anxiety following an R/S intervention in persons with severe alcohol dependence [ 190 ].

4.6. Psychotic Disorder/Schizophrenia

We identified 43 studies that have examined relationships between R/S and chronic psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Of the 43 studies examining psychosis, 14 (33%) reported inverse relationships between R/S and psychotic symptoms (one at a trend level), 10 (23%) found a positive relationship between R/S and psychotic symptoms (one at a trend level), eight reported mixed results (significant negative and positive associations, depending on the R/S characteristic measured), and one study reported complex results. Of these studies, seven had quality ratings of seven or higher; of those, two found inverse relationships, two found positive relationship, two reported mixed results (negative and positive), and one found no association. Note that the two studies finding inverse relationships between R/S and psychosis were both prospective studies [ 191 – 193 ], finding that R/S predicted better outcomes in subjects with psychotic disorders or symptoms. Of the two studies reporting positive relationships (both cross-sectional), one study found that importance of religion was significantly and positively associated with religious delusions [ 194 ] (not surprising), and the other study found that importance of religion was associated with “psychotic-like” symptoms in a national sample of Mexican Americans [ 195 ]; since the latter study involved participants who were not mentally ill, religion-related cultural factors may have influenced this finding. For a recent and more comprehensive discussion of R/S, schizophrenia, other chronic psychotic disorders, and the challenges distinguishing psychotic symptoms from religious beliefs, the reader is referred elsewhere [ 196 ].

4.7. Bipolar Disorder

Despite it's importance and wide prevalence, we could locate only four studies examining the relationship between R/S and bipolar (BP) disorder. Two found a positive association between R/S and bipolar disorder, and the remaining two reported mixed findings (both positive and negative correlations, depending on R/S characteristic). Of the two studies with high-quality ratings, one found a positive association and the other reported mixed findings. The first study of 334 US veterans with BP disorder found that a higher frequency of prayer or meditation was associated with mixed states and a lower likelihood of euthymia, although no association was found between any religious variable and depression or mania [ 197 ]. A second study examined a random national sample of 37,000 Canadians and found that those who attributed greater importance to higher spiritual values were more likely to have BP disorder, whereas higher frequency of religious attendance was associated with a lower risk of disorder [ 198 ]. In a qualitative study of 35 adults with bipolar disorder (not included in the review above), one of the six themes that participants emphasized when discussing their quality of life was the spiritual dimension. Over one-third of participants in that study talked about the relationship between BP disorder and R/S, emphasizing struggles to disentangle genuine spiritual experiences from the hyperreligiosity of the disorder. In another report, a case of mania precipitated by Eastern meditation was discussed; also included in this article was a review of nine other published cases of psychosis occurring in the setting of meditation [ 199 ].

4.8. Personality Traits

Personality traits most commonly measured today in psychology are the Big Five: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience. These are assessed by the NEO Personality Inventory [ 200 ]. Another personality inventory commonly used in the United Kingdom is the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, which assesses extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism [ 201 ]. Relationships between personality traits and R/S using these measures have been examined in many studies [ 202 ]. With regard to psychoticism (a trait that assesses risk taking or lack of responsibility, rather than psychotic symptoms), 19 studies have examined its relationship to R/S, with 84% of those reporting significant inverse relationships (and no studies reporting a positive relationship). There have been at least 54 quantitative studies examined relationships between R/S and neuroticism, of which 24% found an inverse relationship and 9% reported a positive relationship (most of the remaining found no association). Concerning extraversion, there have been 50 studies, with 38% reporting a positive relationship with R/S and 6% reporting an inverse or negative relationship. With regard to conscientiousness, there have been 30 studies, of which the majority (63%) reported significant positive relationships with R/S and only 3% found significant inverse relationships. For agreeableness, 30 studies have examined relationships with R/S, and 87% of these studies reported positive relationships (no studies report inverse relationships). Finally, there have been 26 studies examining openness to experience, and of those, 42% found positive relationships with R/S and 12% reported negative relationships. Thus, R/S persons tend to score lower on psychoticism and neuroticism, and higher on extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience. They score especially low on psychoticism and especially high on agreeableness and conscientiousness. These personality traits have physical health consequences that we are only beginning to recognize [ 203 – 205 ].

4.9. Substance Abuse

If R/S influences one domain of mental health, it is in the area of substance abuse. With regard to alcohol use, abuse, and dependence, at least 278 studies have now examined relationships with R/S. Of those, 240 (86%) reported inverse relationships and only 4 studies (1%) indicated a positive relationship. Of the 145 studies with the best methodology, 131 (90%) reported inverse relationships [ 206 – 221 ] and only one study found a positive relationship [ 222 ]. Findings are similar with regard to drug use or abuse. We located 185 studies, of which 84% reported inverse relationship with R/S and only two studies (1%) found positive relationships. Of the 112 best studies, 96 (86%) reported inverse relationships [ 223 – 238 ] and only one study found a positive relationship [ 239 ]. The vast majority of these studies are in young persons attending high school or college, a time when they are just starting to establish substance use habits (which for some will interfere with their education, future jobs, family life, and health). Thus, the protective effects of R/S on substance abuse may have influences on health across the lifespan.

4.10. Social Problems

Here I examine research in two areas of social instability (delinquency/crime and marital instability) and two areas of social stability (social support and social capital). Given the emphasis that most major world religions place on human relationships, love, and compassion, one might expect that some of the strongest relationships with R/S would be found here, and they are indeed.

4.10.1. Delinquency/Crime

At least 104 studies have examined relationships with R/S. Of those, 82 (79%) reported significant inverse relationships (five at a trend level), whereas three (3%) found positive relationships with more delinquency/crime. Of the 60 studies with quality ratings of 7 or higher, 49 (82%) reported inverse relationships [ 240 – 252 ] and only one study found a positive relationship [ 253 ]. Of particular interest are the 10 studies examining relationships between R/S and school grades/performance in adolescents and college students between 2000 and 2009, of which all 10 (100%) found that more R/S youth did better than less religious youth [ 254 ].

4.10.2. Marital Instability

We identified 79 studies that examined relationships with marital instability. Of those, 68 (86%) found R/S related to greater marital stability and no studies reported an association with greater marital instability. Of the 38 methodologically most rigorous studies, 35 (92%) reported significant relationships between R/S and greater marital stability [ 255 – 265 ]. An independent meta-analysis reviewing research conducted before the year 2000 likewise concluded that greater religiousness decreased the risk of divorce and facilitated marital functioning and parenting [ 266 ].

4.10.3. Social Support

There is substantial evidence indicating a relationship between R/S and social support. Of 74 quantitative peer-reviewed studies of R/S and social support, 61 (82%) found significant positive relationships, and none found inverse relationships. Of the 29 best studies, 27 (93%) reported significant positive relationships [ 82 , 267 – 274 ]. For older adults in particular, the most common source of social support outside of family members comes from members of religious organizations [ 275 , 276 ].

4.10.4. Social Capital

Social capital, an indirect measure of community health, is usually assessed by level of community participation, volunteerism, trust, reciprocity between people in the community, and membership in community-based, civic, political, or social justice organizations. Research has examined relationships between R/S and social capital. We located a total of 14 studies, with 11 (79%) finding significant positive relationships between R/S and level of social capital, and none reporting only inverse relationships. Almost all of these studies were of high quality, and of the 13 studies with ratings of seven or higher, 10 (77%) found that R/S was related to greater social capital [ 277 – 280 ].

5. Explaining the Relationship: R/S and Mental Health

R/S influences mental health through many different mechanisms, although the following are probably the predominant ones (see Figure 2 ). First, religion provides resources for coping with stress that may increase the frequency of positive emotions and reduce the likelihood that stress will result in emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, suicide, and substance abuse. Religious coping resources include powerful cognitions (strongly held beliefs) that give meaning to difficult life circumstances and provide a sense of purpose. Religions provide an optimistic worldview that may involve the existence of a personal transcendental force (God, Allah, Jehovah, etc.) that loves and cares about humans and is responsive to their needs. These cognitions also give a subjective sense of control over events (i.e., if God is in control, can influence circumstances, and be influenced by prayer, then prayer by the individual may positively influence the situation). Religious beliefs provide satisfying answers to existential questions, such as “where did we come from,” “why are we here,” and “where are we going,” and the answers apply to both this life and the next life, thus reducing existential angst. These beliefs also help to normalize loss and change and provide role models of persons suffering with the same or similar problems (often illustrated in religious scriptures). Thus, religious beliefs have the potential to influence the cognitive appraisal of negative life events in a way that makes them less distressing. For people with medical illness, these beliefs are particularly useful because they are not lost or impaired with physical disability—unlike many other coping resources that are dependent on health (hobbies, relationships, and jobs/finances).

Theoretical model of causal pathways for mental health (MH), based on Western monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). (Permission to reprint obtained. Original source: Koenig et al. [ 17 ]). For models based on Eastern religious traditions and the Secular Humanist tradition, see elsewhere. (Koenig et al. [ 24 ]).

Second, most religions have rules and regulations (doctrines) about how to live life and how to treat others within a social group. When individuals abide by those rules and regulations, this reduces the likelihood of stressful life events that reduce positive emotions and increased negative ones. Examples of stressful life events that religion may help people avoid are divorce or separation, difficulties with children, financial stress resulting from unfair practices in the marketplace, incarceration for lawbreaking (cheating or crime), and venereal diseases from risky sexual practices. Religions also usually discourage the use of drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol that increases the risk of engaging in the behaviors above (crime, risky sex) that are associated with negative mental health consequences.

Third, most religions emphasize love of others, compassion, and altruistic acts as well as encourage meeting together during religious social events. These prosocial behaviors have many consequences that buffer stress and lead to human support when support is needed during difficult times. Because religion encourages the helping of others and emphasizes a focus outside of the self, engagement in other-helping activities may increase positive emotions and serve to distract from one's own problems. Religion also promotes human virtues such as honesty, forgiveness, gratefulness, patience, and dependability, which help to maintain and enhance social relationships. The practice of these human virtues may also directly increase positive emotions and neutralize negative ones.

Thus, there are many possible mechanisms by which R/S may enhance mental and social health. This is not to say that R/S always does so. Religion may also be used to justify hatred, aggression, prejudice, and the exclusion of others; gain power and control over vulnerable individuals (as seen in cults); foster rigid thinking and obsessive practices; lead to anxiety, fear, and excessive guilt over minor infractions (and even self-mutilation in some cases); produce psychosocial strains due to failure to live up to high religious standards; lead to escape from dealing with family problems (through excessive involvement in religious or spiritual activities); and delay diagnosis and effective mental health care (due to antagonistic relationships with mental health professionals). While R/S is not a panacea, on the balance, it is generally associated with greater well-being, improved coping with stress, and better mental health. This relationship with mental health has physical health consequences (see Section 7 below).

6. Religion, Spirituality, and Health Behaviors

Religious doctrines influence decisions about health and health behaviors. In the Judeo-Christian scriptures, for example, there is an emphasis on caring for the physical body as a “Temple of the Holy Spirit” (see 1 Corinthian 6:19-20) [ 281 ]. Religious scriptures in other faith traditions also emphasize the person's responsibility to care for and nourish their physical body [ 282 – 284 ]. Behaviors that have the potential to harm the body are usually discouraged. This is reflected in teachings from the pulpit and influences what is considered appropriate within religious social groups. In summarizing the research on R/S and health behaviors, I cite only a few of the studies with high-quality ratings since there are so many.

6.1. Cigarette Smoking

The influence of R/S is most evident in it's “effects” on cigarette smoking. At least 137 studies have examined relationship between R/S and smoking, and of those, 123 (90%) reported statistically significant inverse relationships (including three at a trend level) and no studies found either a significant or even a trend association in the other direction. Of the 83 methodologically most rigorous studies, 75 (90%) reported inverse relationships with R/S involvement [ 213 , 285 – 294 ]. Not surprisingly, the physical health consequences of not smoking are enormous. Decreased cigarette smoking will mean a reduction in chronic lung disease, lung cancer, all cancers (30% being related to smoking), coronary artery disease, hypertension, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases.

6.2. Exercise

Level of exercise and physical activity also appears linked to R/S. We located 37 studies that examined this relationship. Of those, 25 (68%) reported significant positive relationships (two at a trend level) between R/S involvement and greater exercise or physical activity, whereas six (16%) found significant inverse relationships. Of 21 studies with the highest quality ratings, 16 (76%) reported positive associations [ 82 , 295 – 300 ] and two (10%) found negative associations [ 296 , 301 ].

Writers in the popular press have encouraged the combining of R/S activity and exercise through “prayer walking” [ 302 , 303 ] and “walking meditation.” [ 304 ].

At least 21 studies have examined relationships between R/S and a healthy diet. A healthy diet here involves increased intake of fiber, green vegetables, fruit, and fish; low intake of snacks, processed foods, and fat; regular vitamin intake; frequent eating of breakfast; overall better nutrition (following recommended nutritional guidelines). Of those studies, 13 (62%) found a significant positive association between R/S and a healthier diet (one at a trend level) and one found a worse diet [ 305 ]. Among the 10 studies with the highest quality ratings, seven (70%) reported a better diet among those who were more R/S [ 213 , 306 – 310 ]. In addition, we identified 23 studies that examined relationships between R/S and blood cholesterol levels. Of those, more than half (12 studies) found significantly lower cholesterol among those who were more R/S, whereas three studies (13%) reported significantly higher cholesterol levels. Of the nine best studies, five (56%) reported lower cholesterol [ 311 – 313 ] or a lowering of cholesterol in response to a R/S intervention [ 314 , 315 ], whereas one found higher cholesterol (but only in Mexican American men) [ 316 ].

6.4. Weight

Although R/S people tend to eat a healthier diet, they also eat more of it. This, then, is the one health behavior that places R/S individuals at greater risk for medical illness. At least 36 studies have examined the associations between weight (or body mass index) and R/S involvement. Of those, 14 (39%) found a positive relationship (R/S associated with greater weight), whereas only seven (19%) reported an inverse relationship. The situation does not improve when results from the most rigorously designed studies are examined. Among the 25 studies with the highest quality ratings, 11 (44%) reported greater weight among the more R/S [ 82 , 317 – 322 ] and five (20%) found lower weight (or less underweight [ 323 ]). Lower weight among the more R/S appears only in a few religious groups (Amish [ 324 ], Jews [ 325 ], and Buddhists [ 326 ]), in those with certain demographic characteristics (white, older, and high education) [ 327 ], and in response to a specific R/S intervention [ 328 ] or practice [ 314 , 329 ]. Faith-based weight-reduction programs in religious communities have been shown to be effective [ 328 , 330 , 331 ].

6.5. Sexual Behavior

We identified 95 studies that examined relationships between R/S and risky sexual activity (sex outside of marriage, multiple partners, etc.). Of those, 82 studies (86%) found significant inverse relationships with R/S (one at a trend level) and only one study (1%) found a significant relationship with more risky sexual activity [ 332 ]. Of the 50 highest quality studies, 42 (84%) reported inverse relationships [ 333 – 343 ] and none found a positive one. If those who are more R/S engage in less risky sexual behavior, this means they should have fewer venereal diseases, that is, less syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chancroid, chlamydia, viral hepatitis, and human papillomavirus and human immunodeficiency virus, many of which have serious physical health consequences.

7. Religion, Spirituality, and Physical Health

There is rapidly growing evidence that stress and negative emotions (depression, anxiety) have (1) adverse effects on physiological systems vital for maintenance of physical health and healing [ 344 – 346 ], (2) increase susceptibility to or worse outcomes from a wide range of physical illnesses [ 347 – 351 ], and (3) may shorten the lifespan prematurely [ 352 , 353 ]. Social support, in turn, has long been known to protect against disease and increase longevity [ 354 – 356 ]. By reducing stress and negative emotions, increasing social support, and positively affecting health behaviors, R/S involvement should have a favorable impact on a host of physical diseases and the response of those diseases to treatment. As in the earlier sections, I cite high-quality studies as examples. Since there are fewer high-quality studies for physical health than for mental health or for health behaviors, I cite all of the studies with ratings of seven or higher.

7.1. Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

Given the strong connections between psychosocial stressors, health behaviors, and CHD, it is not surprising that there is a link with R/S. Our review uncovered 19 studies that examined associations between R/S and CHD. Of those, 12 (63%) reported a significant inverse relationship, and one study reported a positive relationship. Of the 13 studies with the most rigorous methodology, nine (69%) found inverse relationships with CHD [ 357 – 365 ] and one found a positive one [ 366 ]. In addition, there have been at least 16 studies examining relationships between R/S and cardiovascular reactivity, heart rate variability, outcomes following cardiac surgery, and other cardiovascular functions. Of those, 11 studies (69%) reported that R/S was significantly related to positive cardiovascular functions or outcomes [ 367 – 374 ] or to lower levels of inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein [ 375 – 377 ] and fibrinogen [ 378 ] that place individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

7.2. Hypertension

The word “hypertension” itself suggests a relationship with stress or tension, and high blood pressure has been linked to greater psychosocial stress [ 379 – 381 ]. At least 63 studies have examined the relationship between R/S and blood pressure (BP), of which 36 (57%) reported significantly lower BP in those who are more R/S (five at a trend level) and seven (11%) reported significantly higher BP (one at a trend level). Of the 39 highest quality studies, 24 (62%) report lower BP (including one at a trend level) among those who are more R/S [ 382 – 394 ] or in response to an R/S intervention [ 328 , 395 – 404 ] (including a study whose results were reported twice, once for the overall sample and once for the sample stratified by race).

Two lower quality studies [ 405 , 406 ] and five well-done studies [ 407 – 411 ] (13%, including one at a trend level), however, reported higher BP in the more R/S or with religious fasting. The reason for an association between R/S and higher BP is not entirely clear. Perhaps, in certain population subgroups, intrapsychic religious conflict between psychosexual drives and religious standards creates unconscious stress that elevates BP. However, there is another possibility. This may be related to confounding by ethnicity. Three of the five studies reporting increased BP with increased R/S included in their samples a large proportion of ethnic minorities (samples from large urban settings such as Detroit and Chicago, made up of 36% to 100% African Americans). Since African Americans are more likely to have high BP (40% with hypertension) [ 412 ] and because African Americans are also the most religious ethnic group in society [ 413 ], it may be that controlling for race in these analyses is simply not sufficient to overcome this powerful confound.

7.3. Cerebrovascular Disease

Relationships between R/S, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases or disease risk factors ought to translate into a lower risk of stroke. We located nine studies that examined this relationship, of which four reported a lower risk of stroke, all having quality ratings of seven or higher [ 414 – 417 ].

One study, however, reported significantly more carotid artery thickening, placing R/S individuals at higher risk for stroke [ 418 ]. Again, however, 30% of that sample was African American an ethnic group, known to be both highly religious and at high risk for stroke.

7.4. Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia

Physiological changes that occur with stress and depression (elevated blood cortisol, in particular) are known to adversely affect the parts of the brain responsible for memory [ 419 – 421 ]. The experience of negative emotions may be like pouring hydrochloric acid on the brain's memory cells [ 422 ]. By reducing stress and depression through more effective coping, R/S may produce a physiological environment that has favorable effects on cognitive functioning. Furthermore, R/S involvement may also engage higher cortical functions involved in abstract thinking (concerning moral values or ideas about the transcendent) that serve to “exercise” brain areas necessary for retention of memories. Regardless of the mechanism, at least 21 studies have examined relationships between R/S involvement and cognitive function in both healthy persons and individuals with dementia. Of those, 10 (48%) reported significant positive relationships between R/S and better cognitive functioning and three (14%) found significant negative relationships. Of the 14 studies with the highest quality ratings, eight (57%) reported positive relationships [ 423 – 430 ] and three (21%) reported negative relationships with cognitive function [ 431 – 433 ]. Studies finding negative relationships between R/S and cognitive function may be due to the fact that R/S persons have longer lifespans (see below), increasing the likelihood that they will live to older ages when cognition tends to decline. More recent research supports a positive link between R/S and better cognitive function in both dementia and in old age [ 434 , 435 ].

7.5. Immune Function

Intact immune function is critical for health maintenance and disease prevention and is assessed by indicators of cellular immunity, humoral immunity, and levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. We identified 27 studies on relationships between R/S and immune functions, of which 15 (56%) found positive relationships or positive effects in response to a R/S intervention, and one (4%) found a negative effect [ 436 ]. Of the 14 studies with the highest quality ratings, 10 (71%) reported significant positive associations [ 437 – 443 ] or increased immune functions in response to a R/S intervention [ 444 – 447 ]. No high-quality study found only an inverse association or negative effect, although one study reported mixed findings [ 448 ]. In that study, religious attendance was related to significantly poorer cutaneous response to antigens; however, it was also related (at a trend level) to higher total lymphocyte count, total T-cell count, and helper T-cell count. In addition, importance of religious or spiritual expression was related to significantly higher white blood cell count, total lymphocyte count, total T cells, and cytotoxic T cell activity.

There have also been a number of studies examining R/S and susceptibility to infection (or viral load in those with HIV), which could be considered an indirect measure of immune function. We identified 12 such studies, of which eight (67%) reported significantly lower infection rates or lower viral loads in those who were more R/S (including one at a trend level); none found greater susceptibility to infection or greater viral load. Ten of the 12 studies had quality ratings of 7 or higher; of those, seven (70%) reported significant inverse associations with infection/viral load [ 440 , 441 , 449 – 454 ].

7.6. Endocrine Function

Because stress hormones (cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine) have a known influence on immune (and cardiovascular) functions, they are important factors on the pathway between R/S involvement and health [ 455 , 456 ]. We identified 31 studies that examined R/S and associations with or effects on endocrine functions. Of those, 23 (74%) reported positive relationships or positive effects and no studies reported negative associations or negative effects. Of the 13 methodologically most rigorous studies, nine (69%) reported positive associations with R/S [ 457 – 461 ] or positive effects of an R/S intervention (all involving Eastern meditation) [ 462 – 465 ]. We (at Duke) are currently examining the effects of religious cognitive-behavioral therapy on a host of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, cortisol, and catecholamines in patients with major depressive disorder, although results will not be available until 2014 [ 466 ].

7.7. Cancer

At least 29 studies have examined relationships between R/S and either the onset or the outcome of cancer (including cancer mortality). Of those, 16 (55%) found that those who are more R/S had a lower risk of developing cancer or a better prognosis, although two (7%) reported a significantly worse prognosis [ 467 , 468 ]. Of the 20 methodologically most rigorous studies, 12 (60%) found an association between R/S and lower risk or better outcomes [ 469 – 480 ], and none reported worse risk or outcomes. The results from some of these studies can be partially explained by better health behaviors (less cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, etc.), but not all. Effects not explained by better health behaviors could be explained by lower stress levels and higher social support in those who are more R/S. Although cancer is not thought to be as sensitive as cardiovascular disorders to psychosocial stressors, psychosocial influences on cancer incidence and outcome are present (discussions over this are ongoing [ 481 , 482 ]).

7.8. Physical Functioning

Ability to function physically, that is, performing basic and instrumental activities of daily living such as toileting, bathing, shopping, and using a telephone, is a necessary factor for independent living. Persons who are depressed, unmotivated, or without hope are less likely to make attempts to maintain their physical functioning, particularly after experiencing a stroke or a fall that forces them into a rehabilitation program to regain or compensate for their losses. Several studies have examined the role that R/S plays in helping people to maintain physical functioning as they grow older or regain functioning after an illness. We identified 61 quantitative studies that examined relationships between R/S and disability level or level of functioning. Of those, 22 (36%) reported better physical functioning among those who were more R/S, 14 (23%) found worse physical functioning, and six studies reported mixed findings. Considering the 33 highest quality studies, 13 (39%) reported significantly better physical functioning among those who were more R/S (including one study at a trend level) [ 483 – 495 ], six (18%) found worse functioning [ 496 – 501 ], and five studies (15%) reported mixed results [ 82 , 124 , 502 – 504 ] (significant positive and negative associations, depending on R/S characteristic). Almost all of these studies involve self-reported disability and many were cross-sectional, making it impossible to determine order of causation—that is, (1) does R/S prevent the development of disability, (2) does disability prevent R/S activity, (3) does R/S promote disability, or (4) does disability cause people to turn to religion to cope with disability.

7.9. Self-Rated Health

There is more agreement across studies regarding the relationship between R/S and self-rated health (SRH) than between R/S and physical functioning. While based on participants' subjective impression, self-rated health is strongly related to objective health, that is, future health, health services use, and mortality [ 505 – 507 ]. Might R/S, perhaps because it is related to greater optimism and hope, influence one's self-perceptions of health in a positive way? At least 50 studies have now examined the relationship between R/S and self-rated health. Of those, 29 (58%) reported that R/S was related to better SRH, while five (10%) found that it was related to worse SRH. Of the 37 methodologically most rigorous studies, 21 (57%) reported significant positive relationships between R/S and SRH [ 503 , 508 – 527 ], whereas three (8%) found the opposite [ 528 – 530 ].

7.10. Pain and Somatic Symptoms

On the one hand, pain and other distressing somatic symptoms can motivate people to seek solace in religion through activities such as prayer or Scripture study. Thus, R/S is often turned to in order to cope with such symptoms. For example, in an early study of 382 adults with musculoskeletal complains, R/S coping was the most common strategy for dealing with pain and was considered the second most helpful in a long list of coping behaviors [ 531 ]. More recent research supports this earlier report [ 532 ]. On the other hand, R/S may somehow cause an increase in pain and somatic symptoms, perhaps by increasing concentration on negative symptoms or through the physical manifestations of hysteria, as claimed by Charcot in his copious writings around the turn of the 20th century [ 533 ].

We identified 56 studies that examined relationships between R/S and pain. Of those, 22 (39%) reported inverse relationships between R/S and pain or found benefits from an R/S intervention, whereas 14 (25%) indicated a positive relationship between R/S and greater pain levels (13 of 14 being cross-sectional). Of the 18 best studies, nine (50%) reported inverse relationships (less pain among the more R/S [ 534 ] or reduced pain in response to a R/S intervention [ 535 – 542 ]), while three (20%) reported positive relationships (worse pain in the more R/S) [ 543 – 545 ]. Research suggests that meditation is particularly effective in reducing pain, although the effects are magnified when a religious word is used to focus attention [ 546 , 547 ]. No clinical trials, to my knowledge, have shown that meditation or other R/S interventions increase pain or somatic symptoms.

7.11. Mortality

The most impressive research on the relationship between R/S and physical health is in the area of mortality. The cumulative effect of R/S, if it has any benefits to physical health, ought to reveal itself in an effect on mortality. The research suggests it does. At least 121 studies have examined relationships between R/S and mortality. Most of these are prospective cohort studies, where baseline R/S is assessed as a predictor of mortality during the observation period, controlling for confounders. Of those studies, 82 (68%) found that greater R/S predicted significantly greater longevity (three at a trend level), whereas six studies (5%) reported shorter longevity. Considering the 63 methodologically most rigorous studies (quality ratings of 8 or higher), 47 (75%) found R/S predicting greater longevity (two at trend level) [ 548 – 566 ], whereas three (5%) reported shorter longevity [ 567 – 569 ]. Another systematic review [ 570 ] and two meta-analyses [ 571 , 572 ] have confirmed this relationship between R/S and longer survival. The effects have been particularly strong for frequency of attendance at religious services in these three reviews. Survival among frequent attendees was increased on average by 37%, 43%, and 30% (mean effect being 37% across these reviews). An increased survival of 37% is highly significant and equivalent to the effects of cholesterol lowering drugs or exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction on survival [ 573 ].

8. Explaining the Relationship: R/S and Physical Health

How might R/S involvement influence physical health and longevity? There are at least three basic pathways: psychological, social, and behavioral (see Figure 3 ).

Theoretical model of causal pathways to physical health for Western monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). (Permission to reprint obtained. Original source: Koenig et al. [ 17 ]). For models based on Eastern religious traditions and the Secular Humanist tradition, see elsewhere (Koenig et al. [ 24 ]).

8.1. Psychological

As noted above, there is ample evidence that R/S—because it facilitates coping and imbues negative events with meaning and purpose—is related to better mental health (less depression, lower stress, less anxiety, greater well-being, and more positive emotions). Furthermore, several randomized clinical trials have shown that R/S interventions improve mental health (at least in those who are R/S). There is also much evidence that poor mental health has adverse physiological consequences that worsen physical health and shorten the lifespan (see earlier references). Thus, it stands to reason that R/S might influence physical health through psychological pathways.

8.2. Social

R/S involvement is associated with greater social support, greater marital stability, less crime/delinquency, and greater social capital. R/S beliefs and doctrines encourage the development of human virtues such as honesty, courage, dependability, altruism, generosity, forgiveness, self-discipline, patience, humility, and other characteristics that promote social relationships. Participation in a R/S community not only provides supportive social connections and opportunities for altruism (through volunteering or other faith-based altruistic activities), but also increases the flow of health information that may increase disease screening and promote health maintenance. Social factors, in turn, are known to influence both mental health and physical health and predict greater longevity [ 574 – 576 ]. Again, if R/S boosts supportive social interactions and increases community trust and involvement, then it should ultimately influence physical health as well.

8.3. Health Behaviors

Finally, R/S promotes better health behaviors, and is associated with less alcohol and drug use, less cigarette smoking, more physical activity and exercise, better diet, and safer sexual practices in the overwhelming majority of studies that have examined these relationships. Living a healthier lifestyle will result in better physical health and greater longevity. Consider the following report that appeared on CNN (Cable Network News). On January 3, 2009, after the death of the Guinness Book of World Records' oldest person, Maria de Jesus age 115, next in line was Gertrude Baines from Los Angeles. Born to slaves near Atlanta in 1894, she was described at 114 years old as “spry,” “cheerful,” and “talkative.” When she was 112 years old, Ms. Baines was asked by a CNN correspondent to explain why she thought she had lived so long. Her reply: “God. Ask Him. I took good care of myself, the way he wanted me to.” Brief and to the point.

8.4. Other Pathways

There are many ways by which R/S could have a positive influence on physical health, although the pathways above are probably the major ones. Genetic and developmental factors could also play a role in explaining these associations. There is some evidence that personality or temperament (which has genetic roots) influences whether or not a person becomes R/S. To what extent R/S persons are simply born healthier, however, is quite controversial. Note that more R/S persons are typically those with the least resources (minority groups, the poor, and the uneducated), both in terms of finances and access to healthcare resources. Karl Marx said that religion is the “opiate of the masses.” Rather than being born healthier, then, the opposite is more likely to be true for R/S persons. R/S could actually be viewed as acting counter to an evolutionary force that is trying to weed genetically vulnerable people from the population. R/S involvement is providing the weak with a powerful belief system and a supportive community that enables them to survive. For a more complete discussion of the role of genetic factors in the R/S-physical health relationship, see the Handbook [ 577 ].

Another important point needs to be made. Nowhere do I claim that supernatural mechanisms are responsible for the relationship between R/S and health. The pathways by which R/S influences physical health that researchers can study using the natural methods of science must be those that exist within nature—that is, psychological, social, behavioral, and genetic influences. Thus, this research says nothing about the existence of supernatural or transcendent forces (which is a matter of faith), but rather asks whether belief in such forces (and the behaviors that result from such beliefs) has an effect on health. There is every reason to think it does.

9. Clinical Implications

There are clinical implications from the research reviewed above that could influence the way health professionals treat patients in the hospital and clinic.

9.1. Rationale for Integrating Spirituality

There are many practical reasons why addressing spiritual issues in clinical practice is important. Here are eight reasons [ 578 ] (and these are not exhaustive).

First, many patients are R/S and have spiritual needs related to medical or psychiatric illness. Studies of medical and psychiatric patients and those with terminal illnesses report that the vast majority have such needs, and most of those needs currently go unmet [ 579 , 580 ]. Unmet spiritual needs, especially if they involve R/S struggles, can adversely affect health and may increase mortality independent of mental, physical, or social health [ 581 ].

Second, R/S influences the patient's ability to cope with illness. In some areas of the country, 90% of hospitalized patients use religion to enable them to cope with their illnesses and over 40% indicate it is their primary coping behavior [ 582 ]. Poor coping has adverse effects on medical outcomes, both in terms of lengthening hospital stay and increasing mortality [ 583 ].

Third, R/S beliefs affect patients' medical decisions, may conflict with medical treatments, and can influence compliance with those treatments. Studies have shown that R/S beliefs influence medical decisions among those with serious medical illness [ 584 , 585 ] and especially among those with advanced cancer [ 586 ] or HIV/AIDs [ 587 ].

Fourth, physicians' own R/S beliefs often influence medical decisions they make and affect the type of care they offer to patients, including decisions about use of pain medications [ 588 ], abortion [ 589 ], vaccinations [ 590 ], and contraception [ 591 ]. Physician views about such matters and how they influence the physician's decisions, however, are usually not discussed with a patient.

Fifth, as noted earlier, R/S is associated with both mental and physical health and likely affects medical outcomes. If so, then health professionals need to know about such influences, just as they need to know if a person smokes cigarettes or uses alcohol or drugs. Those who provide health care to the patient need to be aware of all factors that influence health and health care.

Sixth, R/S influences the kind of support and care that patients receive once they return home. A supportive faith community may ensure that patients receive medical followup (by providing rides to doctors' offices) and comply with their medications. It is important to know whether this is the case or whether the patient will return to an apartment to live alone with little social interaction or support.

Seventh, research shows that failure to address patients' spiritual needs increases health care costs, especially toward the end of life [ 592 ]. This is a time when patients and families may demand medical care (often very expensive medical care) even when continued treatment is futile. For example, patients or families may be praying for a miracle. “Giving up” by withdrawing life support or agreeing to hospice care may be viewed as a lack of faith or lack of belief in the healing power of God. If health professionals do not take a spiritual history so that patients/families feel comfortable discussing such issues openly, then situations may go on indefinitely and consume huge amounts of medical resources.

Finally, standards set by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO) and by Medicare (in the US) require that providers of health care show respect for patients' cultural and personal values, beliefs, and preferences (including religious or spiritual beliefs) [ 593 ]. This point was reinforced by a personal communication with Doreen Finn ( [email protected] ), Senior Associate Director, who works under Mark Pelletier ( [email protected] ), Executive Director, JCAHO, Hospital Accreditation (January 6–12, 2012). If health professionals are unaware of those beliefs, they cannot show respect for them and adjust care accordingly.

9.2. How to Integrate Spirituality into Patient Care

What would I recommend in terms of addressing spiritual issues in clinical care?

First and foremost, health professionals should take a brief spiritual history. This should be done for all new patients on their first evaluation, especially if they have serious or chronic illnesses, and when a patient is admitted to a hospital, nursing home, home health agency, or other health care setting. The purpose is to learn about (1) the patient's religious background, (2) the role that R/S beliefs or practices play in coping with illness (or causing distress), (3) beliefs that may influence or conflict with decisions about medical care, (4) the patient's level of participation in a spiritual community and whether the community is supportive, and (5) any spiritual needs that might be present [ 594 ]. It is the health professional , not the chaplain, who is responsible for doing this two-minute “screening” evaluation. If spiritual needs are discovered, then the health professional would make a referral to pastoral care services so that the needs can be addressed. The spiritual history (and any spiritual needs addressed by pastoral services) should be documented in the medical record so that other health professionals will know that this has been done. Although notes need not be detailed, enough information should be recorded to communicate essential issues to other hospital staff.

Ideally, the physician, as head of the medical care team, should take the spiritual history. However, since only about 10% of physicians in the US “often or always” do so [ 595 ], the task often falls to the nurse or to the social worker. Although systematic research is lacking in this area, most nurses and social workers do not take a spiritual history either. Simply recording the patient's religious denomination and whether they want to see a chaplain, the procedure in most hospitals today, is NOT taking a spiritual history.

Second, R/S beliefs of patients uncovered during the spiritual history should always be respected. Even if beliefs conflict with the medical treatment plan or seem bizarre or pathological, the health professional should not challenge those beliefs (at least not initially), but rather take a neutral posture and ask the patient questions to obtain a better understanding of the beliefs. Challenging patients' R/S beliefs is almost always followed by resistance from the patient, or quiet noncompliance with the medical plan. Instead, the health professional should consult a chaplain and either follow their advice or refer the patient to the chaplain to address the situation. If the health professional is knowledgeable about the patient's R/S beliefs and the beliefs appear generally healthy, however, it would be appropriate to actively support those beliefs and conform the healthcare being provided to accommodate the beliefs.

Third, most health professionals without clinical pastoral education do not have the skills or training to competently address patients' spiritual needs or provide advice about spiritual matters. Chaplains have extensive training on how to do this, which often involves years of education and experience addressing spiritual issues. They are the true experts in this area. For any but the most simple spiritual needs, then, patients should be referred to chaplains to address the problem.

Fourth, conducting a spiritual history or contemplating a spiritual intervention (supporting R/S beliefs, praying with patients) should always be patient centered and patient desired. The health professional should never do anything related to R/S that involves coercion. The patient must feel in control and free to reveal or not reveal information about their spiritual lives or to engage or not engage in spiritual practices (i.e., prayer, etc.). In most cases, health professionals should not ask patients if they would like to pray with them, but rather leave the initiative to the patient to request prayer. The health professional, however, may inform R/S patients (based on the spiritual history) that they are open to praying with patients if that is what the patient wants. The patient is then free to initiate a request for prayer at a later time or future visit, should they desire prayer with the health professional. If the patient requests, then a short supportive prayer may be said aloud, but quietly, with the patient in a private setting. Before praying, however, the health professional should ask the patient what he or she wishes prayer for, recognizing that every patient will be different in this regard. Alternatively, the clinician may simply ask the patient to say the prayer and then quietly confirm it with an “amen” at the end.

Fifth, R/S beliefs of health professionals (or lack of belief) should not influence the decision to take a spiritual history, respect and support the R/S beliefs of patients, or make a referral to pastoral services. These activities should always be patient centered, not centered on the health professional. One of the most common barriers to addressing spiritual issues is health professionals' discomfort over discussing such issues. This often results from lack of personal R/S involvement and therefore lack of appreciation for the importance and value of doing so. Lack of comfort and understanding should be overcome by training and practice. Today, nearly 90% of medical schools (and many nursing schools) in the US include something about R/S in their curricula [ 596 ] and this is also true to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom [ 597 ] and Brazil [ 598 ]. Thus, spirituality and health is increasingly being addressed in medical and nursing training programs.

Sixth, health professionals should learn about the R/S beliefs and practices of different religious traditions that relate to healthcare, especially the faith traditions of patients they are likely to encounter in their particular country or region of the country. There are many such beliefs and practices that will have a direct impact on the type of care being provided, especially when patients are hospitalized, seriously ill or near death. A brief description of beliefs and practices for health professionals related to birth, contraception, diet, death, and organ donation is provided elsewhere [ 599 ].

Finally, if spiritual needs are identified and a chaplain referral is initiated, then the health professional making the referral is responsible for following up to ensure that the spiritual needs were adequately addressed by the chaplain. This is especially true given the impact that unmet spiritual needs are likely to have on both medical outcomes and healthcare costs. Given the short lengths of stay in today's modern hospital (often only 2–4 days), spiritual needs identified on admission are unlikely to be resolved by discharge. Therefore, a spiritual care discharge plan will need to be developed by the hospital social worker in consultation with the chaplain, which may involve (with the patient's written consent) contact with the patient's faith community to ensure that spiritual needs are addressed when the patient returns home. In this way, continuity of pastoral care will be ensured between hospital and community.

10. Conclusions

Religious/spiritual beliefs and practices are commonly used by both medical and psychiatric patients to cope with illness and other stressful life changes. A large volume of research shows that people who are more R/S have better mental health and adapt more quickly to health problems compared to those who are less R/S. These possible benefits to mental health and well-being have physiological consequences that impact physical health, affect the risk of disease, and influence response to treatment. In this paper I have reviewed and summarized hundreds of quantitative original data-based research reports examining relationships between R/S and health. These reports have been published in peer-reviewed journals in medicine, nursing, social work, rehabilitation, social sciences, counseling, psychology, psychiatry, public health, demography, economics, and religion. The majority of studies report significant relationships between R/S and better health. For details on these and many other studies in this area, and for suggestions on future research that is needed, I again refer the reader to the Handbook of Religion and Health [ 600 ].

The research findings, a desire to provide high-quality care, and simply common sense, all underscore the need to integrate spirituality into patient care. I have briefly reviewed reasons for inquiring about and addressing spiritual needs in clinical practice, described how to do so, and indicated boundaries across which health professionals should not cross. For more information on how to integrate spirituality into patient care, the reader is referred to the book, Spirituality in Patient Care [ 601 ]. The field of religion, spirituality, and health is growing rapidly, and I dare to say, is moving from the periphery into the mainstream of healthcare. All health professionals should be familiar with the research base described in this paper, know the reasons for integrating spirituality into patient care, and be able to do so in a sensible and sensitive way. At stake is the health and well-being of our patients and satisfaction that we as health care providers experience in delivering care that addresses the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.

Conflict of Interests

The author declares that he has no conflict of interests.

Acknowledgment

The support to write this paper was provided in part by the John Templeton Foundation.

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The Best 50 Religion Research Topics to Use for Students

In our multi-religious and multicultural society, crafting a great research paper on religion is a challenging task. Indeed, this challenge starts from the first stage of preparing your paper: identifying a good religious research paper topic. Further, it is almost impossible to write a paper without offending one or more religious feelings, especially when working on the history of religion. To make writing your paper easy, you must start by picking good religious paper topics.

In this paper, we list 50 religion research paper topics and a guide for selecting the best. If you want to get good grades, start with the right step- the best topic.

Why You Need the Best Religion Research Paper Topics

When working on any research paper, the most important step is identifying the topic. Indeed, the topic determines the direction you will take with the paper. Here are other benefits of selecting the best topics for a religious research paper.

• It allows you to work on the preferred area of interest.
• With a good topic, you do not get bored midway.
• A great topic offers you the opportunity to fill knowledge gaps in the field of religious studies.
• It is your opportunity to make your contribution felt.
• Picking the best topics is the first step to better grades.

How to Pick the Best Topics for a Religious Research Paper

Now that you know the benefits of selecting the best topics for your religious papers, you might be wondering, “How do I pick it?” Here are some useful tips to help you identify the best:

• Brainstorm your religious study subject. This will help you to get the best ideas to work on.
• Comprehensively research your area of interest. For example, you might be interested in the history of religion, church and social action, creationism, or modernism and religion.
• Look at the latest happenings. Things such as religious involvement in economics and education might inspire your paper ideas.
• Follow your teacher’s recommendation. Often, professors give guidelines to students on the areas they should work on. For example, if you were covering a certain area in your religious education studies class; your teacher might ask you to pick topics from that section only. But in most cases, teachers leave the topics open for students to select on their own.
• Read other research on religious studies. Most researchers point at gaps that exist in the niche so that later students can work on them. This is a great place to commence your research paper.

The Best Religious Topics for a Research Paper

Whether you prefer working on religious controversial topics or philosophy of religion essay topics, we have listed the best 50 ideas to get you started. Check them and pick them as they are or tweak them to fit your preferred format.

• Christian and economics.
• Religion and homosexuality.
• Black churches.
• Christianity history.
• Comparing and contrasting Christian and Islam history.
• A closer look at world religions without gods.
• The concept of religion and soul.
• The impact of religious laws on morality.
• The phenomenon of trickster gods.
• The impact of Greek religion on European culture.
• Impact of religion on American culture.
• Impact of religion on Chinese culture.
• Comparing the similarities of images of gods in different religions.
• How does gender affect religion?
• Islam in modern India.
• What is the future of religion?
• Afterlife: What are the differences in diverse religions?
• What are the main causes of the faith crisis?
• Analyzing the influence of female clergy on religion.
• Relooking at the reincarnation concept.
• What role do men have in religion?
• The impacts of yoga on religion.
• Can faith remove the harshness of adolescence?
• Why is Ramadhan referred to as the holy month?
• Comparing religious counselors to classical psychologists.
• A closer look at the main differences between the bible and Koran.
• What is the importance of Christmas for Christians?
• Creationism.
• Religion and science.
• How do people implement different religious practices today?
• Should atheism be considered another form of religion?
• Judaism: A closer look at its history.
• Analyzing attitudes towards sex in the Christian religion.
• Children: Are they considered innocent in all religions?
• A closer look at the history of Hinduism.
• A closer look at the existence of God as a supernatural being.
• Comparing and contrasting monotheistic cultures.
• Female goddesses.
• Chaplain-ship: How does it trigger peace and harmony?
• Impact of women in the history of Christianity.
• What are the implications of forced religion on people?
• Religion and terrorism.
• Religion in the workplace.
• Religion and evolution.
• Nordic mythology.
• A world without religion: Is it possible?
• Applying religion to address global problems.
• The primal religions.
• Do you think religion should play a role in modern politics?
• Do you think religion influences societal virtues?

Got the Best Religion Topics to Write About – What Next?

Now that you have a list of the best world religion research paper topics, it is important to appreciate that the journey of writing your assignment has just started. The next step is to write down your paper in line with your teacher’s guidelines. This is where your writing skills come into play. Well, it is never easy for many students. Often, some lack good writing skills, have other engagements, or acquire the right resources is a challenge. For others, the deadline is too tight and almost impossible to beat. The best idea is to seek affordable college assignment writing help.

After selecting the best topics, be they sociology or religion research topics or religious debate topics, writing help is provided by experts with years of experience in academic writing. They have handled such papers before and are willing to help you craft the best paper for top grades. Well, do not let that religious research paper stress you anymore, let a professional help you!

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215 Religion Research Paper Topics for College Students

Studying religion at a college or a university may be a challenging course for any student. This isn’t because religion is always a sensitive issue in society, it is because the study of religion is broad, and crafting religious topics for research papers around them may be further complex for students. This is why sociology of religion research topics and many others are here, all for your use.

As students of a university or a college, it is essential to prepare religious topics for research papers in advance. There are many research paper topics on religion, and this is why the scope of religion remains consistently broad. They extend to the sociology of religion, research paper topics on society, argumentative essay topics, and lots more. All these will be examined in this article. Rather than comb through your books in search of inspiration for your next essay or research paper, you can easily choose a topic for your religious essay or paper from the following recommendations:

World Religion Research Paper Topics

If you want to broaden your scope as a university student to topics across religions of the world, there are religion discussion topics to consider. These topics are not just for discussion in classes, you can craft research around them. Consider:

• The role of myths in shaping the world: Greek myths and their influence on the evolution of European religions
• Modern History: The attitude of modern Europe on the history of their religion
• The connection between religion and science in the medieval and modern world
• The mystery in the books of Dan Brown is nothing but fiction: discuss how mystery shapes religious beliefs
• Theocracy: an examination of theocratic states in contemporary society
• The role of Christianity in the modern world
• The myth surrounding the writing of the Bible
• The concept of religion and patriarchy: examine two religions and how it oppresses women
• People and religion in everyday life: how lifestyle and culture is influenced by religion
• The modern society and the changes in the religious view from the medieval period
• The interdependence of laws and religion is a contemporary thing: what is the role of law in religion and what is the role of religion in law?
• What marked the shift from religion to humanism?
• What do totemism and animalism denote?
• Pre Colonial religion in Africa is savagery and barbaric: discuss
• Cite three religions and express their views on the human soul
• Hinduism influenced Indian culture in ways no religion has: discuss
• Africans are more religious than Europeans who introduced Christian religion to them: discuss
• Account for the evolution of Confucianism and how it shaped Chinese culture to date
• Account for the concept of the history of evolution according to Science and according to a religion and how it influences the ideas of the religious soul
• What is religious education and how can it promote diversity or unity?7
• Workplace and religion: how religion is extended to all facets of life
• The concept of fear in maintaining religious authorities: how authorities in religious places inspire fear for absolute devotion
• Afro-American religion: a study of African religion in America
• The Bible and its role in religions
• Religion is more of emotions than logic
• Choose five religions of the world and study the similarities in their ideas
• The role of religious leaders in combating global terrorism
• Terrorism: the place of religion in promoting violence in the Middle East
• The influence of religion in modern-day politics
• What will the world be like without religion or religious extremists?
• Religion in the growth of communist Russia: how cultural revolution is synonymous with religion
• Religion in the growth of communist China: how cultural revolution is synonymous with religion
• The study of religions and ethnic rivalries in India
• Terrorism in Islam is a comeback to the crusades
• The role of the Thirty Years of War in shaping world diplomacy
• The role of the Thirty Years of War in shaping plurality in Christianity
• The religion and the promotion of economics
• The place of world religions on homosexuality
• Why does a country, the Vatican City, belong to the Catholic Church?
• God and the concept of the supernatural: examine the idea that God is a supernatural being
• The influence of religion in contemporary Japan
• Religion and populism in the modern world
• The difference between mythical creatures and gods
• Polytheism and the possibility of world peace
• Religion and violence in secular societies?
• Warfare and subjugation in the spread of religion
• The policies against migrant in Poland is targeted against Islam
• The role of international organizations in maintaining religious peace
• International terrorist organizations and the decline of order

Research Paper Topics Religion and Society

As a student in a university or MBA student, you may be requested to write an informed paper on sociology and religion. There are many sociology religion research paper topics for these segments although they may be hard to develop. You can choose out of the following topics or rephrase them to suit your research interest:

• The influence of religion on the understanding of morality
• The role of religion in marginalizing the LGBTQ community
• The role of women in religion
• Faith crisis in Christianity and Islamic religions
• The role of colonialism in the spreading of religion: the spread of Christianity and Islam is a mortal sin
• How does religion shape our sexual lifestyle?
• The concept of childhood innocence in religion
• Religion as the object of hope for the poor: how religion is used as a tool for servitude by the elite
• The impact of traditional beliefs in today’s secular societies
• How religion promotes society and how it can destroy it
• The knowledge of religion from the eyes of a sociologist
• Religious pluralism in America: how diverse religions struggle to strive
• Social stratification and its role in shaping religious groups in America
• The concept of organized religion: why the belief in God is not enough to join a religious group
• The family has the biggest influence on religious choices: examine how childhood influences the adult’s religious interests
• Islamophobia in European societies and anti-Semitism in America
• The views of Christianity on interfaith marriage
• The views of Islam on interfaith marriage
• The difference between spirituality and religion
• The role of discipline in maintaining strict religious edicts
• How do people tell others about their religion?
• The features of religion in sociology
• What are the views of Karl Marx on religion?
• What are the views of Frederic Engels on religion?
• Modern Islam: the conflict of pluralism and secularism
• Choose two religions and explore their concepts of divorce
• Governance and religion: how religion is also a tool of control
• The changes in religious ideas with technological evolution
• Theology is the study of God for God, not humans
• The most feared religion: how Islamic extremists became identified as terrorist organizations
• The role of cults in the society: why religious people still have cults affiliations
• The concept of religious inequality in the US
• What does religion say about sexual violence?

Religion Essay Topics

As a college student, you may be required to write an essay on religion or morality. You may need to access a lot of religious essay topics to find inspiration for a topic of your choice. Rather than go through the stress of compiling, you can get more information for better performance from religion topics for research paper like:

• The origin of Jihad in Islam and how it has evolved
• Compare the similarities and differences between Christian and Judaism religions
• The Thirty Years War and the Catholic church
• The Holocaust: historic aggression or a religious war
• Religion is a tool of oppression from the political and economic perspectives
• The concept of patriarchy in religion
• Baptism and synonym to ritual sacrifice
• The life of Jesus Christ and the themes of theology
• The life of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) and the themes of theology
• How can religion be used to promote world peace?
• Analyze how Jesus died and the reason for his death
• Analyze the event of the birth of Christ
• The betrayal of Jesus is merely to fulfill a prophecy
• Does “prophecy” exist anywhere in religion?
• The role of war in promoting religion: how crusades and terrorist attacks shape the modern world
• The concept of Karma: is Karma real?
• Who are the major theorists in religion and what do they say?
• The connection of sociology with religion
• Why must everyone be born again according to Christians?
• What does religious tolerance mean?
• What is the benefit of religion in society?
• What do you understand about free speech and religious tolerance?
• Why did the Church separate from the state?
• The concept of guardian angels in religion
• What do Islam and Christianity say about the end of the world?
• Religion and the purpose of God for man
• The concept of conscience in morality is overrated
• Are there different sects in Christianity?
• What does Islam or Christianity say about suicide?
• What are the reasons for the Protestant Reformation?
• The role of missionaries in propagating Christianity in Africa
• The role of the Catholic church in shaping Christianity
• Do we need an international religious organization to maintain international religious peace?
• Why do people believe in miracles?

Argumentative Essay Topics on Religion

Creating argumentative essay topics on religion may be a daunting exercise regardless of your level. It is more difficult when you don’t know how to start. Your professor could be interested in your critical opinions about international issues bordering on religion, which is why you need to develop sensible topics. You can consider the following research paper topics religion and society for inspiration:

• Religion will dominate humanity: discuss
• All religions of the world dehumanize the woman
• All men are slaves to religion
• Karl Marx was right when he said religion is the return of the repressed, “the sigh of the oppressed creature”: discuss
• Christianity declined in Europe with the Thirty Years War and it separated brothers and sisters of the Christian faith?
• Islamic terrorism is a targeted attack on western culture
• The danger of teen marriage in Islam is more than its benefits
• The church should consider teen marriages for every interested teenager
• Is faith fiction or reality?
• The agape love is restricted to God and God’s love alone
• God: does he exist or is he a fiction dominating the world?
• Prayer works better without medicine: why some churches preach against the use of medicine
• People change religion because they are confused about God: discuss
• The church and the state should be together
• Polygamous marriage is evil and it should be condemned by every religion
• Cloning is abuse against God’s will
• Religious leaders should also be political leaders
• Abortion: a sin against God or control over your body
• Liberty of religious association affects you negatively: discuss
• Religious leaders only care about themselves, not the people
• Everyone should consider agnosticism
• Natural laws are the enemy of religion
• It is good to have more than two faiths in a family
• It is hard for the state to exist without religion
• Religion as a cause of the World War One
• Religion as a tool for capitalists
• Religion doesn’t promote morality, only extremisms
• Marriage: should the people or their religious leaders set the rules?
• Why the modern church should acknowledge the LGBTQ: the fight for true liberalism
• Mere coexistence is not religious tolerance
• The use of candles, incense, etc. in Catholic worship is idolatrous and the same as pagan worship: discuss
• The Christian religion is the same as Islam

Christianity Research Paper Topics on Religion

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian or not as you need to develop a range of topics for your essay or project. To create narrow yet all-inclusive research about Christianity in the world today, you can consider research topics online. Rather than rack your head or go through different pages on the internet, consider these:

• Compare and contrast Christian and Islam religions
• Trace the origin of Christianity and the similarity of the beliefs in the contemporary world
• Account for the violent spread of Christianity during the crusades
• Account for the state of Christianity in secular societies
• The analysis of the knowledge of rapture in Christianity
• Choose three contemporary issues and write the response of Christianity on them
• The Catholic church and its role towards the continuance of sexual violence
• The Catholic church and the issues of sexual abuse and scandals
• The history of Christianity in America
• The history of Christianity in Europe
• The impact of Christianity on American slaves
• The belief of Christianity on death, dying, and rapture
• The study of Christianity in the medieval period
• How Christianity influenced the western world
• Christianity: the symbols and their meaning
• Why catholic priests practice celibacy
• Christianity in the Reformation Era
• Discuss the Gnostic Gospels and their distinct historic influence on Christianity
• The catholic church in the Third Reich of Germany
• The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament
• What the ten commandments say from a theological perspective
• The unpredictable story of Moses
• The revival of Saul to Paul: miracle or what?
• Are there Christian cults in the contemporary world?
• Gender differences in the Christian church: why some churches don’t allow women pastors
• The politics of the Catholic church before the separation of the church and the state
• The controversies around Christian religion and atheism: why many people are leaving the church
• What is the Holy Trinity and what is its role in the church?
• The miracles of the New Testament and its difference from the Old Testament’s
• Why do people question the existence of God?
• God is a spirit: discuss

Islam Research Paper Topics

As a student of the Islamic religion or a Muslim, you may be interested in research on the religion. Numerous Islam research paper topics could be critical in shaping your research paper or essay. These are easy yet profound research paper topics on religion Islam for your essays or papers:

• Islam in the Middle East
• Trace the origin of Islam
• Who are the most important prophets in Islam?
• Discuss the Sunni and other groups of Muslims
• The Five Pillars of Islam are said to be important in Islam, why?
• Discuss the significance of the Holy Month
• Discuss the significance of the Holy Pilgrimage
• The distinctions of the Five Pillars of Islam and the Ten Commandments?
• The controversies around the hijab and the veil
• Western states are denying Muslims: why?
• The role of religious leaders in their advocacy of sexual abuse and violence
• What the Quran says about rape and what does Hadiths say, too?
• Rape: men, not the women roaming the street should be blamed
• What is radicalism in Islam?
• The focus of Islam is to oppress women: discuss
• The political, social, and economic influence of modernity on Islam
• The notable wives of prophet Muhammad and their role in Islam: discuss
• Trace the evolution of Islam in China and the efforts of the government against them
• Religious conflict in Palestine and Israel: how a territorial conflict slowly became a religious war
• The study of social class and the Islamic religion
• Suicide bombers and their belief of honor in death: the beliefs of Islamic jihadists
• Account for the issues of marginalization of women in Muslim marriages
• The role of literature in promoting the fundamentals of Islam: how poetry was used to appeal to a wider audience
• The concept of feminism in Islam and why patriarchy seems to be on a steady rise
• The importance of Hadiths in the comprehension of the Islamic religion
• Does Islam approve of democracy?
• Islamic terrorism and the role of religious leaders
• The relationship of faith in Islam and Christianity: are there differences in the perspectives of faith?
• How the Quran can be used as a tool for religious tolerance and religious intolerance
• The study of Muslims in France: why is there religious isolation and abuse in such a society?
• Islam and western education: what are the issues that have become relevant in recent years?
• Is there a relationship between Islam and Science?
• Western culture: why there are stereotypes against Muslims abroad
• Mythology in Islam: what role does it play in shaping the religion?
• Islam and the belief in the afterlife: are there differences between its beliefs with other religions’?
• Why women are not allowed to take sermons in Islam

Can’t Figure Out Your Religion Paper?

With these religious research paper topics, you’re open to change the words or choose a topic of your choice for your research paper or essay. Writing an essay after finding a topic is relatively easy. Since you have helpful world religion research paper topics, research paper topics on religion and society, religion essay topics, argumentative essay topics on religion, Christianity research paper topics, and Islam research paper topics, you can go online to research different books that discuss the topic of your choice.

However, if you require the assistance of professional academic experts who offer custom academic help, you’ll find them online. There are a few writing help online groups that assist in writing your essays or research paper as fast as possible. You can opt for their service if you’re too busy or unmotivated to write your research paper or essay.

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Religion Research Paper Examples & Study Documents

Welcome to The Knowledge Nest, your go-to resource for comprehensive religion research paper examples and study documents. As a leading platform in the field of Community and Society, we aim to provide you with unparalleled insights into the diverse world of religions. Whether you are a student, researcher, or simply curious about different faiths and beliefs, our collection of religious studies material will help broaden your knowledge and enhance your understanding.

Dive into the World of Religions

At The Knowledge Nest, we understand the importance of academic study and research. With our extensive collection of religion research paper examples and study documents, we offer you the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics, including:

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Exploring Various Religious Topics

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The Role of Muslim Women in Nigeria’s Socioeconomic Development Through the Implementation of The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals , Faqiat Afolake Adeaga

The Theoretical Epigenetic Relationship Between Complex-PTSD and ADHD in Holocaust Survivors’ Descendants , Y. Sahara Brodsky

Apertures in Recollections A Mental Trauma Response to the Holocaust Experience , Nicole T. Broxterman

Differentiating Magic: a Call for a Differential Approach , Weston L. Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Interpreting 9/11: Religious or Political Event? , Fadime Apaydin

The need to address religious diversity at work: an all-inclusive model of spirituality at work , Ivonne Valero Cázares

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Mass is the Medium: Marshall McLuhan and Roman Catholic Liturgical Change , Ashil D. Manohar

White Too Long: Christianity or Nationalism? , Rachel E. Osborne

"Theology" in the Public University , Sarah T. White

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Warfare in Christianity and Islam: Unveiling Secular Justifications and Motivations Behind So-Called Religious Violence , Onur Korkmaz

Legitimizing Violence: Functional Similarities of the Religious and the Secular Violence , Tahir Topal

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

“Living Creatures of Every Kind:” An Ecofeminist Reading of Genesis 1-3 , T. G. Barkasy

Three Theorists on Religious Violence in an Islamic Context: Karen Armstrong, Mark Juergensmeyer, and William T. Cavanaugh , Ayse Camur

Complex Tripartite Hydro Politics of River Ganges , Muttaki Bin Kamal

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Solid Metaphor and Sacred Space: Interpreting the Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Relations Found at Beth Alpha Synagogue , Evan Carter

Growth, and Development of Care for Leprosy Sufferers Provided by Religious Institutions from the First Century AD to the Middle Ages , Philippa Juliet Meek

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Altering Tian: Spirituality in Early Confucianism , Jacob Thomas Atkinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

The U.S. Department of State Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: What does the U.S. engage when they engage `religion'? , Belgica Marisol Cucalon

Rising Above a Crippling Hermeneutic , Luke Steven, Carlos, Armando Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

From Cosmogony to Anthropogony: Inscribing Bodies in Vedic Cosmogony and Samskara Rituals , Christine Boulos

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Gadamer and Nāgārjuna in Play: Providing a New Anti-Objectivist Foundation for Gadamer’s Interpretive Pluralism with Nāgārjuna’s Help , Nicholas Byle

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation and the Ethical Obligations of the Dying Person: A Narrative Approach , Ellen W. Klein

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Finding Confucianism in Scientology: A comparative analysis , John Albert Kieffer

Sympathy for the devil: A character analysis of Gibreel Farishta in Salman Rushdie's The satanic verses , Catherine Mary Lafuente

The Babel paradox , Michel Machado

Theology, Spirituality, and the Academic Study of Religion in Public Universities , Don Saunders

Broadening the Spectrum: The Religious Dimensions of the Rainbow Gatherings , Seth M. Walker

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Poetry and Ritual: The Physical Expression of Homoerotic Imagery in sama , Zachary Holladay

Religious Exiles And Emigrants: The Changing Face Of Zoroastrianism , Tara Angelique Migliore

Metropolitan Community Church: A Perfectly Queer Reading Of The Bible , Matthew D. Stewart

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

(Dis)continuity between Sikhism and Islam: The development of hukam across religions , Mark Horowitz

Natural Law Ethics: A Comparison of the Theravāda and Thomistic Traditions , David Lantigua

An analysis Of Origen's charismatic ideology in his Commentary on the Gospel of John , Kimberly W. Logan-Hudson

The proliferating sacred: Secularization and postmodernity , Donald Surrency

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

The commodification of yoga in contemporary U.S. culture , Michelle E. Demeter

The Middle-Class Religious Ideology and the Underclass Struggle: A Growing Divide in Black Religion , Franklin Hills Jr.

The ethics of the spirit in Galatians: Considering Paul's paranesis in the interpretation of his theology , Steven Douglas Meigs

Cicero and St. Augustine's Just War Theory: Classical Influences on a Christian Idea , Berit Van Neste

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

The Origins of Jewish Apocalyptic Literature: Prophecy, Babylon, and 1 Enoch , Sarah Robinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

Sports and the American Sacred: What are the Limits of Civil Religion? , Frank Ferreri

Radical Religious Groups and Government Policy: A Critical Evaluation , Tori Chambers Lockler

“Symbolism of Language: A Study in the Dialogue of Power Between the Imperial Cult and the Synoptic Gospels” , Sharon Matlock-Marsh

Near-Death Experiences, Religion, and Life After Death , Holly Wallace

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Experiencing religion: post-colonial views for religious education.

1. Introduction

2. pre-colonial and colonial contexts, 3. lessons from history: gift of religion, 4. reappropriating religious ideas: post-colonial turn, 5. conclusions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Baring, R. Experiencing Religion: Post-Colonial Views for Religious Education. Religions 2022 , 13 , 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010014

Baring R. Experiencing Religion: Post-Colonial Views for Religious Education. Religions . 2022; 13(1):14. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010014

Baring, Rito. 2022. "Experiencing Religion: Post-Colonial Views for Religious Education" Religions 13, no. 1: 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010014

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Free Religion Essay Examples

1589 samples of this type

Wondering how to write a paper on religion? Don’t know how to approach this controversial and debatable topic? We are here to help you! Here you’ll find religion essay topics, useful writing prompts, and a list of religion essay examples at the end of the article!

Religion Essay: What Is It about?

A religion essay is a paper that explores beliefs and traditions as well as their influence on cultures and nations. In a religion essay, you can also analyze the parallels and differences between various religious branches.

Religion studies are connected to philosophy and social science. That is why essays on the topic are often written in these disciplines.

Below are three primary approaches to compose the essay. You need to choose the one that stays in line with your assignment.

• Religion argumentative essay
• Religion persuasive essay
• Religion comparative essay

Make sure you state in your religion essay introduction that all religions are equal and have the right to exist. Now we may explore these types of papers in depth. Choose the one that applies to your task and write an excellent article with our tips!

Argumentative Essay on Religion

An argumentative essay on religion explores faith and its aspects. You prove right or claim wrong a specific concept you work on. You can discover the approaches of different schools of thought to some ideas. This is a reflection on questions that can be raised but cannot be answered.

These are the possible essays:

• Science and religion essay is on the relationship and contradictions between the two fields. Are they contested? Does creationism exclude evolution? At what point does religion become science and the other way round? Here you may explore the treatment of science among different religions. Compare traditions of the state where the research is approved and where it is not. There is a theory on atheism as a religion as well. Describe scientists’ views on this topic.
• Religion and morality essay is part of the debate on ethics and moral development. What is the difference between religion and morality? What is their connection to each other? What does a dignified life mean? You can argue on what is good and what is evil. Explain the roots of moral values. How have they developed out of religious traditions?
• Religion and politics essay puts questions on the role of religion in politics. Do these institutes have to be separated? How do religious states function? How has the bond of faith and state changed? Study the role religion played in various historical periods. You may try to defend the times when religion was the cause of wars. Or analyze the way religion has influenced the government’s programs.

Persuasive Essay on Religion

Religion persuasive essay sets a goal to reshape one’s mind on faith. There is no need to write about a wide-ranging concept or analyze a concrete notion. You aim to make others consider or even adopt the beliefs you promote. To achieve that, do not force your values, but use logic and strong arguments. Note pros and cons, so the reader knows your position from both sides.

The topics can be:

• Same-sex marriage persuasive essay on religion. It has to prove the need to legalize or prohibit this relationship. You are to give evidence about the benefits or drawbacks of such a law. Refer to the religious tradition of your culture and state. Explain the way morals change if you implement your beliefs.
• Persuasive essay: should religion be taught? In this paper, you need to define if there has to be a religious class or not. Do we have to explain to children world religions? American society is multicultural. So it is best to know more about the existing beliefs. Or are you sure that religion belongs to the past? Is there a place for it in the modern world?
• Freedom of religion essay is about one’s right to practice a religion or not. The first amendment to the US Constitution protects this right. Still, not everyone agrees with it. They believe religious unity is crucial to a society. You may try to adopt this point of view to prove these claims right or wrong.

Compare & Contrast Essay on Religion

Comparative essay on religion contrasts beliefs and traditions. What kind of relationships are among these faiths? What is their influence on each other? The goal is to define the similarities and contradictions. It is better to choose a concrete notion or practice. Then describe two or three religious scholars’ ideas on this topic. You may speculate on the future cooperation of this and that faith.

The titles are as follows:

• Compare and contrast: Buddhism and Christianity essay. Study the principle ideas and morals of these beliefs. Here you can describe the contacts of the Catholic Church with the Dalai Lama. Consider writing about Christ and Buddha’s teachings on the afterlife. What are their parallels? Do they have the same concept of the divine or not?
• Compare and contrast: Christianity and Islam essay. This paper can take as a topic the common roots of these faiths. How have they changed, and why are they so distinct? What are their principal similarities? Discuss the reasons for religious persecutions of the Middle Ages. You may explore Islam’s remains in the Iberian Peninsula.
• Compare and contrast: Hinduism and Buddhism essay. You may confuse these religions with one another, but they should not be mixed. They have many similar principles, but there are some distinctions as well. Compare Hinduism and Buddhism cosmology. How do these religions define karma and dharma? How do they represent gods and spirits?

How to Write an Essay about Religion?

These are some pieces of advice we recommend you to follow:

• Study your tutor’s instructions and ask him if something is unclear
• Think about an argumentative title
• Prepare a detailed outline
• Give a thesis in the introduction
• Make your arguments solid and valid
• Prove your evidence with reliable sources
• Do not make new points in the conclusion
• Place the best arguments at the beginning and at the end of a body part
• Reread the final essay and correct any incoherence
• Check the spelling and grammar mistakes

Hope our article is useful to you, and you will get an A+ essay. We also prepared some high-quality religion essay examples. Make sure to check them out!

The Scribes and the Pharisees After Crucifixion of Christ

Jesus and the scribes and the Pharisees were always at crossroads and the latter believed that Jesus was neither the son of God nor did he have that he had the capabilities he talked about when addressing the multitudes. One of the things that Jesus said when he was alive...

The Impact of Religion in Society

Have you ever wondered how different religions influence society? In this impact of religion on society essay sample, you’ll find an answer to this and other questions about impact of religion on society. Keep reading to gain some inspiration for your paper! Impact of Religion on Society: Essay Introduction Let...

Saint Augustine vs Aquinas: Theological Approaches Comparison

If you need to give an example to differentiate Augustine’s views on the self from Aquinas’, this essay sample is for you. Here, you will find an explanation of the similarities and difference between Augustine and Aquinas regarding their philosophies and theological approaches. Augustine vs Aquinas: Introduction The views of...

An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision-Making in Health Care

Introduction In terms of spirituality, human nature is a vast, complex, largely unknown world. The inner world of a person is shaky, as it is vulnerable to the influence of other people and circumstances. At the same time, it can become a support in difficult times and lead a person...

Qur’an, Sunnah, and Hadith in Islam

Introduction Qur’an, Sunnah, and the Hadith are the three sacred texts that Muslims value and use for assessing the ethical behavior to be embraced in their societies. The Quran is the supreme of the three sacred texts. It is taken to be literal word of God and is believed to...

Life and Ministry of John the Baptist

Introduction The life and ministry of John the Baptist started several years before his birth. His coming is prophesied in the Old Testament, even before his parents were in existence. His life is well mapped out and planned by God since He foretells his role in his plan for salvation....

The Development of the New Testament Canon

Canon of the New Testament: Essay Introduction In contemporary times, researchers and scholars have raised differing opinions and discussions about the development of the New Testament canon. Consequently, different individuals have come up with disparate approaches and sentiments in a bid to solve this controversy. Different individuals raise opposing points...

The Main Characteristics of Hinduism

Hinduism is a religious practice that originated and is practiced in India. It is one of the oldest religious practices in the world. It is mainly practiced in India and it’s the world’s 3rd most popular religion with over 900 million followers. It is a complex religion, but it is...

The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ in Christian doctrine is reflected in the Nicene Creed. It is the return from Heaven to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ in divine glory and power, which, according to the promise of God, will occur at the end of time. This is the...

The Relationship between Religion and Politics

Abstract Religion and politics are regarded as very unlikely bedfellows in the contemporary world. This is contrary to previous civilizations where religion took a center stage in the day-to-day running of politics. This paper will look at the various stages of the relationship between religion and politics through various ages...

• Christianity

Christianity in Malaysia: The Spread and Development

The spread of Christianity began in the first century. It continued steadily as different missionaries traversed various continents globally. Activities such as crusades and campaigns significantly influenced the success of the spread of the religion which started in Northern Europe before proceeding to other continents. Among the earliest regions to...

Leadership Styles Used by the Church

Introduction Effective church leadership is important in the numerical growth of congregants. As such, the management strategy adopted by a church minister will have a bearing on the growth of membership. Poor administrative practices can lead to a drop in the followership of churches which even started with a large...

Similarities and Differences Between Islam and Hinduism

The two religions; Hinduism and Islam are considered poles apart from each other for many reasons, though one fails to consider their similarities as well. Being humans, no matter what religion or sect one belongs to, they think that their knowledge of the religion is best. For instance, all human...

The Impact of Apostle Paul Leadership Style

Introduction Apostle Paul is considered the most important person after the death of Jesus due to his influence on Christian theology. He used a transformational leadership approach to inspire change in the followers. This is a leadership style where a leader collaborates with employees to identify the desired change, develops...

Major Themes of The 13 Letters of Paul

Introduction The basis of Paul’s thirteen letters is the theme of truthfulness and the appearance of Christ for the salvation of people. In addition, another topic is the redemption of the human soul and God’s grace. The famous missionary Paul of Tarsus is credited with writing fourteen of the twenty-seven...

Christianity, Islam and Judaism Similarities

Introduction Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all religions. Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs and a way of life. Though, there are different religions with different practices and beliefs in the world, there exists some clear similarities. Christianity is defined as the religion that is based on...

The Ministry of the Prophet: Meanings and Goals

The Calling, The Prophetic Voice, Character, New Covenant Prophets The ministry of the prophet is referred to as any ministry that depends on the gift of prophecy and revelations from God to guide the church to maturity or a specific direction. The prophetic ministry is seen most often in the...

Fruits of the Holy Spirit and Its Nine Attributes

Introduction Holy Spirit can be considered as one fruit with nine parts as developing all the nine attributes makes the soul holistic and establishes a connection with God. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Howard). Letting the listed attributes into life...

Decline of Christianity in Europe

Christianity is the largest religion in the world, with more than two billion adherents. Christian faith includes numerous branches, the most popular of which are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Protestantism. Even though all the branches are diverse in terms of canons and rituals, all of them...

Christianity Beliefs and Practices

Christian beliefs and practices are connected with the history and origin of Christianity. Beliefs and practices of worship are studied in this essay. Introduction Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world. Beliefs and practices of Christianity are generally the same across the world. Christianity beliefs include...

• Jesus Christ
• Spirituality

The Book of Ephesians: Literary Analysis of Passage

The book of Ephesians consists of two major parts, one of which is Doctrine, which explains who the people in Christ are (1:1 – 3:21), and the second one is about Duty, or how people live in Christ (4:1 – 6:24). These are two blocks of thoughts, the ideas of...

Deontological Ethics of Christianity

Deontology is derived from two Greek words, “Deon,” which means duty, and “logos,” meaning science. It is an ethical term that applies the laid down rules to determine whether a thing is right or wrong. The theory argues that rules should be followed without establishing the consequences of the actions...

The Old Testament’ Importance for the Modern Believer

Introduction Today, many Christians neglect the Old Testament, considering that it only contains bedtime stories and is not relevant for the modern believers. However, this approach is not correct. Studying the Old Testament gives a modern believer knowledge on the relationship between God and people, explains certain universal principles, helps...

Abortion in Hanafi and Maliki Schools of Islamic Thought

Introduction It is a well-known fact that the Quran outlines the ethical and practical principles that were designed to be followed in 7th-century Arabia. At the same time, Islam as a global religion aims to translate a universally applicable worldview that, at least theoretically, should work in every situation and...

Eastern vs. Western Religions: What’s the Difference?

The Eastern religions are typically described as those faiths which originated and were practiced in countries such as India, Japan, Southern Asia, and China. There are regular arguments and conflicts between the Eastern and Western religions, whereby the latter dwells on the idea that a distinct type of worshipping only...

Joseph and Yusuf in the Qur’an and the Bible

Introduction Prophet Yusuf is a character in the Holy Book of the Koran, the Bible, and Jews. He lived, preached, and died in Egypt in the sixteenth century BC, living for nearly one hundred and ten years. His name is mentioned twenty-six times in the Qur’an, and there is also...

Narrow Road to the Interior. Analysis

“Narrow Road to the Interior,” written by Matsuo Basho is a set of haiku and prose depicting Basho’s journeys across Japan. In this work, Basho describes how he traveled, describing the places and references to other poems. Additionally, the topic of spirituality, mainly on the basis of the religious tradition...

Comparison of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John

The Bible is the book of eternal wisdom and experience; it is the source that can provide answers to all questions if one is faithful enough and if he/she takes a deep look at the endless wisdom embodied in words. It is impossible for one person to convey this eternal...

Critical Evaluation of Talal Asad’s Critique of Geertz’s Model

Introduction Religion is an integral part of the life of society, performing a number of important functions, one of which is cultural. Despite the fact that this area is ancient, there are still disputes among researchers about the significance of this institution for the individual and the state. Clifford Geertz...

Old Testament Lessons for National Security Council

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to offer a set of applicable recommendations regarding the National Security Council (NSC) membership and operations based on the examination of the Old Testament kings’ advisors. The Scripture offers a number of invaluable lessons related to political leadership and a ruler’s need for...

• Old Testament

Similarities and Differences Between Jainism and Sikhism

Introduction Jainism came about as a result of efforts to transform Hindu religion 2000 years ago. This religion was established almost same time as Buddhism. It was founded by Vardhamana, a prominent person who live in East India. The founder became very famous in 420 BCE when he was around...

Concept of Human Being in Islam

Background Humans are considered the most important beings among all the animals created as they can distinguish between right and wrong. Muslims believe humans are born in a state of purity, and as they grow, they make decisions that are by and against Islam teachings. The creator sent his prophets...

Phenomenological and Experiential Approaches to Religious Education

Introduction Religion is an integral part of most societies. In the history of humanity, religions have influenced major parts of the way of life of most societies. In many societies, passing religious beliefs to the other members of the society is taken as major duty for existence. In accordance with...

Jesus’s Teaching Methods and Messages

Introduction Jesus Christ is the most prominent figure in Christianity. The New Testament fully portrays his life, actions, teachings, and the legacy that remained. The teachings, specifically, have become a pillar of religious studies and illustrate the moral and ethical values Christians have nowadays in regard to having a righteous...

Comparison Between Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhism and Christianity are the religions that have many believers from different parts of the world. The two religions may be seen as distinct, but they still share some beliefs and teachings. Buddhism entails teachings about Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as Buddha, while Christianity is based on the belief in...

Ignatius Loyola and the “Society of Jesus”

Ignatius Loyola founded the religious order named the ‘Society of Jesus’. The Jesuits, a religious apostolic community, were involved in the establishment of Jesus’ society (Noll, 2022, p.201). They are people who are rooted in Christ’s love and enlivened by the visions of spirits of their founder, St. Ignatius of...

The Concept of Education and Religion

Introduction Education and religion are major social institution that impacts the lives of many people. They play an integral role in shaping values and beliefs as well as comparing various religious and educational practices across the globe. Education is a formal system of teaching knowledge, skills, and values (Henslin 495)....

Role of Religion in Functionalism and Conflict Perspectives

Introduction Religion is a basic social institution that affects an individual’s life from childhood to adulthood. Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs and practices which govern society, religion varies in different societies and also differs in the degree to which it is integrated into the society. It...

Safeguarding and the Bible Perspective

The term ‘safeguarding tendencies’ implies a range of structured actions of an individual determined to protect himself or herself from public criticism or other threats from other people, including both phycological and physical ones. These behavioral patterns are usually referred to as revealing a neurotic nature and lifestyle. There are...

Religion Role in the Society

Introduction God is the originator of religion. He created the world and the people in it and established some general principles and laws which they were instructed to follow. God spoke through selected prophets who heard him speak and recorded his words (Johnstone 21). He revealed to the people through...

• Relationship
• Interpretation

A Belief in Helping Strangers

The collision of the two vehicles startled me. I swerved to the side of the road to ensure that I did not become a victim. My husband jumped out of the car before it had even stopped and rushed towards one of the cars that had been involved in the...

Message of the Prophets: Background and Interpretation

Introduction The Bible described many situations when people got to know God’s words from other people among them. Being chosen individually, prophets were expected to pass God’s message to others. These messages were aimed to communicate God’s will, while the predictions in them happened to be inevitable. Background and Interpretation...

Christianity in the 3rd Century AD

The Christian Church in the 3rd century AD was in a state of active formation. Christianity developed separately from Judaism and was not considered an ethnic religion. Therefore, it had no legal rights to defend its interests. Christianity was periodically persecuted; however, no governmental efforts were made to eliminate the...

“The Making of a Leader” by Dr. J. Robert Clinton

Abstract The Making of a Leader by Dr. J. Robert Clinton explores the complicated nature of spiritual dynamics. The book provides readers with numerous accounts of leadership stories that are meant to serve as guidance for emerging leaders. In the first chapter of the book, Dr. Clinton describes five main...

Cross-Cultural Evangelism Strategies

Cross-cultural evangelism is the sharing of the gospel with people from other cultures. It involves getting to know people from other cultures, learning about their customs and beliefs, and then sharing the gospel with them in a culturally relevant way. An example of cross-cultural evangelism would be a missionary who...

Reflection on the Book of Psalms

Introduction The Bible does not provide all the religious answers that believers may have; only the passages and translations open to interpretation. God’s figure is mysterious, fearsome, and impossible to fully understand; thus, some readers can feel confused or intimidated. However, the Bible touches on the Lord’s nature and provides...

The Christian Worldview: Gospel Essentials Essay

Introduction Gospel Essentials and the Christian Worldview Gospel essentials are the subject matter of the gospel books, whose theme is forgiveness of sin and redemption, qualified by Jesus’ atonement (1 Cor. 15: 1-4 New International Version). On the other hand, Valk describes the Christian worldview as the underlying philosophical structure...

Eternal Life in John’s Gospel: Theological Perspective

Every human, at least once in their life, thought about receiving the gift of eternal life. Such a desire is quite reasonable because any person is afraid of the unknown; they have no idea about what will happen when they die. This is a part of human nature; being scared...

The Observance of Prayer in Christianity Compared to Islam

Introduction Religious organizations provide familiar institutions of social cohesion and control in an environment. In the city of Los Angeles, many religions are being practiced due to the freedom of worship. Talking about how Christianity and Islam are prevalent in the city of Los Angeles today, these two religions have...

Leadership Development Plan Based on the Bible Principles

Introduction Leadership advancement is the practice of cultivating governance abilities and proficiencies through various undertakings. During the process, individuals are taught vital management competencies that enable them to lead, encourage and direct their teams to success properly. Training is essential to cultivate a culture of headship throughout an establishment appropriately....

• Catholic Church
• Western Civilization

Phenomenology Approach in Studying Religion

Introduction Many disciplines have attempted to define the field of religion to give it a substantive and universal grounding. However, some of these definitions have been found to be compartmentalized and narrow. The different methods used to define religion include phenomenology, comparative religion, historical approach, sociology of religion, and philosophy...

Western and Eastern Religions and Their History

Introduction Religion has played an important responsibility in the traditional world as well as in the modern world. In order to complement religion, a number of societies for example Chinese, Romans and Greeks emulated rationalism. Modern world is the historic period when the European countries began to expand spreading imperialism...

The Connection of Spirituality and Mental Health

Nowadays, spirituality plays a huge role for many people around the world, and the connection between the inner feelings of every person with the outside world is a crucial part. According to Brown, et al (2013), spirituality has a strong relation to mental health, and while working on the religion...

Theology: Virgin Mary as a Goddess

Goddesses have always been part of various pantheons during the various stages of human history. Their role is inseparable from the role of women in ancient, medieval, and modern societies, as religion was used as a blueprint for morality, proper behavior, and the establishment of societal and gender roles. Ancient...

Comparing of Judaism and Taoism

The purpose of this essay is to compare the two religions, their main characteristics, beliefs, and conceptual and ethical attitudes. Judaism and Taoism are chosen as examples for comparison. Judaism is one of the oldest Western monotheistic religions, distinguished by belief in the one true God. Judaism is based on...

Obedience in Faith in the Story of Abraham

Among the examples of steadiness and firmness in faith, few parts of the Holy Scripture are as impactful in this respect as the story of Abraham. The hardship he endured and the challenges he faced were colossal by any standard, yet his stalwart faith in God never wavered even in...

Pastoral Ministry’s Goals Accomplishment

Introduction The work of a pastor, a shepherd for people in both trying and peaceful times, is noble but difficult. Some describe it as the highest of callings in life, while others add that it is very taxing (Tan, 2019). To provide for people in a God-honoring way, one must...

China Buddhism vs. Japan Buddhism and Shintoism

Buddhism is a religion that uses Buddha’s perspective, such as the traditions and beliefs attributed to the religious faith. It is believed that Buddha lived and taught in some parts of India during the fourth century BCE (Miura, 2018). Buddhism has been getting popular in many countries, for example, Japan...

Sermon on the Mount, Buddha’s Sermon at Benares, and Buddha’s Sermon on Abuse

Both Buddha and Christianity figures can be analyzed to determine their assertions compared to Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean. Ethics has been encouraged by many religions and philosophers to enable people to interact with ease. For example, Christians focus on the experiences of Jesus, where he taught his followers the...

Origin of the Universe and Life on the Earth

Introduction There exist diverse theories of the origin of the universe and life. This has been argued through scientific theory, creation theory, and myths theory. With these theories, people have different ideologies and views in accordance with what one believes in. This paper summarizes beliefs about the origin of the...

• Confucianism

Exegesis of Jeremiah 1:4-10

Biblical Text The Call of Jeremiah The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not...

The Kingdom of God in Christianity

The Kingdom of God portrays the rightful society ruled by God, where each member dedicates to their moral and spiritual development, and the principle of righteousness and virtue is dominant. According to Christian beliefs, people fell from God’s grace thousands of years ago, being seduced to disobey His orders, after...

Importance of the New Testament for Christianity

Christianity is the world’s major religion with around 2 billion followers. Its central figure is Jesus Christ who through his birth, ministry life, trials, crucifixion, death, and, resurrection is believed to have offered the salvation and atonement needed by His followers from their sins. His nature and personality have been...

Gregory the Great Life and Teachings

Introduction Pope Gregory the Great became a pope when the Italian province was in crisis, and the state appeared lawless, crumbling, and semi-abandoned by visitors to Rome. A statement by the future pope had indicated that barbarians had full control of the religion. The city’s state had made the Romans...

Roles That Religions Play in Appiah’s Analysis

Introduction Religion has diverse roles in society because it instills good morals and promotes appropriate behavior. It is essential to highlight that faith act as a bridge linking various people from different cultures. It is also vital to note that it gives people consolation and solutions for challenges in life....

Hinduism and Buddhism: Similarities and Differences

Many religions take similar paths and steps to help their followers or believers reach enlightenment. Other religions require their followers or believers to accept one idea or creed. Some believe in God and others do not. Whether they believe in gods or not, each religion has its followers who believe...

Effective Leadership: The Biblical Perspective

Effective leadership from a biblical perspective is a God manifested character to influence and serve others through Christ’s interests to accomplish God’s purposes. In a Christian community, leaders should be guided by the Holy Spirit to collaborate and adopt good attributes to execute their duties without fear. Jesus demonstrated effective...

How Do Religions Both Unite and Divide Humanity?

Introduction Even in the age of secularity and diversity, religion permeates essential aspects of human society, such as law, morality, ethics, and economy. The power of faith can either unite or cause severe divisions. Examples of unifying potential can be found in universal values upheld by the followers of different...

Analysis of “Surah al-Ikhlas” in Qur’an

This paper targets to analyze Surah 112 of the Qur’an, which consists of 4 verses. It is relatively short, yet considered to be one of the most significant. It goes under the name “Surah al-Ikhlas,” which in translation from Arabic means “The Purification” or “The Unity”. It contains many fundamental...

Judaism and Buddhism: Similarities and Differences

Abstract The term religion is used to refer to the approach that human beings give to their spirituality as provided by their beliefs, symbols, narratives, and practices on a supernatural figure. Human beings express religious inclination through several ways; some of which include prayers, rituals, and music. There are different...

• Discrimination

Ten Commandments in My Life and the World Today

The Ten Commandments hold a very special place in the hearts of all Christians, these commandments are believed to be written by God, and every person is expected to adhere to these Ten Commandments. It can be said that in order to have a good life one must follow all...

The Watch and the Watchmaker Summary & William Paley Watchmaker

Curious to find the answer to the question, “Who is a watchmaker according to William Palley?” You’re in the right place! This essay contains The Watch and the Watchmaker summary of the theory and analysis of William Palley watchmaker argument in support of the existence of God. Sounds interesting? Keep...

Afterlife in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Introduction A basic belief that varies from faith to faith is that there is life after death. According to several religions, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, where followers of a common religion have diverse afterlife concepts, life takes multiple forms when a person dies (Kippenberg 110). Afterlife, immortality as a...

The Positive and Negative Aspects of Judaism

Judaism is a Jewish religion where members believe in a single deity who is the creator and redeemer of human beings, all forms of life on earth, and everything in the Universe. It is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in history, said to have begun with Abraham in Canaan....

Ministry of the Prophets, Bible Prophets and Their Prophecies

Prophetic ministry at its core is the act of leading and guiding the church based on revelations from God and gift of the prophesy. The Scriptures present multiple examples of prophetic ministry. The Old Testament has a significant number of prophets. There are the central ones who directly communicated with...

Revival as the Impetus for Church Growth

Summary A long time ago, a famous novelist wrote the immortal lines: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of time, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”1 Charles Dickens’...

The First Three Kings of Israel in the Bible

Introduction The history of the establishment of monarchy and the reign of the first Israeli kings is described in the books of Samuel and the books of Kings. The first king, Saul, was appointed due to the fact that people turned away from God’s will; even though his successor, David,...

Buddhism and the Life Teaching of Siddhartha

Buddhism Essay Introduction Buddhism is believed to have been in existence, way before Siddhartha existed (United Press International, 2007, p. 1). Most scholars observe that the roots of Buddhism are very deep, and though Siddhartha contributed a lot to the development of the religion, many Buddhists believe that he was...

The Foundation of Christianity: Greek, Jews, Roman, and Heathen Traits

Christianity has always been a cross-cultural and diverse religion with no single dominant expression. Historically, Christians lived in diverse cultural contexts enabling Christianity to gain a multicultural and polytonal context globally. The Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Heathen ancient cultural traits influenced the development and spread of Christianity. Christianity started with...

How I Apply the Principles from Anderson’s Gracism

Humility is at the heart of Christianity, and every person who has faith must strive to adhere to this virtue. Being humble means valuing diversity in all of its manifestations, and to do it, one can rely on the principles outlined by David A. Anderson in his book Gracism. The...

• Civilization
• Ancient History

Servant Leadership in the Church and Its Purpose

Introduction Leadership is a quality that people can be endowed with if they can manage other groups for development. In addition, leadership qualities are formed over a long period, thus becoming the result of a person’s experience. Among leadership types, there is Servant Leadership, the essence of which is the...

Critical Introduction to the Book of Matthew

Introduction The book of Matthew is the first in the New Testament and was written by Saint Matthew, the evangelist. The book primarily discusses the accounts of the life and death of Jesus Christ. The gospel was initially written in Greek sometimes after 69 CE and depended on the earlier...

The Decline of Christianity in Europe Since 1675

The European Christianity have a long and varied history of decline. A powerful tendency for secularization appeared in Western Europe spreading to the entire European continent. The age of Enlightenment is the epoch of the decline of faith under the onslaught of scientific worldview and rationalism. The sunset of the...

“Wonders of the Invisible World” by Cotton Mather

Wonders of the Invisible World is a book written by Cotton Mather, published in 1693, right after the Salem Witch trials. The objective of the book was to defend the role Cotton Mather played in the trials and is based on the man’s belief of witchcraft being real and perpetrated...

African Christianity vs. Western Rationalism

Introduction Christianity has spread to all parts of the world since its early days, and the cultural differences of those who adopted this religion shaped their religious beliefs, practices, as well as spirituality. African Christianity is characterized by spiritual and holistic nature, which encompasses the acceptance of the empirical and...

Exegesis of Job 23: 1-17, The Book of Job

Introduction The Book of Job can be considered as one of the most philosophical works of the Old Testament. The uniqueness of the Book of Job is in its “depth and thoroughness in dealing with the relationship of human suffering to divine justice” (Gaebelein, 1979-1992, 843). The commonly accepted notion...

The Healing Ministry of Jesus

Introduction This paper looks at the healing ministry of Jesus. This ministry is one of the most acknowledged yet controversial parts of His work on earth. However, He is the most recognized healer because of His expertise and compassion, as the paper will illustrate. This research is based on historical...

Scriptural Authority and Theological Interpretation

Scriptural authority and theological interpretation are two distinct and different topics. According to Entwistle (2021), scripture is incredibly authoritative, and those who do this place their views on the same level of authority as scripture itself. Theological interpretation takes precedence over psychological interpretation, which a person may have, and a...

The Book of Job From the Bible

Background The Book of Job in the Bible informs why God allows evil in people’s lives through Job’s experiences. Job was a man who feared the Lord and was prosperous in all ways; he lived a comfortable life, was wealthy, had a big family and possessions. After God boasted to...

“Christian Theology” by Millard J. Erickson

In the chapters of his book, Erikson critically examines the nature of Jesus Christ through a discussion of the most prominent theological trends and opinions. At the center of the analysis is the recognition of the historical significance of Jesus as a teacher and a man who managed, nevertheless, to...

• Ancient Civilizations
• Nationalism
• Communication

Pentecostal’s Church Approach to Death, After-Life, and End of Life

Pentecostals represent a large group of the US population and an even larger group of Christians. About 4 million Pentecostals live in the United States, and about 500 million are members of various denominations worldwide (Casanova, 2021). The Pentecostal faith is very different from the Protestant or Catholic doctrine. Pentecostals...

The Importance of Studying and Understanding Different Religions

In my opinion, the study of different approaches to the study and comprehension of religions is indeed an exciting and important topic. The realities of the modern world significantly contribute to communication between representatives of different cultures. This can often lead to conflicts, including those that arise on religious grounds....

Psychology and Theology: Worldview Issues, and Models of Integration

Psychology and theology are often viewed as two opposing forces with no common ground and the proponents of which deny the merits of each other’s disciplines. Nevertheless, the two fields of studies have a long-standing history, although the relationship between the two can be described as problematic. Many people who...

Making Friends With People of Different Religions

Being educated and respectful of other religions Education of other religions is undoubtedly one of the most crucial parts of a dialogue with a representative of a different faith. Ignorance in such a matter might lead to misunderstanding and unwanted conflict. Besides, respecting other beliefs should prove to be very...

Global Challenges of The Muslims in the Modern Society

The presented research outlined and examined some of the issues facing Muslims in modern society, taking into account knowledge acquisition and global Muslim representation as the core aims in the study. One of the significant problems identified in the research faced by Muslims was the mass media misrepresentation and Western...

Al-Ghazali’s Sufism in Contrast to Classical Sufism

Introduction Sufism has often been cited as a representation of Islamic faith and practice. Through it, knowledge and divine love’s truth is sought in God and Godly life. Sufism operates on the concept of mystical paths. The path is focused on enhancing the existence of wisdom knowledge and divine love...

Jesus Role in Fulfilling God’s Plan to Save the World

The bible as a religious book was written many years ago. It’s a religious book for Christians. Christians believe in God, the son and the Holy Spirit. Christianity acknowledges that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. The bible teaches about the history of the world in a religious perspective....

God’s and Elijah’s Formal and Informal Leadership

Introduction This paper will discuss formal and informal leadership represented by God and Elijah the Prophet, respectively. It will focus on Elijah’s going through illness and hopelessness and God’s assisting him in finding the path to salvation. According to Merida (2015), “We have read of Elijah’s mountaintop experience at Mount...

Explaining James’s Statement “Faith Without Works Is Dead”

The Book of James and the epistle to the Galatians are two writings that represent the New Testament Law. In the first one, James wrote: “Faith Without Works is Dead,” claiming that believers need to support their faith with good actions made as a result of changed lives. In the...

Importance of Having Faith for People

Faith, the concept of having confidence in something regardless of whether it is grounded in facts, is often the only thing that offers consolation to people. However, it is beneficial during hard times and can inspire people to be and do better when they are already living well. This concept...

• Women's Rights
• Architecture
• Native American

Importance of Speaking in Tongues in Christianity

Introduction Speaking in tongues is a term that is common especially when referring to the Pentecostal churches. It is a supernatural language that is believed to be imparted to Christian believers when they have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. The issue of speaking in tongues has raised a lot...

Why a Christian Environment Appeals to Me

Introduction The world today is full of different types of faiths. Christianity happens to be one of them. Others include Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Debating on which of these is better than the other is a continuing issue with each side determined to win. I have however taken a...

The Holy Spirit: Characteristics and Activity

Introduction The Holy Spirit is an inherent part of Christian theology representing an integral element of the Holy Trinity and a means by which people are both empowered and become messengers of God. In Scriptures, the Holy Spirit takes on numerous forms and has appeared to influence major events in...

Leadership in Church and Its Theological Aspects

Introduction Leadership in church, as well as change, are two things that require individuals who are committed to serving others. The two depend on one another in the sense that in order for change to happen, good leaders need to be present. A good leader is characterized by the ability...

Biblical Allusions in Of Plymouth Plantation

The Puritans have played an enormous role in American literature, and their ideas still influence moral judgment and some religious beliefs in the United States. Puritan writing has been used to glorify God and to relate God more directly to people’s world. Puritan literature was straightforward and focused on teaching...

Medical Indications vs. Christian Faith: The James’s Case

Medical Indications Beneficence and Nonmaleficence James experienced high blood pressure, fluid buildup, and glomerulonephritis due to a streptococcus infection. Beneficence: immediate dialysis would alleviate the patient’s high blood pressure and fluid buildup. The delay in dialysis due to the patient’s parents’ preferences resulted in complete kidney failure. James needs of...

Analysis of Exegesis of Numbers 21: 4-9

“If it does not kill you, it will make you well” (Barlett and Brown Thaylor, 2008, 101). This well-known statement that is used now as a saying is given in the presentation of the exegetical perspective of the analyzed pericope. It has its roots in the Scripture, mainly in the...

Symbols and Rituals in Religion

Introduction The word symbol is derived from a Greek word which is related to the word compare whereas rituals can be defined as actions which have a deeper implication than what we perceive at first instant. Rituals can be as simple as a blinking of an eye or as complex...

God and Humans Relate

Introduction In the well-known passage in Genesis, “God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…’” (New King James Version Bible Genesis 1.26). It is a powerful and fundamental statement that came define humanity for millennia, that humans are a likeness of the Divine. However, we are...

Cherubim Angels: Attributes and Meaning

Introduction It is common knowledge that angelic beings play a significant role in mythology and religion across the world. They are particularly renowned in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as the creatures who serve God and execute His will. However, researchers note that there is a tradition of...

• Colonialism
• Biomedicine

Christianity in Rome During the 1st to 5th Centuries

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Neo-Orthodoxy Theology: Barth, Brunner et al.

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Doctrine of the Trinity about the Nature of the Church

Introduction The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is important in understanding the nature of God as well the human-God relationship. However, based on the nature of the church, the doctrine is marked by some ambiguities. For instance, many Christians and Bible scholars tend to be confused on the subject of...

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Religion can significantly impact an individual’s daily life by influencing their values, beliefs, and practices. Many people find that their religious faith provides them with a sense of purpose, direction, and meaning in life. However, the impact of religion on daily life can vary widely depending on an individual’s religion,...

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“The New Christian Counselor: A Fresh Biblical and Transformational Approach”

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Science and Religion: Historical Relationship

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David: The Legacy of Leadership

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Islamic Culture, Politics and Religion

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The Future of Religion Around the World

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Theory of Religion and Historical Research. A Critical Realist Perspective on the Study of Religion as an Empirical Discipline

The article discusses the connection between theory formation and historical research in the study of religion. It presupposes that the study of religion is conceived of as an empirical discipline. The empirical basis of theories is provided primarily by historical research, including research in the very recent past, that is, the present time. Research in the history of religions, therefore, is an indispensable part of the study of religion. However, in recent discussions on the methods, aims, and theoretical presuppositions of the discipline, research in the history of religions largely is ignored. To shed some light on this blind spot, the article builds on the philosophy of science of Critical Realism. While the first part deals with the role of historical research in theoretical discourses of the discipline, the second part explains fundamental ontological and epistemological positions of Critical Realism and their implications for empirical research. On this basis, some methodological problems of theory formation in the study of religion are discussed in the third part. In particular, it is argued that it is impossible to validate empirically theories of religion that aim to explain what religion is. The concluding part sketches ways of theory formation in the study of religion that does not take religion as the explanandum but as the theoretical perspective that guides research.

Zusammenfassung

Der Artikel behandelt den Zusammenhang von Theoriebildung und historischer Forschung in der Religionswissenschaft. Dabei wird davon ausgegangen, dass Religionswissenschaft als empirische Wissenschaft verstanden wird. Die empirische Basis religionswissenschaftlicher Theorien wird in erster Linie durch historische Forschung geliefert, einschließlich der Erforschung der als Gegenwart verstandenen jüngsten Vergangenheit. Obwohl religionsgeschichtliche Forschung damit ein unverzichtbarer Teil der Religionswissenschaft ist, wird sie in neueren Diskussionen über Methoden, Ziele und theoretische Voraussetzungen der Disziplin weitgehend ignoriert. Der Artikel unternimmt es, diesen blinden Fleck zu beleuchten und stützt sich dabei auf die Wissenschaftstheorie des Kritischen Realismus. Im ersten Teil wird auf die Bedeutung historischer Forschung innerhalb der Religionswissenschaft eingegangen, danach werden im zweiten Teil grundlegende ontologische und epistemologische Positionen des Kritischen Realismus und ihre Implikationen für empirische Forschung erläutert. Auf dieser Basis werden im dritten Teil einige methodische Probleme religionswissenschaftlicher Theoriebildung diskutiert. Es wird unter anderem argumentiert, dass es unmöglich ist, eine Religionstheorie empirisch zu begründen, deren Ziel es ist, zu erklären, was Religion ist. Im abschließenden Teil werden Möglichkeiten religionswissenschaftlicher Theoriebildung aufgezeigt, die Religion nicht als Explanandum, sondern als erkenntnisleitende theoretische Perspektive begreift.

Historical research is a blind spot in more recent discussions on method and theory in the study of religion. In this article, I contend that the history of religions is an indispensable element of the discipline and that theory formation in the study of religion is not possible without reference to historical research. The argument rests on the assumption that the study of religion is an empirical discipline. In the first part, the empirical character of historical research and its contribution to theoretical issues in the study of religion are discussed. The second part explains ontological and epistemological presuppositions of empirical research against the backdrop of the philosophy of science of Critical Realism. The third part focuses on the mutual relationship between historical research and theories in the study of religion. It is concluded that the aim of theories is not to explain what religion is but to explain social realities.

1 Historical Research in the Study of Religion

To avoid any misunderstandings, I should highlight at the outset that I am using the terms “historical research (in the study of religion)” and “history of religions” as equivalents. Thus, by “history of religions” I do not mean “History of Religions” as a particular theoretical approach in religious studies related to Mircea Eliade’s understanding of the discipline. The term “history of religions” here simply refers to historical research focusing on religions. This need not be research on the remote past but applies as well to the recent past, that is, the present age.

Hans Kippenberg (1997) has reconstructed in detail the emergence of the history of religions and its intimate relationship with theories of religion and philosophy of history. As he argues, historical research and historiography always are interpretations of the past in the context of present experiences and, therefore, cannot be separated from theoretical thinking. In the formative phase of the study of religion as an academic discipline, theories of religion, as a rule, relied on historical research, and the history of religions therefore became the backbone of the discipline. This is reflected in its name, which in most countries was “history of religions” ( histoire des religions, storia delle religioni, Religionsgeschichte ), a name that is retained to this day by the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR). While in German-speaking academia the alternative name Religionswissenschaft has long been established (Hardy 1898), the anglophone world nowadays is undecided about what to call the discipline, oscillating between “religious studies” and “study of religion”. [1] Although historical research continues to represent a significant part of the work done in the study of religion, it is no longer considered the core of the discipline. Instead, the critical reflection on central concepts, methods, and theoretical approaches moved to the centre. Accordingly, newer handbooks and introductions to the discipline mostly pay little, if any, attention to the history of religions and historical research (Kippenberg 2000; Rüpke 2011; Uehlinger 2006, 379 f.). As early as 2000, Kippenberg therefore diagnosed a “vanishing of ‘history’ in religious studies” (2000, 221).

1.1 Separation of Historical Research and Theoretical Discourses in the Study of Religion

Ironically, the negligence of the history of religions in theoretical discussions on the aims, methods, and competences of the study of religion is paralleled by a significant increase in historical research. Historical knowledge about religions in such areas as China, Japan, South Asia, or the Middle East is much more detailed and comprehensive today than it was in the days the discipline went under the name “history of religions”. Furthermore, most historians of religion have turned away from mainly studying religious texts and pay more attention to the entanglement of religious beliefs, practices, and institutions with other aspects of culture and society. Research in the history of religions, therefore, demands training and competence in the history of particular areas. Historians, in many cases, stand aloof from discussions centring around the concept of religion and its Western genealogy or explaining religion by cognitive algorithms without paying attention to the full range of things studied in the history of religions. Conversely, theoretical discourses in the study of religion largely ignore historical studies and fail to relate theory formation to historical research.

Theoretical debates leave historians of religion in a somewhat uneasy position because what the latter do is often considered by theorists a somewhat naïve undertaking, which is criticised from various angles. From one side, historical studies are accused of being an unorganised compilation of data that resembles “butterfly collecting” due to “a lack of any sort of guiding theoretical framework” (Slingerland and Bulbulia 2011, 323). From another side, the history of religions has to face the charge of being uncritical in ignoring that “religion” is a construct of modern Western thinking and “that the production of data in books and journals about religion and religions [...] has as their most important function the maintenance and reproduction of a myth” (Fitzgerald 2007, 7).

The quoted critics come from different directions: the Cognitive Science of Religion and the so-called Critical Religion [2] approach. Historians of religion might console themselves with the thought that both critics would equally criticise each other’s approach to the study of religion. The “critical” approaches on the one side, which include postmodern, postcolonial, and discursive studies of religion, and the cognitive science of religion on the other, completely disagree with each other about the ontological status of religion. The critical approaches usually highlight the historical contingency of the concept of religion as a modern Western construction, which is expressed in Jonathan Z. Smith’s famous but hyperbolic dictum: “Religion has no independent existence apart from the academy” (1982, XI). In this view, religion is a theoretical concept constructed by scholars. For the cognitive science of religion, on the other side, religion is not merely a concept but something that can be empirically explored and explained by using methods and findings of the natural sciences. Accordingly, religion is supposed to exist independently from the concept, as expressed by Pascal Boyer: “That people do not have a special term for religion does not mean they actually have no religion. In many places people have no word for ‘syntax’ but their language has a syntax all the same” (2001, 9). Like language, religion is considered innate equipment of the human species (Bulbulia 2005).

In recent decades, various forms of both critical studies of religion and the cognitive science of religion were among the most influential new theoretical approaches in the study of religion. Given the fundamental differences in conceptualising religion that exist between these two approaches, discussions on theory and method in the study of religion became much occupied with clarifying, defining, criticising, or defending the concept of religion. Against this backdrop, the history of religions did not receive much attention in reflections on the aims and methods of the discipline. Historical research remained a strangely blind spot in metatheoretical discourses. As Armin Geertz remarked at the end of the last century, the “study of the history of religions stood in danger of dissolving into separate philologies with no common goal and no significant theoretical reflection” (1999, 447).

1.2 The Study of History as Empirical Research

Historians of religion understandably have issues with the view that the modern origin of the concept of religion and its construction in Western discourses justifies ignoring historical research on earlier periods and excluding it from theoretical considerations in the study of religion. While it is true that religion is a modern concept and some critiques, therefore, claim that it is a “modern Western invention” (cf. Taylor 1998, 7), what historians of religion study is not invented by them. They might interpret the imaginations, institutions, practices, or social structures that are reconstructed by historical research as being “religious”, and this, of course, is an interpretation against the backdrop of modern conceptualisations. However, this does not make the objects that are interpreted a modern invention.

As research in the history of religions has been widely neglected in theoretical discussions, a few remarks are appropriate to clarify some points. One point concerns the role of subjectivity in writing history and the possibility of historical knowledge. Historians are divided over the question of whether historiography can and does produce knowledge about the past that is more than the subjective imaginations of the historiographer. [3] There is no doubt that in interpreting historical sources and trying to reconstruct historical facts from them, much subjectivity on the part of the researcher is involved. The skills and capacities of historians belong to them as acting subjects, and even if they succeeded in designing algorithms enabling computers to do the work of historians, there would be the subjectivity of the designers. There should, however, be no illusion: subjectivity is unavoidable, not just in historical research; it is not even confined to research in the humanities and social sciences. All perceptions and interpretations of perceptions are necessarily subjective. The natural sciences are no exception because it is human beings who design research strategies to produce empirical data, and it is human beings who finally interpret the data.

The question, therefore, is not so much whether the production of knowledge about the past involves more subjectivity than the production of knowledge about the very recent past, which is called the present time; the question instead is whether we can produce any scientific knowledge about cultural and social realities, that is, the world produced and inhabited by humans and the ways humans live in it. Since in English-speaking academia the term “science” usually is reserved for the natural sciences, historical research and, for that, research in the study of religion by definition cannot produce scientific knowledge. [4] If it is not scientific knowledge, how else could we characterise the knowledge we aim to provide in the study of religion? To avoid futile discussions about terminology, we better ask what we do expect of the study of religion to deliver. The expectations are diverse, given the diversity of approaches in the discipline. What is more, there is no means to decide rationally what should be the aim of the study of religion because it is a normative question whose answer depends on the preferences of scholars. There might be a consensus between some of them, but since there is no authority or magisterium, there always will be different opinions. Each scholar has to make a choice between controversial approaches and, if possible, to know the reasons why she or he prefers a particular understanding of the discipline rather than another.

My own choice is to expect the study of religion to be an empirical discipline, and I will, in the following, confine my argument to this understanding and ignore different preferences that, for instance, see the study of religion as a domain of philosophy. Empirical disciplines aim to produce true knowledge about the world. The concept of truth should not be controversial, because the alternative would be aiming to provide knowledge that is not true. However, we have to be aware that there is a difference between the concept of truth and the ascertainment of truth. There are no objective and indisputable criteria for deciding whether a statement is true or not because the criteria for supporting truth claims are defined and agreed upon in a discursive community. In the present context, the discursive community is scholars who understand the study of religion and the study of history as empirical disciplines. Empirical disciplines presuppose that there exists a reality that is independent of the researchers who attempt to gain knowledge about it. They accordingly demand that the knowledge they produce in some way refers to this reality and not just to itself, that is, to academic discourses. Furthermore, they reflect on the methods of how to arrive at statements of fact, and agree, at least in principle, on the requirements for a statement of fact to be well- or ill-founded.

The last-mentioned point, in particular, is essential. In empirical disciplines, statements of fact can be criticised with empirical arguments according to the methodological criteria agreed upon in the discursive community. In historical research, this marks the difference between fact and fiction. Unlike the authors of fictional writing, historians have to observe intersubjectively accepted methodical rules to provide evidence for their statements of fact. They cannot just present a historical narrative without providing empirical and logical arguments (Lorenz 2004, 57). Correspondingly, historical accounts can be publicly assessed, doubted, and critiqued with empirical and logical arguments, which is not possible for fictional narratives.

Historical knowledge is fallible, needless to say, but this is true for any knowledge. Because scientific statements are fallible, it is imperative that they are open to critique. The possibility to critique statements with empirical arguments presupposes the idea of truth – for otherwise, all statements would be equally valid. Furthermore, empirical arguments necessarily imply referring to facts that exist independently of the academic discourses.

At this point, it suffices to remark that even the postmodern critique of historiography, and the history of religions in particular, presupposes the concept of truth. To criticise the history of religions for constructing distorted accounts of social realities implies that these accounts are considered false and that it is possible to arrive at a less distorted view. If we abandoned the idea of truth, we would have to accept all historical narratives, which consequently would make it self-contradictory to criticise the narratives given by historians of religions.

1.3 Historical Research and the Concept of Religion

As has been remarked, while the interpretation of pre-modern realities as being religious is doubtlessly a modern interpretation, this does not affect the existence of historical facts that are interpreted in this way. However, it can be argued that applying the concept of religion to pre-modern realities distorts our perception by imposing modern classifications that do not reflect the way things were understood in these societies (Barton and Boyarin 2016; Nongbri 2008, 2013).

To understand how social reality is understood in a given society certainly is a legitimate aim in the study of religion, though not the only one. Besides this “emic” perspective, it also is legitimate to adopt an “etic” perspective, [5] that is, interpreting social realities in the context of our theories and conceptions. Theory formation in the study of religion is more than reconstructing and understanding emic conceptions. Nevertheless, for historians, it is an intriguing question whether it is only in modern societies that a distinction is made between religious and non-religious things. It is an empirical question that can only be answered by historical research.

We certainly cannot expect to find religion as a concept in historical contexts where it was unknown. However, it is possible to scrutinise pre-modern classifications and terminologies to find out how they deal with things that, from a modern perspective, might be classified as being religions or religious. Some historians of religion have worked in this direction. Their findings indicate that in many pre-modern societies, distinctions similar to the modern one between religious and non-religious affairs were not entirely unknown. [6]

In the case of Europe, the word religio was common since antiquity, although before early modern times it usually was not used as a generic term. [7] However, as Giovanni Casadio has shown based on literary evidence, the word religio in Roman antiquity also was used in the plural, religiones, in contrasting Roman religion with the religions of other peoples (Casadio 2010, 315–319). Relating to medieval Europe, Peter Biller has drawn attention to the fact that in the 13 th century, Roger Bacon put forward a classification of and comparisons between various great secte of the world (Biller 1985, 368). Both examples show that well before modern times and colonial encounters there was an awareness of different religions even if it might not have been the subject of everyday discourses.

Concerning pre-modern Asian societies, several studies come to similar results. Based on textual research, Robert Campany has argued that in medieval China there was a tendency “to refer nominally to entities that seem to correspond roughly to the ones named ‘religions’ in Western discourse” (Campany 2003, 311). Also dealing with medieval China is Max Deeg’s (2013) research on the identity construction of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Nestorianism. He highlights that apologetic discourses not only indicate that there was an awareness of these traditions as being different from one another but also show that they mutually conceived each other as belonging to the same class. Christoph Kleine (2010, 2013 a, 2013b) has extensively discussed the differentiation of religious and political functions, and their conceptual distinction in medieval Japan, arguing that the functional differentiation of religion is certainly not a purely modern Western phenomenon. Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz (2013) has demonstrated that the Mongolian terms signifying religion – in particular the word šasin – underwent semantic changes similar to the word “religion” in early modern Europe: while it first referred only to Mongolian Buddhism, it later on came to be used as a comparative concept that also embraced shamanism, Islam, and finally Christianity.

A common observation of these historical studies is the fact that conceptualisations roughly corresponding to what modern scholars classify as religions can be found in Asian societies well before the impact of Western thought and classifications. It appears that a crucial factor promoting this process is apologetics and the awareness of multiple religious actors competing with each other in the same field. This is also supported by Oliver Freiberger’s (2013) analysis of the juxtaposition of Buddhist and other religious institutions in early Buddhist texts. Of course, the semantics of the terms applied do not precisely correspond to the modern term “religion”, which is outright impossible because this term has no unambiguous meaning. Equally important is the observation that emic discourses on what nowadays are called “religions” were as diverse, manifold, and unsettled as are modern discourses on religion. We must be aware that not only modern European concepts and classifications have a history and do change, but so does the order of knowledge in other societies, a point particularly stressed by Kollmar-Paulenz (2013, 185–188).

This brief review of some research made by historians of religion sufficiently shows that what modern scholars classify as religions in many pre-modern societies had been conceptualised as discernible units of social life, which usually went along with a tendency to reify these concepts as things that exist, having properties and histories. These findings debunk the thesis that it only is the “dust-covered scholars of religion” (Masuzawa 2015, 148) who have constructed such objects as “Buddhism” and other religions, and that all critical scholarship can do is to study the Western genealogy of these “ideological constructions” (Masuzawa 2015, 147). Modern Western thinkers were neither the only ones nor the first who have interpreted social realities . Historical ignorance certainly helps believe in the exceptionality of modern understandings of the world, but it is a faulty foundation of far-reaching theoretical claims. It engenders blindness for the realities beyond the scope of theoretical discourses that content themselves with the critique of other academic theories.

As an empirical discipline, the study of religion does not confine historical research to the analysis of discourses, be they modern or pre-modern; it also investigates things that discourses are about or that are not even conceptualised in the discourses under consideration. It is possible to disagree on the question of whether Buddhism or Christianity are theoretically constructed objects or not, but it can hardly be disputed that Buddhist and Christian monasteries, textual traditions, or rituals exist and existed in pre-modern times. They exist as social realities and, as such, can not only be the objects of empirical research but also the subject matter of theories.

In this part, I have shown that historical research is an indispensable element of the study of religion if the latter is understood as an empirical discipline. This is true even if it is argued that the concept of religion should not be applied to the interpretation of pre-modern social realities because it emerged only in modern times, for the argument evidently cannot be made without recourse to historical research. Given the unquestionable importance of historical research in the study of religion, it is remarkable that history has received little attention in recent theoretical and metatheoretical discussions. I have addressed some of the points that deserve consideration: the questions of whether the history of religions can be considered empirical research and whether it is justified to extend it to societies unaffected by modern discourses on religion. In the following part, I will discuss some ontological and epistemological preconditions of empirical research that are relevant to the study of religion.

2 Critical Realism and the Study of Religion as an Empirical Discipline

Discussing the ontological and epistemological presuppositions that are necessary for conceiving the study of religion as an empirical discipline, I will rely on the philosophy of science of Critical Realism. After introducing fundamental concepts of Critical Realism, I will explicate the importance of descriptions and data and their relation to theories. First, however, a few remarks on theory and metatheory in the study of religion are in order.

2.1 Theory, Metatheory, and Methodology

Theoretical discourses in the study of religion have a double face: they include both theories of religion and theories about the study of religion. While theories of religion are attempts at explaining religion, theories about the study of religion are metatheoretical propositions and reflections on the aims, conditions, methods, and restrictions of studying religion. Metatheory cannot be separated from methodology where the methods of forming theories, conducting empirical research, and connecting theory formation with empirical research are discussed. Metatheory and methodology of an empirical discipline need to be founded on – or at least be informed by – principles discussed in the philosophy of science. Hence, there is a cascade of theoretical levels, with the philosophy of science as the most general theoretical foundation of empirical research, over more specific metatheories of particular disciplines and their methodological implications, down to theories about the subject matter of these disciplines and, finally, theories explaining social realities.

The reason why theoretical discourses often do not strictly separate different levels of theory in the study of religion probably is the fact that religion as the discipline’s subject matter is a highly disputed concept. As discussing methods of studying religion demands some kind of theoretical pre-understanding of what is being talked about, methodological arguments merge with theories of religion and attempts at defining it. The intricate entanglement of methodology and metatheory with theories of religion is quite apparent when we consider the different understandings of religion mentioned above: if religion is taken as a construct of scholars, the study of religion naturally demands other methods than when religion is regarded as a universal phenomenon grounded in the genetic evolution of the human species.

Discussing the relation between historical research and theory formation in the study of religion therefore cannot avoid addressing religion as the subject matter of theories as well. However, I will propose neither a theory nor a definition of religion but a methodological approach that circumvents the issue of defining religion. Such an approach goes against the predominant view that theories in the study of religion cannot avoid specifying what religion is. It is, therefore, necessary to explicate the methodological presuppositions on which my argument is based, which will be done in the next section.

2.2 Ontological and Epistemological Presuppositions

As has been shown above, the assumption that classifications distinguishing between religious and non-religious affairs took shape only in modern European discourses cannot be maintained because historians have found similar classifications in other societies. However, the fact that distinctions are made in discourses – whether in modern Europe or elsewhere – does not imply that they describe differences existing in the real world. That we distinguish between elves and imps does not allow for the conclusion that elves and imps exist as real entities that are different from each other. Applied to the study of religion, Timothy Fitzgerald makes a similar point: “My argument is that there is no essential difference between religious and non-religious domains , but they are imagined and represented as if they are essentially different, along the axis of binary either-or alternatives” (Fitzgerald 2013, 104, italics mine). This argument is a response to Kevin Schilbrack, who maintains that the social construction of the concept “religion” does not exclude “that ‘religion’ is descriptively and analytically useful, and it is useful because there really are religions that exist ‘out there’ in the world ” (Schilbrack 2012, 98, italics mine).

The two positions reflect in a nutshell a fundamental ontological problem lurking in theoretical disputes in the study of religion: do religions and does religion exist, and if so, in which sense? This question necessitates clarifying one’s ontological presuppositions: what does it mean that something “exists” or is “real”?

Let me start with Schilbrack’s formulation that “religions exist ‘out there’ in the world”. Schilbrack explains his ontological assumptions in a later article, drawing on Searle’s social ontology and Bhaskar’s Critical Realism (Schilbrack 2017, 166–168): “out there” means “outside our theories”. The implication is that there exists a reality that is outside and independent of our research. This is a realist ontology. [8] However, it is a critical realism that is fully aware of the fact that supposing the reality of the external world is not the same as claiming that this reality is accurately caught by our descriptions and explanations.

Transitive and intransitive dimensions of empirical research

Critical Realism as a strand in the philosophy of science has been conceptualised by Roy Bhaskar first as a philosophical foundation of the natural sciences and alternative to positivism (Bhaskar [1975] 2008, 8). [9] Later on, he extended his theory to the social sciences (Bhaskar [1979] 1998). A central point of his argument is the double aspect of scientific knowledge. On the one side, knowledge is a human product; it depends on the scientists who produce it under specific social and epistemic conditions. On the other hand, as Bhaskar maintains, “knowledge is ‘of’ things which are not produced by men at all: the specific gravity of mercury, the process of electrolysis, the mechanism of light propagation. None of these ‘objects of knowledge’ depend on human activity” (2008, 21). They would continue to exist even if humans ceased to exist. For this dimension of knowledge, Bhaskar coins the term “ intransitive objects of knowledge ”. It is contrasted with “ transitive objects of knowledge”, which is humanly produced knowledge about causes such as scientific theories (Bhaskar 2008, 21, italics in original). [10]

While in the natural sciences few scholars would dispute the reality of intransitive objects of knowledge that do not depend on human activity and perception, things are different in the humanities and social sciences. Their objects of research obviously are not intransitive in the sense of existing independently of human activity, for they have been brought about by humans. Bhaskar discusses in detail the epistemological and methodological problems connected therewith to explain how social realities can be the objects of “naturalist” social scientific research. There is no need to go into these details here. I just want to mention two points. The first refers to the pre-existence of a socially produced reality as a precondition for any conscious human activity. “People cannot communicate except by utilising existing media, produce except by applying themselves to materials which are already formed, or act save in some or other context.” (Bhaskar 1998, 34) The second point concerns the ontological status of social reality. Bhaskar argues that the reality of social formations as existent does not necessarily imply that they are empirically observable but can be derived from the fact that they have real effects. “Society, as an object of inquiry, is necessarily ‘theoretical’, in the sense that, like a magnetic field, it is necessarily unperceivable. As such it cannot be empirically identified independently of its effects; so that it can only be known, not shown, to exist” (Bhaskar 1998, 45). Hence, Critical Realism admits the existence of social realities that cannot be observed directly. [11]

Existence of non-empirical social realities

Take, for example, the cognitive sciences, which, though being unobservable, do really exist rather than merely being discursively constructed. Cognitive theories of religion could not have been invented in the 10 th century because there were no cognitive sciences. It is true that the cognitive sciences are a product of human activity and, in this sense, a social construction; but once they exist, they have effects. They have effects on people who, in some way or other, deal with them, which means that the cognitive sciences exist today but not in the Middle Ages. Although they have been produced by humans, they exist as a social reality, which constitutes a possible object of investigation. Like any intransitive object of knowledge in the social sciences, “its existence (or not), and properties, are quite independent of the act or process of investigation of which it is the putative object, even though such an investigation, once initiated, may radically modify it” (Bhaskar 1998, 47).

Because the existence of social realities – be they the cognitive sciences or Jehovah’s Witnesses – does not depend on their being investigated, described, or explained by researchers, they are existentially intransitive in Bhaskar’s terminology (Bhaskar 1998, 47). To put it simply: the objects of social research are real if and because they have real effects that can be observed, and they are intransitive because their existence does not depend on the investigations of which they are objects. [12] That they exist independently of being investigated is evident in the case of historical research on objects of the past. Strictly speaking, all empirical social research describes and explains past realities, even though it may be a causative factor that modifies the future course of events.

The decisive point in the ontology of Critical Realism is the logical foundation of the reality of the social world, which is produced by humans but pre-exists any individual and has effects on individual as well as collective activities. [13] At the same time, it is continuously reproduced and thereby modified or transformed by human actors. Bhaskar thus proposes a transformational model of social activity (Bhaskar 1998, 33 f.). [14] For the present argument, it suffices to underline the fundamental ontological position that the social reality exists as the intransitive object of possible investigations. If this position were denied, empirical social science would not be possible (cf. Gorski 2013). However, what we select as research objects and how we study them depends on us as scholars. It belongs to the transitive dimension of research, which will be considered in the next section.

2.3 Descriptions, Data, and Theories

According to a critical realist ontology, the intransitive objects of empirical research exist independently of being observed, but they can only be talked about if they are described. Descriptions are data, that is, linguistically represented information about the external world. Descriptions are the first step in any empirical research and the precondition of explanations and theories that claim to contribute to knowledge about the external world. Only what has been described can be explained (Archer 1995, 20).

Because data are descriptions providing information, they are not “out there” to be collected like mushrooms but are produced by researchers. Thus, they belong to the transitive dimension of research. They depend on the researchers who provide descriptions, that is, on their interests, ontological assumptions, research questions, and the methods used to produce the data. As data are linguistic entities, [15] they also depend on the language used, which provides a reservoir of terms and concepts that restrict and channel the way something is represented linguistically. Data, therefore, are profoundly affected by subjective factors pertaining to the researchers, the academic discourses they participate in, and the social environment in which their research takes place.

In this sense, “[d]ata are always already theory-laden” (Stausberg and Engler 2016, 67). However, we can analytically distinguish between data or descriptions and the interpretation of data. It is true that scholars of religion usually choose to work with data they have already interpreted as describing religious phenomena, which presupposes a theoretical concept of religion (Stausberg and Engler 2016, 67), but the production of data does not necessarily depend on such a theoretical interpretation. One can, for instance, describe the grand state rituals in early modern China and produce an enormous amount of data on them without interpreting these rituals as being religious. [16] This does not preclude other scholars from using the data against the backdrop of their understanding of religion and asking questions or providing arguments that relate to religion. However, it only is when religion as a theoretical perspective comes in that particular data can be considered data “for religion”. The reliability of the data does not depend on how they are interpreted theoretically.

Though in practice, data are often presented in a way that already includes their interpretation, there is a difference between descriptions and interpretations. They differ, as it were, in the degree of subjectivity. It is possible that scholars fully agree on the reliability of certain data, let us say the number of people who in a survey have declared to believe in the existence of ghosts, but the same scholars might completely disagree on whether the data indicate that these interviewees and their belief in ghosts are religious. In principle, data can be confirmed or disproved by empirical evidence, whereas their interpretation rests on theoretical arguments.

This is not to say that data represent the reality objectively: far from it. Data are descriptions and, as such, belong to the transitive dimension of research, which, as has been made clear, depends on many subjective factors. However, in empirical research, at least if it is taken seriously, data are not purely subjective. They not only depend on the scholars who produce them; they also depend on what is being described . Data are the hinge that connects the transitive dimension of research with its intransitive dimension. They are theory-dependent as well as reality-dependent. Otherwise, they would be mere fictions, and there would be no difference between reliable and faked data.

Certainly, historical research, like research in all sciences, delivers data that describe reality in a very incomplete and selective way. However, there is no other way. The alternative would be to deny the possibility of empirical research. All we could do in the study of religion would be “thinking about religion” [17] , that is, create theories without reference to data. However sophisticated such theorising may be, it would just be “casual conversation”. [18]

3 Theories of Religion and Empirical Research

There has been much thinking and theorising about religion during the past centuries (cf. Capps 1995; Pals 2006; Preus 1987; Strenski 2005). In many cases, thinking about religion has been provoked by ethnographic and historical data. However, just as often it is little more than arguing about a concept that has emerged in early modern Europe as a central and heavily disputed category, which brought despisers as well as apologetics into the arena. Until today, religion remains a subject that for many thinkers makes it difficult to refrain from passing judgements by either viewing it as a deplorable delusion or considering it a vital element of human existence.

All academic propositions that take religion as their subject matter, that is, statements whose grammatical subject is “religion” (in the singular), can be considered theories of religion. Accordingly, the simplest form of a theory of religion would just be a definition that takes the form “religion is ...”. Usually, theories of religion are more elaborate in not just explicating what religion is but proposing more or less coherent assumptions about the subject. Theories of religion are not the sole domain of the study of religion but have been proposed in a variety of academic disciplines. Most prominent are philosophy, theology, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and, more recently, biology and the cognitive sciences.

One form of making religion the subject of theories in the study of religion is to focus on discourses about religion in different academic disciplines and non-academic contexts to elucidate the variety of meanings religion as a concept has acquired and to explain the social and political conditions of their emergence, their social functions, and unintended effects. This is the theoretical approach of the Discursive Study of Religion (Kippenberg 1983; Stuckrad 2003; Wijsen and Stuckrad 2016). While religion is the subject of such theories, the object of research is discourses, and the theories aim to explain the discursive constructions of the concept of religion. I will not discuss this type of theory of religion further because it does not raise serious methodological problems.

Things are different with another type of theory of religion, which is prominently advocated by Michael Stausberg (Stausberg 2009). Here, the focus is not on explaining religion as a concept or the discourses constructing it; instead, theories of religion are expected to explain religion as something with properties that can be specified. As Stausberg remarks: “If there are good arguments that there cannot be any specific properties of religion, no specifiable conditions for identifying religion, theorizing religion can stop at this point” (Stausberg 2009, 4). Besides explaining the specificity of religion, a theory of religion, according to Stausberg, typically would have to address the interrelated questions of what the origin, functions, and structure of religion are (Stausberg 2009, 2–7; similarly: Stausberg and Engler 2016, 56–65).

Many theories of religion that have been devised during the past centuries have claimed to provide answers to some of these questions, usually explaining the specificity of religion by proposing a definition. Much thinking about religion has been done. However, if the study of religion is taken as an empirical discipline, thinking alone is not enough. In some way, theories must be related to empirical research. Accordingly, if theories of religion are expected to specify the properties of religion, there must be methods that allow for detecting these properties.

In empirical disciplines, the aim of theories is to explain aspects of the external reality, that is, the reality that exists independently of being the object of research. To demand of theories to explain religion as a thing whose properties can be specified presupposes that these properties are not just postulated but that they exist independently of the theory. While religion as the subject of a theory belongs to the transitive dimension of research, it must refer to something that belongs to the intransitive reality – for otherwise, it cannot have properties. In other words, “religion” must be related to an “extra-linguistic thing” (Stausberg and Engler 2016, 58). This engenders a methodological problem because studying religion as an extra-linguistic reality is not possible without first explaining the concept of religion. As I will show immediately, there is the hazard of tautologies, which results in empty theories. Instead of explaining aspects of the external reality, empty theories explain and illustrate the meaning of concepts. This is the first pitfall of theories of religion.

The second pitfall is blind theories, that is, theories that make us blind to certain aspects of the external world that are not covered by the theory. Theoretical blindness results from ignoring empirical data that do not fit prior theoretical assumptions. There is no way to avoid this pitfall entirely because our perception is always selective and restrained by subjective factors, including our theoretical presumptions. However, we have to be aware of the problem and attempt to minimise its effects. In the study of religion, the more fundamental methodological issue is the pitfall of empty theories, as will be explained in the next section.

3.1 Empty Theories

The main cause of empty theories is the conflation of the transitive and intransitive aspects of knowledge or, to put it differently, the confusion between the subjects of theoretical discourses and the objects of empirical research. In the study of religion, the central subject of theoretical discourses is religion. The subject matter is defined, discussed, and explained in theories. It belongs to the transitive dimension of research; it is a linguistic entity, that is, a term and concept whose meaning depends on the explanations given by researchers. The pitfall of empty theories occurs when “religion” as the transitive subject of discourses is treated as an intransitive object of research, that is, if theories of religion pretend to explain something that exists independently of our theories (cf. Jensen 2009, 332). This results in an aporia because we cannot specify what the theories are about, except by referring to religion as their discursively constructed subject. It is not possible to escape the tautology of identifying religion as that which has before been defined as the meaning of the concept. If, however, the goal is to clarify “What kind of thing is religion?” (Stausberg and Engler 2016, 69), the answer cannot consist of explicating a term, but it demands to specify properties or conditions “for identifying something as ‘religion’” (Stausberg 2009, 3). As the identification of something as being religion presupposes “religion” as a pre-conceived category, it will only explain how this category is understood and how something corresponds to this understanding.

However, the type of theory considered here does not aim to explain a concept but to explain religion as an extra-linguistic phenomenon. As Gardiner and Engler (2010, 287) put it:

“Theories are necessarily theories of some phenomena. A theory is a theory of something to the extent that, at least [in] part, it aims at explaining that thing. A theory explains, at least in part, to the extent that it allows us to understand that phenomenon.”

The thing to be explained is religion or a religious phenomenon. Referring to the requirements of a theory of religion that have been postulated by Stausberg (2009, 3–6), the authors further explain:

“Insofar as a theory interprets and explains some phenomenon, demarcating or identifying that phenomenon comes first. Looking for the origins, functions, or structures of religion(s) presupposes prior criteria for identifying something as religious.”

As the criteria for identifying are prior to any “looking for” something, they must be based on a pre-conceived definition. According to Gardiner and Engler, on the basis of a definition “the theorist of religion selects the ‘data’ from which to theorize or delimits the proper ‘object’ of theoretical investigation” (Gardiner and Engler 2010, 287). There seems to be a certain uneasiness with the terms “data” and “object”, which is indicated by the scare quotes. In fact, the objects of theoretical investigation are the data, which belong to the transitive dimension of research because they are linguistic entities produced by the researchers. “Demarcating a phenomenon” thus amounts to the same as applying a concept or category to the interpretation of data.

It appears, therefore, that this form of theory cannot avoid the circle of first defining a concept, based on which certain data are selected to demarcate an object of theorising that necessarily meets the conditions defined by the theory. Because in this way religion cannot be found to be something other than or different from what it has been defined as before, this kind of theorising will never arrive at answering the question “What kind of thing is religion?” (Stausberg and Engler 2016, 69) but only illustrate a pre-conceived category by selecting data fitting the definition.

3.2 Avoiding Empty Theories: Religion as a Theoretical Perspective

While the method proposed by Gardiner and Engler cannot lead to a theory that explains religion as an extra-linguistic entity that can be identified by empirical research, it can be a step on the way to substantial explanations, provided we change the explanandum. Instead of explaining or illustrating the category of religion, we have to explain the data. The data are descriptions providing information about intransitive objects of the external reality, and it is the external world that explanations in empirical disciplines aim at.

As has been made clear above, data belong to the transitive dimension of knowledge; they have been produced by researchers to supply information about the reality that represents the intransitive dimension of knowledge. In the study of religion, the production and use of data are guided by theoretical discourses in the discipline, whose main subject is religion. Instead of being the explanandum, religion is a theoretical concept that shapes the perspective taken to narrow down the range of objects that theories in the study of religion attempt to explain.

Gardiner and Engler’s suggestion that explanatory theories start with selecting data based on a pre-conceived definition of religion is reasonable. However, if these data are intended to be used to explain religion, the result will be disenchanting. The approach admittedly produces a plethora of theories of religion, but they cannot be empirically validated; they fail to answer any of the questions that, according to Stausberg, theories have to address. Theorists who, for instance, subscribe to definitions that focus on the belief in supernatural agents will pay attention to other data than those who adopt Durkheim’s definition of religion. This engenders a quandary if their theories claim to explain religion, because different definitions will result in selecting different kinds of data fitting the divergent understandings of the concept. The theories would use the same word – “religion” – but give it different meanings. The ensuing problem is that the theories explain different things while both claim to explain religion.

The problem can be avoided if we keep in mind that the aim of theories in empirical disciplines is not to explain concepts but the intransitive reality. Religion is the theoretical perspective guiding the researcher to choose objects of research that are to be explained. The explanandum, accordingly, is the selected data. Take, for example, state rituals in contemporary China in which mythic ancestors are venerated (Seiwert 2016 a, 2016b). By taking religion as a theoretical perspective, we may select such rituals as objects of research. Some scholars might qualify the rituals as religious practices because they are related to superempirical realities, [19] which the venerated ancestors doubtlessly are. Now, the value of a theory explaining the origins, functions, and structure of the practices would not be diminished by the fact that from the view of other researchers the state rituals concerned are not at all religious. They could argue that the Communist state ideology without any doubt is atheist, that is, secular, and the rituals are not religious because there is no reference to belief in the existence of supernatural agents. [20] These researchers, therefore, would not select such rituals as objects of research. Nevertheless, this would not invalidate theories explaining them.

To summarise the argument: from a critical realist perspective, the aim of theories is to contribute to our understanding of the intransitive reality. To do this, we have to explain data that describe real things. Accordingly, the explanandum is the data, and not the category we have in mind when selecting data that demand an explanation. In the study of religion, the category of religion provides theoretical perspectives to address particular data. Thus, there necessarily are some theoretical assumptions before selecting the data, but these theoretical preconceptions are devoid of explanatory power except for explaining themselves. It is only after the objects to be explained have been described that theories explaining them can be conceived. This is why data produced by historical and other empirical research are the fundament without which substantial theories in the study of religion cannot be built.

3.3 Blind Theories

As has been noted above, theoretical blindness is a pitfall that cannot be wholly avoided because our perception of the intransitive reality is always shaped by subjective factors, and theoretical assumptions are one of them. Margaret Archer has discussed in detail the effects of ontological assumptions in the social sciences on the production of data and accordingly on explanations (Archer 1995, 16–30). Instead of discussing the problem theoretically, I will briefly illustrate the consequences of different ontologies by the examples of naturalist individualism and social holism.

If one subscribes to a narrow naturalist ontology that assumes that only material objects can have material effects, “[i]t makes no sense to assume that a nonmaterial object, such as a ‘culture‘ or a ‘cultural scheme,’ could have material effects” (Boyer 1994, 87). Accordingly, the idea of culture as something existing independently of individual cognitions – which are thought to be physical processes in the brains of individuals – is refuted (Boyer 2001, 35). On such suppositions, possible explanations of material effects, for instance, performing or participating in rituals, are restricted to cognitions of individuals and are blind for immaterial and social factors such as obligations, rights, relations of power, and social structures.

On the other hand, a holistic social ontology that in the Durkheimian sense maintains the existence of social facts with coercive power over individual behaviour will tend to be blind for the agency of individuals and their power to change the social reality. Accordingly, descriptions of social and cultural processes, as a rule, will ignore individual decisions and creativity. Furthermore, explanations will be restricted to social factors and exclude psychological or biological causes.

A favourable characterisation of theoretical blindness would be to admit that a theory cannot explain everything. There are always some things that remain ignored or unexplained by one theory but might be explained by another. Theories necessarily reduce the complexity of social reality. They do ignore facts that are irrelevant. Obviously, what is relevant or not is theory-dependent. However, if we only describe and select what according to our theories is worth being considered and explained, we arrive at a dead end. If we produce only data that are relevant to our theory, we will end up with a very restricted description of the social world. Moreover, the factors taken into account to provide explanations likewise will be restricted to those that have been reckoned on before.

To ask questions that demand explanations admittedly is contingent upon theoretical perspectives. However, it is equally conditioned by observations and descriptions. Their importance in the process of theory formation in the study of religion can be explained by comparing it with the development of the theory of evolution in biology, which is the paradigm of a powerful theory in the life sciences. Preceding Darwin’s theory of natural selection were decades and centuries of collecting and describing plants, animals, and other natural objects. The collections of the naturalists were not much concerned with theoretical questions, but they were indispensable for developing classifications of and theories about living organisms. Of course, observations and descriptions were not sufficient conditions for the emergence of the theory of common descent of different species; but they were necessary conditions. Without describing the variety of existing species, the question of their origin could not have been asked.

What I want to show is that theory formation without empirical data is not possible, and often the produced data are prior to theories that make them relevant. New observations and their descriptions can put existing theories into question, or they can be a reason to ask new questions. In the study of religion, descriptions are mostly provided by historical research. If one compares them derogatorily to “butterfly collecting” (Slingerland and Bulbulia 2011, 323), one ignores that without observing, collecting, and describing insects there would be no scientific knowledge at all about them, let alone theories about the evolution of their metamorphosis.

Since unexpected observations can trigger new questions, it is not a detriment to the study of religion if historians provide descriptions that at first sight seem to be irrelevant to any guiding theory. To illustrate this point, I refer to Johannes Prip-Møller’s description of Chinese Buddhist monasteries, a work utterly devoid of any theoretical ambition but full of descriptions, sketches, and photographs. Among others, the author describes details of an ordination ceremony in which a number of marks are branded into the top of the heads of the novices (Prip-Møller 1937, 317–320). This practice of inflicting pain on the novices is hardly mentioned elsewhere before and difficult to explain. However, once noticed, it can guide us to look more closely at occurrences of infliction of pain in rituals and attempt to understand and explain such behaviour. Moreover, it might be a cause for paying more attention to bodily pain when theorising about religion. [21]

My point here is not that this case would be particularly important but rather the fact that new theoretical questions can be obtained from observations and descriptions that are not guided by theory; and that theories considering the effects of and causes for inflicting pain in religious contexts could not be conceived without previous descriptions of existing practices. Without data produced by the history of religions, theories in the study of religion cannot advance but only be self-referential. They would be blind to the complexity of human behaviour, including those forms that are characterised as religious.

4 Conclusion: Resolving the “Big Contradiction” in the Study of Religion

I have argued that theory formation in the study of religion cannot proceed without relying on research done in the history of religions. The argument rests on the assumption that the study of religion is an empirical discipline and not just the intellectual endeavour of thinking, talking, and writing about religion. I have introduced basic concepts of Critical Realism as an approach in the philosophy of science that I regard as helpful for clarifying some methodological problems surfacing in theoretical and metatheoretical discussions in the study of religion.

One of the metatheoretical problems has been described by Michael Bergunder as the “big contradiction” in the study of religion: on the one side, the discipline usually is defined by its subject matter, which is religion; on the other hand, during the more than hundred years after its inception, it proved to be impossible to agree on a definition of religion. However, despite the failure in specifying what the subject matter of the discipline is, the study of religion survived and is well and alive (Bergunder 2012, 4 f.). In other words, the big contradiction is that the existence of the study of religion is unaffected by the fact that its identity as an academic discipline is defined by a subject matter that escapes definition. From the perspective of Critical Realism, there is no need to worry about this apparent contradiction.

If the study of religion is an empirical discipline, religion as the subject of its discourses belongs to the transitive dimension of research. As discourses develop and negotiate their subject, it is quite natural that there is a variety of propositions about religion, including definitions, and it is to be expected that still more will be proposed as long as the discipline that considers religion its subject matter exists.

The contradiction observed by Bergunder only occurs when we mistake the subject of theoretical discourses for the object of empirical research. I call this the phenomenological fallacy because a concept is transformed into a phenomenon, which is supposed to be a thing that exists independently of the discourses that conceptualise it. Only when religion as a theoretical concept is converted into a phenomenon can we ask such questions as “What kind of thing is that phenomenon?” As I have shown, the answer necessarily produces tautological, that is, “empty” theories that end up showing that the phenomenon meets the pre-conceived conditions. Such theories inherently are immune against critique by empirical arguments. This does not make them useless because they can stimulate theoretical reflection and open new perspectives on the data; they just fail in explaining religion as the putative object of empirical research.

The objects of empirical research in the human sciences are human beings, their behaviour and actions, and the totality of their material and immaterial products that have been created and accumulated throughout human history and brought about the social world that exists today. This totality is not a congeries of incoherent things but structured by relationships existing between them. To explain something basically means to put it into relation to other things. The supposed relations may be causal, functional, genealogical, or whatever else a theory claims to be of significance for explaining the existence or properties of the explanandum. The history of religion not only provides the data to be explained but also data that can be used to find explanations by detecting how things are related to each other.

However, empirical research is not without presuppositions; it does not take place in an epistemic vacuum but is guided by theoretical interests that precede it. They prompt scholars to ask specific questions and study certain things rather than others. In the study of religion, the interest is shaped by the concept of religion, which is the primary subject of its theoretical discourses. The ongoing discussions on religion provide scholars with a theoretical background that directs the perspective of their empirical research. Diverse and changing understandings of religion shape the theoretical perspectives, which engender different theoretical assumptions and questions.

Despite the heterogeneity of definitions and assumptions, when we adopt the perspective of religion, it is likely that we will be more interested in the spread and transformation of Buddhist institutions, practices, conceptions, and their societal effects than in the spread of rice cultivation, more in the investment of resources to maintain a large priesthood than to maintain a large army. Looking at social reality from the perspective of religion may reveal structures and relationships that remain hidden from other perspectives, such as economics or politics. We may try to understand the reasons and explain the causes why people use stupendous resources to build and embellish temples and cathedrals or to perform extravagant rituals, why some are committed to endure hardship, and even sacrifice their life for the sake of beliefs that are meaningless to most others. Many other questions can be asked when we study social realities from the perspective of religion. To find explanations answering them is a challenge worth the effort of theorists in the study of religion, but none of the theories that might be proposed will explain what kind of thing religion is. However, to ask such questions that demand explanations and theories is only possible on the grounds of historical research that produces the data that provoke them. Therefore, theory and historical research necessarily condition each other if the study of religion is conceived of as an empirical discipline.

Acknowledgements

I thank Klaus Bayer, Markus Dreßler, Joachim Gentz, Christoph Kleine, and Christoph Uehlinger for reading and commenting on versions of this article.

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Islam is both a worldwide community of believers and a major world belief system based on submission to one God, Allah. In the twenty-first century there are almost a billion and a half Muslims (people who accept Islam as their faith) in more than two hundred countries.

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Although Islam was initially historically identified with Arabs, today only around 15 percent of the world’s Muslims (the people who accept Islam as their faith) are Arabs, with the largest national communities of Muslims being in southern and southeastern Asia. The historic Islamic community began in the seventh century CE in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula; within two centuries the Muslim world stretched from Central Asia to northern Africa and Spain. The term Islam refers to a worldwide community of believers and to one of the major belief systems in the world.

The core of the belief system of Islam is the affirmation that one God (Allah) exists. The word Allah means in Arabic “the divinity.” The word Islam means “submission,” and the belief system is based on submission to the one God, with the person engaging in submission being called a “Muslim.” Muslims understand their faith to be a continuation of the message of God presented to humanity through a series of messengers and prophets, including Abraham and Jesus. In the Islamic belief system the final presentation of the message of God was made through the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in Mecca and then Medina in modern Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the seventh century CE. The revelation was recorded and preserved in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islamic faith.

The basic requirements of the Islamic belief system are frequently called the Five Pillars of Islam. The first pillar (shihadah) is bearing witness publicly to the belief that “There is no divinity but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Praying (salat) is the second pillar. Praying involves performing five prescribed prayers daily. The third pillar (zakat) is taking the responsibility to contribute alms to provide assistance to the poor in the community. Undertaking the fast during the month of Ramadan is the fourth pillar. The fifth pillar is performing the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca at least one time during the believer’s lifetime, if possible. Each of the pillars is a responsibility for the individual believer, and no priesthood or clergy is required to fulfill any obligation. Although “striving in the path of God” (jihad) is an expected part of the life of faith for Muslims, jihad defined as “holy war” is not one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

The Formation of Community and Faith

Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 CE. He was part of an active merchant community that was involved in trade between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to being a commercial center, Mecca was a religious center with a shrine that housed important religious relics from many of the tribes in the region. Muhammad’s own family was influential in both religious and commercial activities, but his father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was still young. As a young man he gained a reputation for reliability and married a prosperous widow, Khadijah, whose affairs he managed. His life was transformed when he experienced his first revelations around 610 CE.

The Meccan belief system at that time was basically polytheistic, but Meccans were familiar with Christianity and Judaism. Muhammad preached a message of strict monotheism and soon aroused the opposition of the Meccan merchant elite. After many struggles he and his small community of followers moved to Yathrib, a neighboring oasis community whose leaders invited Muhammad to come and be the arbitrator and judge in its disputes. The oasis became known as Medina, or “the city [Medina] of the Prophet.” This migration in 622 CE is called the Hijra and marks the beginning of the Islamic community as a distinct entity. Muslims date the years of the Islamic era from the Hijra, with 622 CE being year 1 in the Islamic calendar. This calendar is based on a lunar year of approximately 354 days or twelve lunar months.

During the next ten years most of the people in the Arabian Peninsula became Muslims or were allied in some way with the new Islamic community. The defeat and conversion of Mecca was an important step in this process. The shrine of the Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure at the center of Mecca, was purified of polytheistic relics and recognized as the altar of Abraham. In the prescribed prayers Muslims were to face the Kaaba (for a short time they faced Jerusalem), and the building became the center of pilgrimage rites. The basic foundations of the Islamic belief system and the Islamic community were laid.

The Era of the Caliphs

The Islamic community was dynamic by the time of Muhammad’s death in 632 CE. Some confusion existed about the transition to a community without Muhammad. The majority of the community accepted the idea that the successor (khalifah or caliph) to Muhammad as leader would be one of his close companions, Abu Bakr. A minority within the community came to believe that the idea was an error and argued that the first successor should have been the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, Ali. In later tradition this minority group came to be identified as the faction (Shiah) of Ali (Shi’as), whereas the majority were called “Sunni” (those who follow the Sunnah or precedents of the community).

The first four caliphs were all close associates of Muhammad (two were the fathers of wives he married after Khadijah died), and their rule is identified by Sunni Muslims as the era of “the Rightly-Guided Caliphs” (632–661 CE). Under their leadership Islamic armies conquered all of the Sasanid Empire and most of the Middle Eastern territories of the Byzantine Empire. Through these conquests the Islamic community became the heir of the great imperial traditions of Persia and Rome as well as the Middle Eastern monotheistic traditions. In structure and administrative practices the emerging caliphate resembled the older empires that had been conquered.

The political history of the Islamic community during the early centuries involves the rise and fall of dynasties controlling the caliphal state, and the political experiences of the community shaped the belief systems that developed. Civil war brought an end to the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and the new political community was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty (661–750 CE) and then by the Abbasid dynasty (749/750–1258).

Early Abbasid caliphs built a new capital at Baghdad, not far from the location of ancient imperial capitals. Although the Abbasid state was strong, it never established control over all of the territories of the Islamic world. Umayyad princes continued to rule in the Iberian Peninsula, and gradually independent Islamic states were established across North Africa. By the end of the tenth century CE three caliphs claimed authority in parts of the Islamic world—an Umayyad ruler in Spain, a Shi’i ruler in Egypt, and the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Local military rulers, who came to take the title of “sultan,” increasingly dominated political affairs. The Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258 CE brought an end to the Abbasid caliphate. Although the concept of the caliphate as a symbol of Islamic unity continued, basic Islamic political organization took the form of sultanates, representing rule by military commanders. This transformation was possible because of the evolution of the nature of the Islamic community itself.

The Faith-Based Community

During the early centuries of Islamic history the caliphate was the most visible aspect of the new Islamic community. However, the development of the Islamic belief system provided the basis for a faith-based community that involved more than an allegiance to a particular ruler or political system. The definition of a legal and normative framework that shaped politics but that was independent of the state helped to create a sense of community identity. The development of popular devotional organizations associated with the growing importance of Sufi (Islamic mystic) brotherhoods strengthened this identity.

The Islamic belief system initially developed within the framework of the caliphate but was not tied to the specifics of the political system. Scholars, not political leaders, undertook the important functions of interpreting the Qur’an and organizing the traditions (hadith) of Muhammad as basic sources for law and guidance. These scholars, literally the “learned people” (ulama), never became an ordained clergy and maintained independence from rulers. However, the political and legal dimensions of the Islamic faith were an important part of the belief system. These dimensions were the primary area of disagreement among Sunnis and Shi’as. The Sunnis believed that the historic caliphate was Islamically legitimate, whereas the Shi’as insisted that the only legitimate ruler would be the divinely designated imam (an Islamic leader) who would be a descendant of Muhammad. Most Shi’as are called “Ithna Ashari” or “Twelvers” because they believe that the twelfth imam in the series was taken into divine seclusion and will return at some future time to establish God’s rule.

The ulama during Abbasid times developed a framework of legal concepts and precedents that provides the foundation for the legal and normative structures of the sharia (Islamic law). No single system of canon law developed. Instead, among the Sunni majority, four schools of legal thought, each identified with a major early scholar—Hanafi(Abu Hanifa, d. 767), Maliki (Malik ibn Anas, d. 796), Shafi’i (Muhammad Shafi’i, d. 819), and Hanbali (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, d. 855)—were accepted as authoritative. Among the Shi’as most recognized the legal thought of Jafar al-Sadiq (d. 765), the sixth imam. In these schools the fundamental sources of the sharia were agreed to be the Qur’an and the traditions or Sunnah of Muhammad. Although theology was important, the core intellectual disciplines for Muslims became legal analysis (fiqh) and collection and analysis of the hadith (reports of the words and actions of Muhammad). Differences arose regarding analogical reasoning and consensus of the community. Use of independent informed judgment in analysis was called ijtihad. In later centuries Sunnis limited its scope more than did Shi’as.

The content of this legal structure emphasized the universality of law based on God’s revelation and the equality of all believers. It was not strictly speaking a code of law; it was rather a framework for a just and virtuous society. The sharia defined both the duties to God and social responsibilities. It covered commercial practices, family life, and criminal behavior. This vision of society did not depend upon a particular state structure and could be presented by scholars rather than rulers and soldiers.

The faith of the majority of the population was also shaped by popular preachers and teachers whose devotional life was an inspiration. The development of special devotional paths or tariqahs is associated with what came to be called “Sufism,” the mystical piety of early inspirational teachers. By the eleventh and twelfth centuries CE social organizations associated with these devotional paths became an increasingly important part of Islamic societies. The devotional paths emerged as brotherhood organizations that were instrumental in the Islamization of societies in central and southeastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Expanding Community and the Great Sultans

The Islamic world virtually doubled in size between the tenth and the eighteenth centuries. Great trade networks brought Islamic merchants to most regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. Islamic scholars and Sufiteachers followed, and dynamically growing communities of believers developed as interactions with local people set in motion activities that resulted in the gradual Islamization of societies.

By the sixteenth century the great central states of the Islamic world represented a commanding dynamism. In the eastern Mediterranean the Ottoman Empire began during the thirteenth century in the Aegean area, conquered Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) in 1453, and, by the eighteenth century, controlled much of the Balkan Peninsula, the Arab world, and North Africa. In southern Asia the smaller Islamic sultanates of medieval times were replaced by the Mughal Empire, which dominated virtually the entire Indian subcontinent by the seventeenth century. In western Africa a series of increasingly Islamized states beginning with medieval Ghana and Mali and ending during the sixteenth century with the Songhai Empire established Islam as a major historic force in the region. Similar developments took place in southeastern and Central Asia.

A dramatic change occurred in the Persian-Iranian heartland. Iran had long been an important part of the Sunni world, with some Shi’a minority groups. However, around 1500 a militant popular religious group called the “Safavids” conquered much of modern-day Iran and beyond. During the next century the Safavid rulers declared Ithna Ashari Shi’ism to be the religion of the state, and most Iranians converted. Shi’i scholars came to the Safavid Empire, especially from the Arab world, and received privileges that gave the ulama in Shi’i Iran a special influence that has continued to the present.

Challenges of the Modern Era

This powerful and expanding Islamic world had long interacted with western European and Christian-majority societies. These interactions entered a major new phase during the eighteenth century with the transformation of western European societies, especially through the Industrial Revolution, and the beginnings of European imperialist expansion. Throughout the Islamic world Europeans came to dominate Islamic lands, and Muslims responded in many ways. Muslims mounted major efforts to fight European expansion, as in the wars led by the emir (ruler) Abd al-Qadir in Algeria after the French invasion of 1830. Most military opposition failed.

Leaders in major Islamic countries introduced programs of reform to reshape their societies and states using Western models. Early reformers included Muhammad Ali in Egypt (reigned 1805–1849) and the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II (reigned 1808–1839), whose programs laid the foundations for the emergence of modern-style secular states. Later other reformers emphasized intellectual and religious dimensions. By the end of the nineteenth century efforts to create an effective synthesis of Islam and modernity resulted in the movement of Islamic modernism. Major figures are Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) and Jamal al- Din al-Afghani (1839–1897), whose ideas influenced groups as diverse as the Muhammadiyya movement established in Java in 1912 and intellectuals in India and North Africa. A different emphasis in reform is provided by more puritanical movements that seek a “return” to a more strict adherence to Islamic norms interpreted in a relatively literalist manner. This mode of reform has deep roots in Islamic history and can be seen in the premodern movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), whose ideas have been an important part of modern Islamic revivalist movements.

The broad spectrum of responses to the challenges of modernity in the nineteenth century extended from the Westernizing programs of state reform to the explicitly Islamic modernists and fundamentalists. The work of all of these people set the framework for the developments of states and societies in the Muslim world during the twentieth century. By the end of the nineteenth century few groups could be considered purely non-modern (or, in the terminology of twentieth-century social scientists, “traditional”), since even the most conservative were interacting with the modernity of the time. That era was still largely defined by Western European experiences, so that modernization tended to be viewed as a process of Europeanization or Westernization. But by the end of the nineteenth century, distinctive non- European modes of modernity were beginning to be visible, and the emergence of these different styles of modernity would play an important role in shaping the history of Muslim societies and thought in the twentieth century.

Twentieth-Century Modernity

Global Muslim communities experienced important transformations during the twentieth century. At the beginning of the century, most of the Muslim world was under direct or indirect European imperialist control, and the emerging political systems were primarily conceived as Western-style nation states. Explicitly Islamic movements and organizations were often viewed, even by “modern” Muslims, as anachronisms and obstacles to modernization. By the end of the twentieth century, however, virtually every Muslim majority society was politically independent, and classical European imperialism was an image from a seemingly distant past. An explicitly Islamic republic was created by a revolution that overthrew a Westernizing autocracy in Iran in 1979, and the new Islamic republic was sufficiently strong at the beginning of the twenty-first century to be viewed as a potential nuclear power and as an important major regional power. Muslims and Islamic movements became major influential agents in global affairs.

This transformation involved three broad historical phases, which can be defined in terms of the evolution of modernity itself during the twentieth century. In the era of domination by European imperial powers during the first half of the century, most new movements followed European-style patterns of political development. Resistance to European rule took the form of nationalist movements, and social and political reforms were generally secular in orientation. Modernity was defined in Western European terms. The most successful of these movements was led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who built a secular nationalist state in Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

In the middle of the century, following World War II, the second phase was shaped by the experience of newly-achieved political independence. Most Muslim states became politically independent, and various forms of secular and radical nationalism dominated the intellectual and political scene. Leaders such as Gamal Abd al-Nasir in Egypt and Ben Bella in Algeria incorporated Islamic themes into their radical nationalist programs, but these programs were not primarily Islamic in orientation or identification. By the 1960s, it appeared that the most important political developments and reform movements in the Muslim world represented radical programs of modernity that competed with older visions of modernity. Competing definitions of modernity—or multiple modernities—shaped Muslim policies and visions. An important culmination of this development was the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, when radicalism was defined in explicitly Islamic terms, and the older more secular forms of radicalism became marginalized.

By the final quarter of the twentieth century, distinctively Islamic modernities were articulated as the bases for social visions and political programs. The new movements in the third era of twentieth-century Muslim history had some roots in earlier organizations that were modern in organization but more puritanical in terms of intellectual content. The most important of these groups are the Muslim Brotherhood, established in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna in 1928, and the Jamaat-i Islam, established in 1941 in India by Abu al-Ala Mawdudi.

In the final decades of the century, the major signal that the radical and the secularist nationalist movements had failed to bring the expected prosperity and freedom to Islamic peoples was the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which brought to power a regime dedicated to a full implementation of Islamic rules and norms. During the early 1980s many other movements with strongly defined Islamic goals and agendas came to prominence. These movements represent the emergence of what came to be called “political Islam” because the primary focus of the programs was the control of the state. Some movements, such as the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria, contested elections, whereas others, such as the Mujahidin in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, engaged in violent opposition defined in its terms as jihad. These movements of jihad became a significant part of the Islamic experience of the 1990s. In the context of globalization, militant global networks such as al-Qaeda represented an important part of Islamic interaction with the world. However, such movements remained only a small part of Islamic life and often were in conflict with the mainstream Islamic organizations and sentiments that reflected the views of the majority of Muslims.

Although the movements of political Islam attracted the most attention, other important trends also developed during the 1980s. Intellectuals gave increasing attention to the definition of the place of women in Islamic society, and by the beginning of the twenty-first century, an “Islamic feminism” had emerged. This feminism involved a reexamination of the Qur’an, noting the Qur’an’s emphasis on the equality of all believers and then noting the influence of more patriarchal perspectives in the way that the Islamic tradition was historically defined. Similarly, some intellectuals have emphasized pluralistic dimensions of the Islamic worldview and tradition and have also drawn back from the emphasis on political activism as a means for imposing Islamic norms.

Some of the impetus for these developments has come from the emergence of minority Islamic communities in Western Europe and North America as important parts of the broader Islamic world. In those regions issues of gender equality and religious pluralism have great importance for Islamic community life.

New Twenty-First Century Realities

The continuing significance of religion at the beginning of the twenty-first century confirms the development of forms of modernities that are different from the definitions of modernity popular during the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century. Contrary to the expectations of theories of modernization in those periods, modernization did not mean the inevitable nonreligious secularization of state and society. In the Muslim world, new movements develop that are not simply continuations of old-style movements from premodern times or even twentieth century modern movements in some slightly different form.

The new movements that get the most attention are the militant movements like al-Qaeda. These are clearly different from the early Sufi movements of resistance to European imperialist expansion in the nineteenth century, and from the activist radical nationalist movements of the twentieth century. Globalization and the new electronic media of communication transform the nature of organization and shape the way that the messages of the movements are framed.

The largest of the new movements are not, however, the terrorist organizations. Throughout the Muslim world, new popular preachers and teachers have millions of followers in many countries. Islamic television ministries like that built by the Egyptian Amr Khaled are reshaping the ways that many Muslims participate in the sense of belonging to a global community of believers. Analysts speak of “iMuslims” and “e-jihad” in ways that illustrate the new modernities of Muslims in the world of the twenty-first century. The long history of the flexible adaptations of the Islamic community and belief system to changing historic conditions suggests that new forms of Islamic institutions and perspectives will continue to be defined by believers.

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Research Paper

Category: religion research paper examples.

Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, a supernatural being or supernatural beings or “some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life”. Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life, the Universe and other things. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, but about 84% of the world’s population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion.

The study of religion encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the scientific revolution in the western world, some aspects of religion have cumulatively been criticized. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists and agnostics. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs.