History and social sciences

About the discipline

Religion has shaped much in the way of world history on every continent, from the beginning of recorded time.  It has led and suppressed the search for information; been the impetus for and result of conquest; provided guidance for civic laws and engagement; and defined national identities. Perhaps the greatest benefit the Center on Religion & the Professions can provide is lending historical background to current problems concerning religion and public life. Read More »

Articles

  • “Nazism as a Secular Religion” by Milan Babik. History and Theory. 45, no. 3 (2006): 375-396.
  • “Christianity as an Arm of Empire: The Ambiguous Case of India Under the Company, c. 1813-1858” by Ian Copland. Historical Journal. 49, no. 4 (2006): 1025-54.
  • “Sikh Community: Over 100 Years in the Pacific Northwest” by Purnima Dhavan, Kym S. Rice and Benjamin Filene. Journal of American History. 93, no. 3 (2006): 819-21.
  • “The Limits of Conversion: Ritual Murder and the Virgin Mary in the Account of Adam of Bristol” by Harvey J. Hames. Journal of Medieval History. 33 no. 1 (2007): 43-59.
  • “The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833-1865” by Ryan Jordon. Civil War History. 53, no. 1 (2007): 5-28.
  • “The Savage Science: Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis, and the History of Religion” by Michael Mack. Journal of Religious History. 30, no. 3 (2006): 331-53.
  • “Science and Religion, 400 B.C.-A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus” by Margaret J. Osler. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 37, no. 4 (2006): 486-7.
  • “The Southern Way of Death: The Meaning of Death in Antebellum White Evangelical Culture” by Randy J. Sparks. Southern Quarterly. 44, no. 1 (2006): 32-50.
  • “Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795-1850” by John Stenhouse, International History Review. 29 no. 1 (2007): 143-5.
  • “The Sepphoris Synagogue: Deciphering an Ancient Message Through Its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contexts” by Adam L. Porter. American Journal of Archaeology. 111, no. 1 (2007): 179.
  • “A glimpse at religion in Turkey 2,800 years ago.” Dallas Morning News, Nov. 19, 2008.
  • “Tomb of Herod the Great may have been found” by Ed O’Loughlin. Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 2007.
  • “Religion can help end wars, too; Faith is sometimes the fuel that feeds conflict and spreads strife. History is a witness to this. But lest we forget, believers also can be the salve to bring people and religions back together” by Tom Krattenmaker. USA Today, July 14, 2008.
  • “People of the Book – The Forgotten History of Islam and the West” by Tim Cribb. South China Morning Post, Nov. 18, 2007.

Books

  • Women, Gender, and Radical Religion in Early Modern Europe. Sylvia Monica Brown (ed.). BRILL, 2007.
  • Reason and Religion in the English Revolution: The Challenge of Socinianism. Sarah Mortimer. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  • Jesuits and the Politics of Religious Pluralism in Eighteenth-Century Transylvania. Paul Shore. Ashgate Publishing, 2007.
  • Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment. Phil Zuckerman. New York University Press, 2008.
  • The Natural History of Religion. David Hume. NuVision Publications, LLC, 2007.
  • Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years. Israel Shahak. Pluto Press, 1997.
  • Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization. Seyyed Hossein Nasr. HarperOne, 2002.
  • History of the World’s Religions. David S. Noss. Prentice Hall, 2007.
  • Religion in American History. Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
  • Religion in American Life: A Short History. Jon Butler. Oxford University Press, U.S.A, 2007.
  • American Religions: A Documentary History. R. Marie Griffith. Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 2007.
  • The Reformation: Towards a New History by Lee Palmer Wandel. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story. Diana Butler Bass, HarperOne , 2009.
  • Night of the Confessor: Christian Faith in an Age of Uncertainty by Tomas Halik. Image, 2012.
  • Religion in American Politics: A Short History. Frank Lambert. Princeton University Press, 2008.
  • Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America by Robert Brenneman. Oxford University Press, USA, 2011.
  • Religion and the Human Prospect. Alexander Saxton. Monthly Review Press, 2006.
  • The Christian World: A Global History. Martin Marty. Modern Library, 2008.
  • Religion in History: Conflict, Conversion and Co-existence. John Wolffe (ed.). Manchester University Press, 2004.
  • Red State Religion: Faith and Politics in America’s Heartland by Robert Wuthnow. Princeton University Press, 2011.

Case studies

  • Aown, Najwa M. “A place for informal learning in teaching about religion: The story of an experienced non-Muslim teacher and her learning about Islam.” Teaching and Teacher Education. Vol. 27, No. 8 (Nov. 2011): 1255-64.
  • Regulating religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe. James T. Richardson. Springer, 2004.
  • “Religion as Hatred: Antisemitism as a Case Study” by John T. Pawlikowski. Paper presented at the Conference to Establish the Field of Hate Studies, Spokane, WA, March 19, 2004.
  • “Religious fundamentalist movements: social movements in the World System? Case study of the Maitatsine Movement in Nigeria, 1980-85” by Katarzyna Skuratowicz. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Marriott Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 12, 2005.

Codes of ethics

Journals

More links

Professional associations and faith groups

Recent research

  • Babik, Milan. “Nazism as a Secular Religion.” History and Theory. 45, no. 3 (2006): 375-396.
  • Copland, Ian. “Christianity as an Arm of Empire: The Ambiguous Case of India Under the Company, c. 1813-1858.” Historical Journal. 49, no. 4 (2006): 1025-54.
  • Dhavan, Purnima, Kym S. Rice and Benjamin Filene. “Sikh Community: Over 100 Years in the Pacific Northwest.” Journal of American History. 93, no. 3 (2006): 819-21.
  • Hames, Harvey J. “The Limits of Conversion: Ritual Murder and the Virgin Mary in the Account of Adam of Bristol.” Journal of Medieval History. 33 no. 1 (2007): 43-59.
  • Jordon, Ryan. “The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833-1865.” Civil War History. 53, no. 1 (2007): 5-28.
  • Kamat, Sangeeta and Biju Mathew. “Religion, education and the politics of recognition: a critique and a counter‐proposal.” Comparative Education. Vol. 46, No. 3 (2010): 359-76.
  • Mack, Michael. “The Savage Science: Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis, and the History of Religion.” Journal of Religious History. 30, no. 3 (2006): 331-53.
  • Sparks, Randy J. “The Southern Way of Death: The Meaning of Death in Antebellum White Evangelical Culture.” Southern Quarterly. 44, no. 1 (2006): 32-50.
  • Stenhouse, John. “Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795-1850.” International History Review. 29 no. 1 (2007): 143-5.

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