Religious Studies Research Guide

Books and e-books

Encyclopedia of Hinduism

The Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Second Edition focuses on the most significant groups within this religion, noteworthy teachers and their contributions, the religions and cultural movements that enriched its history, and the spread of Hindu thought and practice around the world.

Jehovah's witnesses and the secular world : from the 1870s to the present

This book examines the tensions between Jehovah's Witnesses and government authorities, civic organisations, established churches and the broader public generated by the Watch Tower Society's teachings. Witnesses originated in the 1870s as small, loose-knit groups calling themselves Bible Students. Today, there are some eight million Witnesses worldwide, all actively engaged in evangelism.

Confucianism As a World Religion

From ancient Confucian temples, to nineteenth-century archives, to the testimony of people interviewed by the author throughout China over a period of more than a decade, this book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion.

Buddhism and Jainism

This volume focuses on Buddhism and Jainism, two religions which, together with Hinduism, constitute the three pillars of Indic religious tradition in its classical formulation. It explores their history and relates how the Vedic period in the history of Hinduism drew to a close around the sixth century BCE and how its gradual etiolation gave rise to a number of religious movements.

Global Sufism: A Historical and Chronological Overview

This book analyzes the enduring appeal of the Sufi movement. Its first chapter deals with origins of the Sufi movement and then discusses of the various definitions attached to what came to define what would later be called the mystical dimension of Islam. The succeeding chapters deal with its historical development.

Mormon History

Mormon History offers an interpretive survey of Mormon historical writings, from the partisan and often ephemeral history of the nineteenth century through the shift in the twentieth toward a more balanced and professional approach and an emphasis on how the Mormons helped settle the American West.

Shinto : A Short History

Shinto - A Short History provides an introductory outline of the historical development of Shinto from the ancient period of Japanese history until the present day. Shinto does not offer a readily identifiable set of teachings, rituals or beliefs; individual shrines and kami deities have led their own lives, not within the confines of a narrowly defined Shinto, but rather as participants in a religious field that included Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and folk elements. Thus, this book approaches Shinto as a series of historical'religious systems'rather than attempting to identify a timeless'Shinto essence'.

Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy

This is the first comprehensive companion to the study of Daoism as a philosophical tradition. It provides a general overview of Daoist philosophy in various thinkers and texts from 6th century BCE to 5th century CE and reflects the latest academic developments in the field.

Open Internet Collections

Subjects: Religious Studies