Editing Religious studies (section)

==History==
[[Image:Max Muller.jpg|thumb|right|[[Max Müller]]; the first professor of [[Comparative linguistics|comparative philology]] at [[Oxford University]] and author of ''Introduction to the Science of Religion'']]Interest in the general study of religion dates back to at least [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] ({{circa|550 [[Common Era|BCE]]|476 BCE}}) and [[Herodotus]] ({{Circa|484 BCE|425 BCE}}). Later, during the [[Middle Ages]], [[Islam]]ic scholars such as [[Ibn Hazm]] (d. 1064&nbsp;CE) studied [[Zoroastrianism|Persian]], [[Judaism|Jewish]], [[Christianity|Christian]], and [[Indian religions]], among others. The first history of religion was the ''Treatise on the Religious and Philosophical Sects'' (1127&nbsp;CE), written by the Muslim scholar [[Muhammad al-Shahrastani]]. [[Peter the Venerable]], also working in the twelfth century, studied Islam and made possible a Latin translation of the [[Qur'an]].
Notwithstanding the long interest in the study of religion, the academic discipline Religious Studies is relatively new. [[Christopher Partridge]] notes that the "first professorships were established as recently as the final quarter of the nineteenth century."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Academic Study of Religion |url=http://www.uccf.org.uk/yourcourse/rtsf/docs/academicstudyofreligion.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007062233/http://www.uccf.org.uk/yourcourse/rtsf/docs/academicstudyofreligion.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-10-07 |publisher=Dr Chris Partridge, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Religion Chester College}}</ref>

In the nineteenth century, the study of religion was done through the eyes of science. [[Max Müller]] was the first professor of [[Comparative linguistics|comparative philology]] at [[Oxford University]], a chair created especially for him. In his ''Introduction to the Science of Religion'' (1873) he wrote that it is "the duty of those who have devoted their life to the study of the principal religions of the world in their original documents, and who value and reverence it in whatever form it may present itself, to take possession of this new territory in the name of true science."

Many of the key scholars who helped to establish the study of religion did not regard themselves as scholars of religious studies, but rather as theologians, philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and historians.{{sfn|Capps|1995|p=xv}}

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

One of the earliest academic institutions where Religious Studies was presented as a distinct subject was University College Ibadan, now the [[University of Ibadan]], where [[Geoffrey Parrinder]] was appointed as lecturer in Religious Studies in 1949.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/aug/05/guardianobituaries.religion|title=Obituary: Geoffrey Parrinder|first=Ursula|last=King|date=4 August 2005|website=The Guardian|access-date=8 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710093222/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/aug/05/guardianobituaries.religion|archive-date=10 July 2017}}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, the term "religious studies" became common and interest in the field increased. New departments were founded and influential journals of religious studies were initiated (for example, ''Religious Studies and Religion''). In the forward to ''Approaches to the Study of Religion'', [[Ninian Smart]] wrote that "in the English-speaking world [religious studies] basically dates from the 1960s, although before then there were such fields as 'the comparative study of religion', the 'history of religion', the 'sociology of religion' and so on&nbsp;..."

In the 1980s, in both [[UK|Britain]] and [[United States|America]], "the decrease in student applications and diminishing resources in the 1980s led to cut backs affecting religious studies departments." (Partridge) Later in the decade, religious studies began to pick up as a result of integrating religious studies with other disciplines and forming programs of study that mixed the discipline with more utilitarian study.

Philosophy of religion uses philosophical tools to evaluate religious claims and doctrines.  Western philosophy has traditionally been employed by English speaking scholars.  (Some other cultures have their own philosophical traditions including [[Hinduism|Indian]], [[Islam|Muslim]], and [[Judaism|Jewish]].)  Common issues considered by the (Western) philosophy of religion are the existence of [[God]], belief and rationality, [[religious cosmology|cosmology]], and logical inferences of logical consistency from sacred texts.

Although philosophy has long been used in evaluation of religious claims (''e.g.'' [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] and [[Pelagius (British monk)|Pelagius]]'s debate concerning original sin), the rise of [[scholasticism]] in the eleventh century, which represented "the search for order in intellectual life" (Russell, 170), more fully integrated the Western philosophical tradition (with the introduction of translations of [[Aristotle]]) in religious study.