What Is Religious Studies? How Scholars Study Religion
Religious studies is the academic study of religion as a human phenomenon. It asks what people believe and do, how traditions arise and change, and what role they play in societies, using historical, social-scientific and philosophical methods. It does not assume that any one tradition is true, and it does not aim to convert or to debunk.
Wikipedia describes the field as examining religion from a historical or scientific perspective, and notes that there is no consensus even on what counts as “religion”, a question scholars still debate. That honesty about the basic term is a good clue to the field’s character: much of the work is careful comparison rather than a search for one answer.
How it differs from theology
Theology works from inside a tradition, seeking to understand its beliefs on its own terms. A phrase often used in this connection is “faith seeking understanding”, associated with Anselm. Religious studies takes a standpoint that is independent of any particular religious viewpoint.
The two are not always sharply separated. Some contemporary scholars treat theology as one method within religious studies, and many universities teach both. A practical rule: if the aim is to explain a tradition’s teaching to its members, the work is theological; if the aim is to describe and analyse it for any reader, it is religious studies.
Where the field came from
According to Wikipedia, the academic field arose in nineteenth-century Europe, at a time when biblical scholarship flourished and Hindu and Buddhist texts were being translated into European languages. It was once called “comparative religion” or the “science of religion”. The philologist Max Müller published his Introduction to the Science of Religion in 1873, and the Netherlands established religious studies as a field in its own right in 1876.
The early period had its blind spots. Critics, among them Jonathan Z. Smith and Timothy Fitzgerald as noted in the same article, argue that the field has sometimes carried over theological or Western assumptions. Present-day scholars discuss these debates openly.
The main methods
Religious studies is an interdisciplinary field. It borrows from several subjects:
| Method | Main question | Example approach |
|---|---|---|
| History of religion | How did this tradition develop and change? | Reading texts and records in context |
| Anthropology | What do people do in practice? | Fieldwork, observation and interviews |
| Sociology | How do religions relate to society? | Study of institutions, groups and change; Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) is a classic |
| Psychology | What is religious experience like? | William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience, from lectures given in 1902 |
| Phenomenology | How does religion appear to those who live it? | Setting aside presuppositions in order to describe what is observed |
| Philosophy of religion | Are religious claims coherent and how are they argued? | Logical analysis of concepts and arguments |
| Lived religion | How is religion practised in everyday life? | Ethnographic study associated with Robert Orsi and David Hall |
No single method wins. Strong work often combines several, for example reading a text historically and then asking how communities use it today.
Insiders, outsiders and neutrality
Scholars differ about how neutral the study of religion can be. Some aim to defend religion, some to explain it in non-religious terms, and others use it to test their theories, as Wikipedia summarises. Peter Berger used the term “methodological atheism” for the sociological stance of explaining religion without making claims about whether its objects are real.
Good scholarship is open about its method and says what questions are being asked and what is left aside.
What students and readers gain
Studying religion is not only for people with religious interests. It trains habits useful in many fields:
- reading difficult texts closely and in historical context
- comparing cases without flattening the differences
- noticing how ideas, objects and institutions shape each other, as in the study of material culture
These abilities are part of the broader argument for studying the humanities.
Frequently asked questions
Is religious studies the same as comparative religion?
Comparative religion is an older name for part of the field. Today religious studies includes comparison but also history, social science and philosophy.
Does religious studies say whether religions are true?
Generally, no. It studies what people believe and do, and what effects that has. Questions of truth are more often discussed in theology and in philosophy of religion.
Where can I begin?
A short introduction to a single tradition and a book on methods make a good pair. The scholarship section of this site gives one example of how research is framed.
In brief
Religious studies is a set of methods for understanding religion without taking a side. The field is still debating its own foundations, which is part of what makes it interesting. For general information on any tradition, consult scholarly reference works rather than a single source.