Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a student of E. B. Tylor (1832-1917) and a Scottish literary figure who had a keen interest in folklore, anthropology, poetry, and fairy tales. He wrote […]
The origin of religion is the concerted attempt to isolate a causal primary factor, source, and root of religion (1). Scholars have referred to this causal primary factor as the […]
Natural Religion is the idea that there is a religious apprehension of the world common to all human beings. According to Ivan Strenski it is part of the “normal course […]
James Frazer (1854-1941), a Scottish social anthropologist, penned the well-known work The Golden Bough (1890), a 12 volume collection of materials on “the savage mind.” His book had several purposes. […]
An External Analysis of Religion A study of the function of religion is the theorist’s attempt to understand the phenomenon of religion externally, an approach expressed well within an examination […]
The German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) tried to defend religion against detractors and cynics of his day which led him to pen On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (1799). […]
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was railway engineer turned evolutionary philosopher who proposed his own hypothesis of the evolution and development of religious thought. Charles Darwin once called him “the greatest living […]
Religious Studies is an academic discipline that developed out of Europe and that is less than 200 years old. It should not be confused for theology nor should scholars of […]
Perhaps what concerned earliest Enlightenment writers was the sine qua non of religion, the term used to denote a first principle or essence constituting the very fundamental core of religion. […]
