Divinity
Welcome to the Divinity subject guide - your guide to using the library resources, services and facilities for your subject.
Religious Studies
Books relating to Religious Studies will be found at a variety of locations in New College Library and the Main Library – check this on DiscoverEd. However, classmark BL for Religions – Mythology - Rationalism might be a useful place to start browsing.
- Excellent current and historic collections for Christianity can be accessed at New College Library
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Strong historic and current print collections for Judaism can be accessed at New College Library, with further historic and some current collections at the Main Library.
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The Main Library has strong collections of printed resources on Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, with some current research and teaching collections on Islam held at New College Library. The Serjeant & Watt Collections at the Main Library contain around 6,400 titles on a wide range of subjects related to Islam.
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The East Asian and South Asian Collections at the Main Library have strong print collections relating to world religions including Buddhism and Hinduism, with some current research and teaching collections also at New College Library.
Books for Religious Studies
Search DiscoverEd to find print and electronic Religious Studies e-books. These include:
- From Primitive to Indigenous by The academic study of Indigenous Religions developed historically from missiological and anthropological sources, but little analysis has been devoted to this classification within departments of religious studies. Evaluating this assumption in the light of case studies drawn from Zimbabwe, Alaska and shamanic traditions, and in view of current debates over 'primitivism', James Cox mounts a defence for the scholarly use of the category 'Indigenous Religions'.ISBN: 9780754655695Publication Date: 2007-09-18
- Indigenous religion(s) : local grounds, global networks byISBN: 9780367898588
- New Age Spirituality byISBN: 1844657140
- Selling Spirituality : The Silent Takeover of Religion byISBN: 9786610054220
- William James's Hidden Religious Imagination by This book offers a radical new reading of William James's work on the idea of 'religion.' Moving beyond previous psychological and philosophical interpretations, it uncovers a dynamic, imaginative, and critical use of the category of religion. This work argues that we can only fully understand James's work on religion by returning to the ground of his metaphysics of relations and by incorporating literary and historical themes. Author Jeremy Carette develops original perspectives on the influence of James's father and Calvinism, on the place of the body and sex in James, on the significance of George Eliot's novels, and Herbert Spencer's 'unknown,' revealing a social and political discourse of civil religion and republicanism and a poetic imagination at the heart of James understanding of religion. These diverse themes are brought together through a post-structural sensitivity and a recovery of the importance of the French philosopher Charles Renouvier to James's work. This study pushes new boundaries in Jamesian scholarship by reading James with pluralism and from the French tradition. It will be a benchmark text in the reshaping of James and the nineteenth-century foundations of the modern study of 'religion.'ISBN: 0203383249
- Religion, Theory, Critique by Religion, Theory, Critique is an essential tool for learning about theory and method in the study of religion. Leading experts engage with contemporary and classical theories as well as non-Western cultural contexts. Unlike other collections, this anthology emphasizes the dynamic relationship between "religion" as an object of study and different methodological approaches and openly addresses the question of the manifold ways in which "religion," "secular," and "culture" are imagined within different disciplinary horizons. This volume is the first textbook which seeks to engage discussion of classical approaches with contemporary cultural and critical theories. Contributors write on the influence of the natural sciences in the study of religion; the role of European Christianity in modeling theories of religion; religious experience and the interface with cognitive science; the structure and function of religious language; the social-scientific study of religion; ritual in religion; the phenomenology of religion; critical theory and religion; embodiment and religion; the impact of colonialism and modernity; theorizing religion in terms of race and ethnicity; links among religion, nationalism, and globalization; the interplay of gender, sex, and religion; and religion and the environment. Each chapter introduces the topic, identifies key theorists and issues, and respects the pluralistic nature of the scholarship in the field. Altogether, this collection scrutinizes the explicit and implicit assumptions theorists make about religion as an object of analysis.ISBN: 9780231145435
- A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion by A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of some of the most significant classic and contemporary writings in the field. Updated in its second edition, this volume examines numerous aspects of religion in a diversity of cultures and expands upon the idea of what we mean by 'religion', linking it to some of the broader questions of culture and politics. Collects classic and contemporary articles from the major thinkers in both North American and British anthropology Emphasizes the ongoing conversation among anthropologists with respect to central questions of religious behavior Presents comprehensive coverage of theory and religious practice, through time and ethnographic regions, integrated by editorial commentary Includes additional classic pieces by Pouillon, Burridge, and Meyerhoff, as well as more contemporary work by Harding, De Boeck, and Palmié Includes indexed bibliography arranged according to both ethnographic region and religious topics and practicesISBN: 9781405136143
Heritage Collections
EU1336
The University Art Collections include Gandharan sculptures, like this seated Buddha.The Centre for Research Collections (CRC) holds the Oriental Manuscripts Collection, which includes Arabic manuscripts such as commentaries on the Koran; traditions of the Prophet and Imam and prayers, as well as early texts of the Mahabarata. The CRC's collections also include rare Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts.
All of these collections can be accessed at the CRC on the 6th floor, Main Library.
Find academic literature for Religious Studies
- Atla Religion databaseCovers all aspects of religion. ATLA Serials include full text access to over 330 journals.
- Oxford Bibliographies for Buddhism, Hinduism, Jewish Studies, Islamic StudiesDeveloped cooperatively with scholars worldwide, Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource guides researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.
- Religion Past & PresentReligion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG) which aims to be the definitive encyclopedia of subjects connected with religion.
- Twentieth-Century Religious ThoughtTwentieth Century Religious Thought is a multivolume, cross-searchable online collection that brings together the seminal works and archival materials related to key worldwide religious thinkers from the early 1900s until the turn of the 21st century. Covers Christianity, Islam, Eastern Religions.
Journals for Religious Studies
Search DiscoverEd to find print and electronic Religious Studies journals. These include:
- Fieldwork in ReligionCall Number: Per F
- Journal of contemporary religionCall Number: Per J
- Nova religio : NR : the journal of alternative and emergent religionsCall Number: Per N
- Religion and SocietyCall Number: Per R
- Studies in Religion. Sciences Religeuses.Call Number: Per S
New College Library Special Collections for Religious Studies
MS HEB
New College Library holds Jewish sacred texts, biblical scholarship and devotional works in Hebrew as well as many examples of travel writing from Israel, Palestine and surrounding areas, collected by nineteenth century travellers such as William Fulton Jackson. The New College Library archives hold the papers of several Old Testament and Hebrew and Semitic Languages scholars.
To arrange to consult New College Special Collections and archives, please email: HeritageCollections@ed.ac.uk
Reference books for Religious Studies
Search DiscoverEd to find print and electronic Religious Studies reference books, or browse the shelves in the New College Library Hall. These include:
- Dictionary of Contemporary Religion in the Western World byISBN: 0851119824
- Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy by This comprehensive encyclopedia presents African thinkers, concepts and traditions, with a focus on African religious and philosophical practices. It offers a dependable and significant synthesis of African studies that encompasses major trends in the field since the early 1980s. The encyclopedia considers all religious and philosophical systems of Africa, both indigenous and non-indigenous. It also recognizes the determining role of the Diaspora in understanding African traditions and African identity. The work has benefited immensely from commitments in advanced interdisciplinary exchanges in a number of domains, including comparative research in epistemology and from surveys in postcolonial studies and social sciences, along with religious and philosophical compendia. In brief, this is an encyclopedia made from the viewpoint of African studies and in dialogue with scientific traditionsISBN: 9402420665
- Encylopedia of Latin American Religions byISBN: 3319089560
- Encyclopedia of Religion by Among Library Journal's selections of the most important reference works of the millennium - with the Encyclopedia Judaica and the New Catholic Encyclopedia - Mircea Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion won the American Library Associations' Dartmouth Medal in 1988 and is widely regarded as the standard reference work in the field. This second edition, which is intended to reflect both changes in academia and in the world since 1987, will include almost all of the 2750 original entries - many heavily updated - as well as approximately 600 (1.2M words) entirely new articles. Preserving the best of Eliade's cross-cultural approach while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition will be the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of a classic work to make it relevant to the questions and interests of readers, whether students, specialists, or laypersons. The result is an essential purchase for libraries of all kinds. Every article from the first edition was evaluated by our board of scholars. of study are given their own entries. New composite entries present overarching themes - for example, gender and religion, politics and religion - with each article within the composite covering a different religious tradition. Many of the reprinted articles from the first-edition have updated bibliographies. This is an indispensable resource for any school with a department or programme in religious studies. Additionally, articles support the curriculum and general research in history, gender studies, language and literature, music, the visual arts, history, politics, ecology, health and medicine, law, sociology and anthropology. Three Colour inserts serve as pictorial essays illuminating themes such as pilgrimage, prayer, healing, and how these concepts are displayed in various religions throughout the world. Illustrations go beyond the typical stock imagery and present images of authentic value not readily available elsewhere.ISBN: 0028657330
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion byISBN: 0199340374
- The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion byISBN: 9781529721706
Data sources
- Finding data : Research Data ServiceFind data freely available on the internet or through University of Edinburgh subscriptions.
- World Christian DatabaseThe World Christian Database provides comprehensive statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups.
- World Religion DatabaseThe World Religion Database (WRD) contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world.