Editing Religious studies (section)

==Academic disciplines within religious studies==
There is some amount of overlap between subcategories of religious studies and the discipline itself.  Religious studies seeks to study religious phenomena as a whole, rather than be limited to the approaches of its subcategories.

===Anthropology of religion===
The [[anthropology of religion]] is principally concerned with the common basic human needs that religion fulfills. The [[cultural anthropology]] of religion is principally concerned with the cultural aspects of religion. Of primary concern to the cultural anthropologist of religions are rituals, beliefs, religious art, and practices of piety.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discoveranthropology.org.uk/about-anthropology/specialist-areas/anthropology-of-religion.html |title=Anthropology of Religion |access-date=24 June 2024 |publisher=Discover Anthropology }}</ref>

===Economics of religion===
Gallup surveys have found that the world's poorest countries may be the most religious. Of those countries with average per-capita incomes under $2000, 95% reported that religion played an important role in their daily lives. This is contrasted by the average of 47% from the richest countries, with incomes over $25,000 (with the United States breaking the trend by reporting at 65%).<ref name=GallupE>{{cite web|url=https://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx|title=Religiosity Highest in World's Poorest Nations|first=Steve|last=Crabtree|website=gallup.com|date=31 August 2010 |access-date=8 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823202612/http://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx|archive-date=23 August 2017}}</ref>
Social scientists have suggested that religion plays a functional role (helping people cope) in poorer nations.<ref name=GallupE/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/116449/Religion-Provides-Emotional-Boost-World-Poor.aspx|title=Religion Provides Emotional Boost to World's Poor |first1=Steve |last1=Crabtree |first2=Brett |last2=Pelham |website=gallup.com|date=6 March 2009 |access-date=8 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912113232/http://www.gallup.com/poll/116449/religion-provides-emotional-boost-world-poor.aspx|archive-date=12 September 2017}}</ref>

===History of religion===
{{Main|History of religion}}

The history of religions is not concerned with theological claims apart from their historical significance.  Some topics of this discipline are the [[historicity]] of religious figures, events, and the evolution of doctrinal matters.<ref>Kevin M. Schultz and Paul Harvey, "Everywhere and Nowhere: Recent Trends in Spainiards Religious History and Historiography," ''[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]]'', 78 (March 2010), 129–62.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=bey |first1=Messi |title=Exorcism Tokyo |url=https://myoryuji.com/archives/15236 |website=myoryuji |access-date=12 November 2024}}</ref>

=== Interreligious studies ===
[[Interreligious studies]] is an emerging academic field that is focused on interactions among religious groups, including but not limited to [[interfaith dialogue]]. Journals and interdisiplinary organizing efforts grew especially in the 2010s. A pivotal anthology for the field is ''Interreligious/interfaith studies: Defining a new field'' by [[Eboo Patel]], [[Jennifer Howe Peace]], and Noah Silverman.<ref>Patel, Eboo, Jennifer Howe Peace, and Noah Silverman. ''Interreligious/interfaith studies: Defining a new field''. Beacon Press, 2018.</ref>

===Literary approaches===
There are many approaches to the study of sacred texts. One of these approaches is to interpret the text as a literary object. Metaphor, thematic elements, and the nature and motivations of the characters are of interest in this approach. An example of this approach is ''[[God: A Biography]]'', by [[Jack Miles]].

===Neurological approaches===
{{Main|Neuroscience of religion}}

The [[temporal lobe]] has been of interest which has been termed the "God center" of the brain. (Ramachandran, ch. 9) [[Neurological]] findings in regard to religious experience is not a widely accepted discipline within religious studies. Scientific investigators have used a [[SPECT]]scanner to analyze the brain activity of both Christian contemplatives and Buddhist meditators, finding them to be quite similar.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Newberg
  | first = Andrew
  | author2 = Eugene D'Aquili
  | author3 = Vince Raus
  | title = Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
  | publisher = Ballantyne Books
  | year = 2001
  | location = New York
  | url = https://archive.org/details/whygodwontgoaway00newb
  | isbn = 0-345-44033-1
  }}</ref>

===Origin of religion===
{{Main|Evolutionary origin of religions|Evolutionary psychology of religion|Revelation}}

The "origin of religion" refers to the emergence of religious behavior in [[prehistory]], before written records.

===Psychology of religion===
{{Main|Psychology of religion}}

The psychology of religion is concerned with the psychological principles operative in religious communities and practitioners. [[William James]]'s [[The Varieties of Religious Experience]] analyzed personal experience as contrasted with the social phenomenon of religion. Some issues of concern to the psychologist of religions are the psychological nature of [[religious conversion]], the making of religious decisions, [[religion and happiness]], and the psychological factors in evaluating religious claims.

[[Sigmund Freud]] was another figure in the field of psychology and religion. He used his psychoanalytic theory to explain religious beliefs, practices, and rituals, in order to justify the role of religion in the development of human culture.

===Sociology of religion===
{{Main|Sociology of religion}}

The sociology of religion concerns the [[dialectic]]al relationship between religion and [[society]]; the practices, historical backgrounds, developments, universal themes and roles of religion in society.<ref>Kevin J. Christiano, et al., (2nd ed., 2008), Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. {{ISBN|978-0-7425-6111-3}}</ref> There is particular emphasis on the recurring role of religion in all societies and throughout recorded history. The sociology of religion is distinguished from the philosophy of religion in that it does not set out to assess the validity of religious beliefs, though the process of comparing multiple conflicting [[dogma]]s may require what [[Peter L. Berger]] has described as inherent "methodological atheism".<ref>Berger, Peter L. ''The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion'' (1967). Anchor Books 1990 paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-07305-4}}</ref> Whereas the sociology of religion broadly differs from theology in assuming the invalidity of the supernatural, theorists tend to acknowledge socio-cultural [[Concretization|reification]] of religious practise.

The sociology of religion also deals with how religion impacts society regarding the positive and negatives of what happens when religion is mixed with society. Theorist such as Marx states that "religion is the opium of the people" - the idea that religion has become a way for people to deal with their problems. At least one comprehensive study refutes this idea. Research has found that secular democracies like [[France]] or [[Scandinavia]] outperform more theistic democracies on various measures of societal health. The authors explains, "Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions?"<ref>Gregory S. Paul, "Cross-national correlations of quantifiable societal health with popular religiosity and secularism in the prosperous democracies," ''Journal of Religion & Society'' (2005) 1#1 pp 1-17 [http://globalhealth.washington.edu/docs/Bezruchka%202.pdf online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140123104528/http://globalhealth.washington.edu/docs/Bezruchka%202.pdf |date=2014-01-23 }}.</ref>

=== Law and religion ===
{{Main|Law and religion}}

Vogel reports that in the 1970s a new "law and religion" approach has progressively built its own contribution to religious studies. Over a dozen scholarly organizations and committees were formed by 1983, and a scholarly quarterly, the ''Journal of Law and Religion'' first published that year and the ''Ecclesiastical Law Journal'' opened in 1999.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Vogel | first1 = Howard J. | year = 1983 | title = A Survey and Commentary on the New Literature in Law and Religion | journal = Journal of Law and Religion | volume = 1 | issue = 1| pages = 79–169 | jstor=1051074| doi = 10.2307/1051074 | s2cid = 145442103 }}</ref> Many departments and centers have been created around the world during the last decades. As of 2012, major Law and Religion organizations in the U.S. included 500 law professors, 450 political scientists, and specialists in numerous other fields such as history and religious studies. Between 1985 and 2010, the field saw the publication of some 750 books and 5000 scholarly articles.<ref>John Witte, "The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report," ''Ecclesiastical Law Journal'' (2012) 14#3 pp: 327-354.</ref> Scholars are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non establishment but also on the study of religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding on religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in comparative perspective.<ref>Norman Doe, '' Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction'' (2011)</ref><ref>W. Cole Durham, and Brett G. Scharffs, eds. ''Law and religion: national, international, and comparative perspectives'' (Aspen Pub, 2010).</ref>  Specialists have explored themes in western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, discipline and love.<ref>John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, eds., ''Christianity and Law: An Introduction'' (Cambridge U.P. 2008)</ref>  Common topics on interest include marriage and the family,<ref>John Witte Jr, ''From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition'' (1997)</ref> and human rights.<ref>John Witte, Jr., ''The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism'' (2008)</ref> Moving beyond Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion interrelations in law and religion in the Muslim Middle East,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Elizabeth Mayer | first1 = Ann | year = 1987 | title = Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East | journal = American Journal of Comparative Law | volume = 35 | issue = 1| pages = 127–184 | jstor=840165| doi = 10.2307/840165 }}</ref> and pagan Rome.<ref>Alan Watson, ''The state, law, and religion: pagan Rome'' (University of Georgia Press, 1992)</ref>

===Religion and cinema===
The earliest serious writing on the interface between religion and cinema appeared in the work of film critics like [[Jean Epstein]] in the 1920s.{{sfn|Wright|2007|p=16}}
The subject has grown in popularity with students and is cited as having particular relevance given the pervasiveness of film in modern culture.{{sfn|Wright|2007|p=13}} Approaches to the study of religion and film differ among scholars; functionalist approaches for instance view film as a site in which religion is manifested, while theological approaches examine film as a reflection of God's presence in all things.{{sfn|Wright|2007|p=14}}