SR600: Methods in the Study of Religion

I took this course in Spring 2026 with Dr. Paul Numrich. It is part of the “Methods Core” of the M.Div Degree.

Methods used to understand “religion,” focusing especially on academic disciplines, confessional approaches, and anti-religion perspectives. The course will deepen students’ understanding of religion, enhance their ability to serve and work with religious and nonreligious others, and augment their participation in public discourse about religion.

WorldCat Reading List

The WorldCat list includes both the required reading, as well as the readings that came up in class as recommended things that are related to the study. The required reading bibliography below includes the selections when the whole book wasn’t required.

Required Reading

Definitions of Religion

• “Definitions of Religion.” ReligionFacts. Last updated August 30, 2024.
• MTSO Selected Files:
  • “SR600 definitions”
  • “Critiques of religion concept.”
  • “What Is Religion?” studyreligion.org
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Definitions.” Title VII, Section 12: Religious discrimination.
• McCutcheon, Russell. “What’s Your Definition of Religion?” Culture on the Edge, December 17, 2015.
• Tweed, Thomas A. “Chapter 1: “What Religion Is,” pp. 1-18. Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Yang, Fenggang. “Chapter 2, “A Definition of Religion for the Social-Scientific Study of Religion,” pp. 24-43.” Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Academic Approaches

• Britannica Online Encyclopedia. s.v. “study of religion.”
• Schilbrack, Kevin. “Religions: Are There Any?” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78, no. 4 (2010): 1112-38. Read pp. 1112-17, 1131-35.
• “What Is the Academic Study of Religion?” Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions. June 2012. 
• Britannica Online Encyclopedia. s.v. “Phenomenology of Religion.”
• Chitando, Ezra. “Phenomenology of Religion and the Study of African Traditional Religions.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 17, no. 4 (2005): 299-316.
• Coogan, Michael D. “Introduction” pp 6-13. The Illustrated Guide to World Religions. Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Smart, Ninian. “Introduction” pp10-26. The World’s Religions. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Edwards, Korie L. “Presidential Address: Religion and Power—A Return to the Roots of Social Scientific Scholarship.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 58, no. 1 (2019): 5-19.
• Little, William. “15.2 Sociological Explanations of Religion.” Introduction to Sociology. 3rd Canadian ed. Nova Scotia Community College, 2023.

Confessional Approaches

• Ashland Theological Seminary
  • Peruse this website to get a sense of a Christian confessional approach.
• Methodist Theological School in Ohio
  • Peruse this website to get a sense of a Christian confessional approach.
• Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion
  • Analyze this example of a Jewish confessional approach
• Zaytuna College
  • Analyze this example of an Islamic confessional approach
• Hindu University of America
  • Analyze this example of a Hindu confessional approach
• Institute of Buddhist Studies
  • Analyze this example of a Buddhist confessional approach

Anti-Religion Approaches

• Coward, Harold, Ronald Neufeldt, and Eva K. Neumaier, eds. “Overthrowing the Clan Authority of the Elders and Ancestral Temples, the Theocratic Authority of the City Gods and Local Deities and the Masculine Authority of the Husbands,” pp. 328-31. Readings in Eastern Religions. 2nd ed. Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007.
• Guy-Evans, Olivia. “Karl Marx on Religion: Ideas & Quotes.” Simply Sociology.
• Russell, Bertrand. “Why I Am Not a Christian (1927).” Drew University.
• Thomson, Jonny. “Epicurus and the Atheist’s Guide to Happiness.” Big Think, May 14, 2021.
• Waardenburg, Jacques. “Sigmund Freud” and “Religion as Illusion,” pp. 227-29. Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion: Aims, Methods, and Theories of Research. 2nd ed. Walter de Gruyter, 2017.
• “Destruction: Curse the Gods.” SongMeanings.
• Harris, Sam. “Reply to a Christian.” samharris.org
• Hitchens, Christopher. “Religion Poisons Everything.” Slate, April 25, 2007.
• Molina, Alejandra. “Black Skeptics Find Meaning in Uplifting their Community through Social Justice.” Religion News Service, October 15, 2020.
• Wikipedia. s.v. “New Atheism.” Last edited November 24, 2024.