Top Research Papers on Religion

There notable modifications in American religious life are coming because of changes in communication, and population shifts. The first is the interpretation of the rural and urban communities due to the radio and automobile. The second is the migration of rural populations to the city, and the third is change in the major sources of labor supply, which is giving us an American-born industrial population which brings with it an American type of religious institution in the place of a Southern European.

Magazine discussion of religious topics has sunk during the past decade to the lowest relative amount of the present century. As during previous recent decades, this decrease was due to declines in discussion of traditional and institutional phases, while ethical-and spiritual-life phases increased. The number of adult church members per 1,000 of adult population was nearly three million smaller in 1940 than ten years earlier. The two world-wars and other factors have brought a crisis in missions. Formation of a World Council of Churches and reunion of Methodists illustrate a trend toward merg...

RELIGION Overview and Contact Information To major in religion is to ask questions about the many ways people have sought to make sense of their lives. Examining religious traditions—their notable leaders, their valued texts, and the social behaviors designed to embody their visions—is a central way to study the profound questions that direct so many areas of human endeavor. The study of religion is an excellent way of organizing a liberal arts education so that diverse cultures, artistic expressions, political forces, and gender assignments can be questioned and set in historical and changing...

The study of religion at GW promotes analysis rather than advocacy of religion or a particular tradition. At the undergraduate level, the Department of Religion offers the bachelor of arts with a major in religion. The program curriculum fosters knowledge of the world's religions, as well as their history, literature, and community structure. Areas of study include Biblical literature, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, ethics, sociology of religion, contemporary movements in theology, and religion in American culture. A minor in religion is also offered.

The study of religion is central to a liberal arts education and thus to the mission of the University of the South: to be liberally educated, Sewanee students ought to have a direct, critical encounter with religion and the most basic questions of meaning and purpose that religion addresses. Religion courses are designed to raise and reflect upon the central and abiding questions that challenge us all: What is the nature of religion? How does religion live in so many different and interesting ways in human culture? How do human beings throughout history express their deepest beliefs, concerns...

Chapter 13 reports on research that demonstrates a correlation and supports a causal connection between longer-term, more intense participation in nominally secular yoga or mindfulness and changes in religious self-reporting and affiliations. The chapter develops a theory to explain how embodied practices may produce religious effects. Participating in practice communities may shape perception through 1) intensification and heightened awareness of sensory experiences; 2) reinterpretation of experiences through the lens of socially constructed beliefs and values; and 3) cultural associations th...

The goal of helping students to become ethical citizens is a concern of college educators. There have been a number of factors, which seem to contribute to this goal. Religious inclination is one factor that researchers have considered. We would expect religious people to be highly ethical. However, research suggests that is not the case. In fact, some research suggests that religion can inhibit moral growth. In most cases, religiosity negatively affected moral development.  

This chapter discusses the impact of religion on welfare state development in Europe, North America, and the Antipodes. In one perspective, religion is seen as a cultural force: the tenets of the Christian doctrines have strongly influenced the notions of social justice on which modern social policies were built. Varying ethical principles gave rise to different institutional forms of distribution, redistribution, and social protection and to different demands for social security, which ultimately translated into distinctive economic and social outcomes. In another view, religion is seen as a ...

The Religion Department's curriculum is designed to engage students in critical, comparative, and interdisciplinary exploration of religious life. The faculty's research and teaching build upon the shared understandings that religion continues to be a central and influential component of human life, society, and politics—and that, furthermore, religious transmission and authority are constantly being shaped in dynamic interactions with other religious traditions, societies, and cultures. Courses and seminars in religion teach students how to analyze and investigate religious texts, histories, ...

Zusammenfassung Besprechung des Titels: BÜLENT UCAR (Hrsg.), Die Rolle der Religion im Integrationsprozess. Die deutsche Islamdebatte. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang 2010.

Religion plays a major role in shaping and influencing various cultures and historical and political movements around the world. Thus, understanding religious traditions and their impact on diverse modern issues is vital preparation for building a career in the global marketplace. Studying religion involves examining the history of religious traditions, comparing the ideas and values of different religious systems, and understanding the place and function of religion in society. Students of Religious Studies investigate why people are religious, where religion comes from, and how it should be ...

Bazin argues that miracles are inexplicable events that test science. Wary of the supernatural and transcendence, he does not approve of Pius XII’s standards of sainthood. All religions are fair game for social anthropology, even if they address mankind’s spiritual dimension. Irrational belief in God is necessary to maintain hope in eternal justice, since human laws are imperfect. Cinema’s illusionism turns irrational belief into a spiritual sensibility even for those who do not believe in any religion. Opposed to the dogmatic tendencies of any religion, Bazin argues that, in comparison to Jea...

Much that has been written on women in religion within the last few years criticizes religion as the basis of patriarchal power in our society. A steady flow of religious writings in praise of woman as virgin or wife or mother continues to appear, but I shall not discuss them. Instead, I will focus on those materials that criticize the religious traditions and find them to be our most deep-seated cause of patriarchy. Underlying many such articles and books is the question, Can one remain within the Christian or Jewish traditions once one becomes conscious of sexism? Most of the women and men w...

For most of Terrell’s life, Christianity provided her with a social structure, a network, a community, and a set of ideals by which she aspired to live. A member of the Congregational Church, her liberal theology and embrace of the “Church Militant” focused on freedom in this world as well as the next. Theologically and socially liberal, Terrell’s ecumenical goal was unity and cooperation among all denominations. Terrell hoped for a racially integrated and activist militant church. Terrell’s encounter with the Oxford Group movement introduced her to a predominantly white nondenominational evan...

This collection of essays on the interaction of missions and nationalism in the era of independence/postcolonialism originated at a conference organized by the Currents in World Christianity Project at the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies in 2000. The contributors teach history, theology, and mission in universities in both Great Britain and the United States. The chapter by Adrian Hastings was one of his last and provides the mature musings of a pioneering scholar in the field of African Christianity. These studies fill a gap in the study of mission and the role...

The study of religion at GW promotes analysis rather than advocacy of religion or a particular tradition. At the undergraduate level, the Department of Religion offers the bachelor of arts with a major in religion. The program curriculum fosters knowledge of the world's religions, as well as their history, literature, and community structure. Areas of study include Biblical literature, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, ethics, sociology of religion, contemporary movements in theology, and religion in American culture. A minor in religion is also offered.

This article argues that religion should be fully integrated into cross-cultural research for four reasons: (a) religion, by itself, occupies a substantial role in people's lives across different cultures; (b) religion has been found to be a strong predictor of important life domains among individuals all over the world; (c) religion has a strong influence on cross-cultural dimensions; and (d) culture also influences and shapes religious beliefs and practices. The authors present a five-dimensional framework of religion and provide recommendations on ways it can be integrated within cross-cult...

This chapter explores the way in which Dante forges an original form of religiosity in his work by embracing Franciscan and apocalyptic ideas. It focuses on three aspects: the prophetic spirit that animates Dante’s critique of the Church and his call for spiritual renewal; his emphasis on the transformative power of prayer and its role in the poet’s construction of his spiritual authority; and the celebration of the female role in salvation through the figures of Lady Poverty and Beatrice. Franciscan thought on Poverty, from Joachim of Flora to radicals such as Ubertino da Casale and Peter Joh...

Diversity and decentralization are the notable characteristics of American religious life. Freedom for marginal groups to develop in accordance with their own genius more to be cherished than any kind of standardization. The United States Census of 1926 shows both processes-increasing diversity and increasing centralization-at work. There are new sects not appearing before; there is a growth of the larger denominations, which are absorbing some of the smaller ones. Both processes are to encouraged. The largest growth in numbers is in the South, a condition to be attributed to the advantage whi...

What Role Do Coptic Christians Play in Egyptian Politics and Society? Egypt held an important position in the early development of Christianity. In the three centuries after the death of Jesus, Alexandria was one of the primary centers for debate over the doctrine and beliefs...