Exploring the Origins of Religious Beliefs
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2025) | Viewed by 1359
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Considerable attention has been given to the topic of ‘origins’ in the academic study of religion, albeit construed in various ways. Four areas in the study of ‘origins’ can be highlighted:
- Classic studies in the late-19th and early-20th centuries sought to reveal ‘the origin of religion’ either through the search for the original form of religion, from which all others developed (for example, Müller, Tylor, Robertson Smith, Frazer), or in how religion is generated by society (Durkheim) or emerges from the structures of human psychology (Freud).
- Other studies from the 19th century to today, historical or sociological in orientation, have examined the emergence of specific religious traditions, giving rise to the critical study of, for example, ‘Christian Origins’, ‘The Origins of Islam’, etc.
- Another perspective promotes religious traditions’ own representations of their origins (and potentially their relationship with other ‘religions’). These studies may be apologetic in character or may critically evaluate the tradition’s self-understanding as reflecting group formation and identity, drawing on anthropological and sociological perspectives.
- From the late 20th century into the 21st century, new studies have focused on religion as something innate to humanness (Homo sapiens sapiens) which serves the interests of human development. These studies come from biological, philosophical and anthropological perspectives and all offer accounts of the origin of religion by drawing on aspects of evolutionary biology, often related to the development of the human brain, but also to emerging social complexity.
This Special Issue of Religions invites submissions that investigate the issue of the ‘origins’ of religion from these and other perspectives. Articles focusing on methodological questions and intellectual history are particularly welcome. For further information contact the Guest Editor, Peter Bedford: bedfordp@union.edu.
Prof. Dr. Peter Bedford
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- religion-theory and method
- religion-origins
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