Comparative Religious Studies

Comparative Religious Studies examines patterns of belief, ritual and institutional life across diverse faiths, seeking both universal structures and local particularities. By juxtaposing creation myths, sacred narratives and moral frameworks, scholars reveal how motifs such as journeys of purification, conceptions of the afterlife and modes of communal worship recur and adapt across cultures. Methodologies range from historical and philological analysis of doctrinal texts to ethnographic fieldwork in lived communities, as well as digital humanities approaches—text mining, network analysis and computational lexicons—that handle large corpora of religious writings. Attention to global entanglements uncovers how trade routes, colonial encounters and diasporic flows have reshaped traditions and generated syncretic forms. This breadth of perspective informs practical applications in interfaith dialogue, conflict resolution and policy on religious freedom, while also illuminating how religious imagination addresses challenges such as environmental stewardship, social inequality and ethical uses of emerging technologies.

Research from Nature Portfolio

A large comparative study of historic witchcraft accusations in Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates that allegations often follow disputes over wealth and status and take gendered forms, suggesting that accusations function as mechanisms of social competition rather than mere superstition. In the realm of moral economics, innovative work reconceptualises charitable food assistance by faith organisations as an “excess rescaling” process, showing how surplus food—and the moral impetus to alleviate poverty—can be reframed as a strategy of ethical abundance. Philosophical inquiry has further expanded comparative horizons by applying metaphor theory to philosophy of religion, using the “journey” metaphor’s constituent parts to generate inclusive questions about the self and the cosmos that can embrace a plurality of religious philosophies without presupposing theism.

Research from all publishers

A foundational global history proposes a genealogical framework that weaves together poststructuralist and postcolonial insights, tracing how “religion” emerged as a global category through interconnected missionary, scholarly and commercial networks since the nineteenth century. Complementary research on the nineteenth-century exchanges between Indian reformers, European Orientalists and Theosophists reveals how early dialogues produced modern classification systems and framed debates on religious authenticity. A rhizomatic study of political Islam under German colonial rule in East Africa rejects linear narratives in favour of a networked model, mapping how colonial anxieties, local elites and transregional connections coalesced to shape Islam as a political identity.

Comparative Religious Studies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in comparative religious studies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Genealogical approach: Tracing the evolution of concepts through historical lineages, power relations and discourse shifts.

Excess rescaling: The transformation of material surpluses by religious organisations into ethical resources for redistribution.

Rhizome: A non-hierarchical, network-based model of cultural or intellectual development with multiple entry points.

Narrative typology: A systematic classification of shared story forms and motifs enabling cross-cultural comparison.

References

1. Same-sex competition and sexual conflict expressed through witchcraft accusations. Scientific Reports (2022).
2. Religion, poverty, and abundance. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2018).
3. Using the ‘journey metaphor’ to restructure philosophy of religion. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2019).
4. Global Religious History. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (2021).
5. Rajnarayan Basu and His “Science of Religion”: The Emergence of Religious Studies through Exchanges between Bengali and Christian Reformers, Orientalists, and Theosophists. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (2021).
6. Global Religious History as a Rhizome: Colonial Panics and Political Islam in German East Africa. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (2021).