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Introduction to Religious Studies - RELS 101

Introduces comparative study of religions, sacred texts, rituals, institutions, belief systems, and methods used in religious studies.

Study Tools

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Study guides

14

12/14 Religion, Society, and Power

A comparative guide to how religious ideas, institutions, and practices shape identity, law, inequality, conflict, peacebuilding, and social change.
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08/14 Abrahamic Religious Traditions

A structured comparison of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, focusing on their shared Abrahamic heritage, distinct beliefs, sacred texts, practices, institutions, diversity, and historical relationships.
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05/14 Ritual, Practice, and Religious Experience

A comparative guide to how religious rituals embody beliefs, shape individual and communal life, and create experiences of sacred time, space, transformation, and belonging.
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09/14 Religions of East Asia

A comparative guide to Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, and Buddhism in East Asia, emphasizing ethics, ritual, cosmology, institutions, and historical interaction.
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07/14 Religions of South Asia

A comparative guide to the histories, teachings, texts, practices, institutions, and internal diversity of Hindu traditions, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism in South Asia.
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14/14 Comparative Case Studies and Research Methods

A practical guide to designing responsible comparative religious-studies research, selecting cases, evaluating evidence, addressing ethics, and developing limited conclusions supported by evidence.
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10/14 Indigenous and Diasporic Religious Traditions

A comparative guide to how Indigenous, African, and African diasporic traditions organize sacred relationships, knowledge, authority, ritual practice, and community life while responding to colonialism and historical change.
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04/14 Sacred Texts and Religious Authority

A comparative guide to how religious communities create, recognize, transmit, interpret, and use sacred texts as sources of ritual, ethical, legal, and communal authority.
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03/14 Key Concepts for Understanding Religion

A comparative framework for analyzing religion through narratives, symbols, worldviews, institutions, practices, identity, and public life.
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13/14 Secularism, Nonreligion, and Contemporary Belief

A structured guide to distinguishing nonreligion, belief, affiliation, humanism, secularism, spirituality, and the methods used to study contemporary belief.
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11/14 Religion, Modernity, and Globalization

A structured guide to how modernity, reform, everyday practice, migration, globalization, and digital media transform religious institutions, identities, and communities.
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06/14 Religious Institutions and Communities

A structured guide to how religious institutions organize authority, membership, law, education, social services, and relationships with political power.
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02/14 Methods and Theories in Religious Studies

A structured guide to comparing religions, using insider and outsider perspectives, evaluating categories, interpreting lived practices, and avoiding common forms of scholarly bias.
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01/14 Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion

A structured introduction to the academic study of religion, including its scope, definitions, disciplinary relationships, comparative questions, research methods, and principles for responsible analysis.
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Quizzes

14

08/14 Abrahamic Religious Traditions

A medium-difficulty comparative quiz on the shared history, beliefs, scriptures, practices, institutions, diversity, and relationships of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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12/14 Religion, Society, and Power

A medium-difficulty quiz on how religion interacts with identity, institutions, law, colonialism, nationalism, conflict, peacebuilding, and social movements. Questions require applying concepts from the material rather than recalling isolated facts.
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09/14 Religions of East Asia

A medium-difficulty quiz on the interconnected traditions, practices, concepts, and historical development of East Asian religions, including Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, Buddhism, and the Three Teachings.
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14/14 Comparative Case Studies and Research Methods

A medium-difficulty quiz on comparative religious studies, research methods, evidence evaluation, ethics, and the design of responsible comparative projects.
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10/14 Indigenous and Diasporic Religious Traditions

A medium-difficulty quiz on Indigenous, African, and African diasporic religious traditions, emphasizing land, oral knowledge, authority, historical change, colonial classification, and responsible comparative methods.
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06/14 Religious Institutions and Communities

A 14-question quiz on how religious institutions organize authority, membership, education, law, charity, and relationships with society and the state. Questions progress from foundational application to more complex comparative analysis.
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05/14 Ritual, Practice, and Religious Experience

A comparative quiz on ritual practices, religious experience, sacred time and space, rites of passage, bodily discipline, and methods for studying religion.
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03/14 Key Concepts for Understanding Religion

Assess understanding and application of key concepts in the comparative study of religion, including myth, symbols, worldviews, cosmology, revelation, tradition, identity, conversion, and secularism.
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11/14 Religion, Modernity, and Globalization

A medium-difficulty quiz on how religion is transformed by modernity, reform, lived practice, migration, globalization, digital media, and comparative research methods. Questions emphasize applying concepts to concrete situations rather than recalling isolated facts.
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13/14 Secularism, Nonreligion, and Contemporary Belief

A medium-difficulty quiz on nonreligion, atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, spirituality, and methods for studying contemporary belief. Questions emphasize distinctions, interpretation, and application rather than isolated recall.
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04/14 Sacred Texts and Religious Authority

A medium-difficulty quiz on how religious communities create, preserve, interpret, transmit, and use sacred texts as authoritative literary, historical, ritual, legal, and communal objects.
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01/14 Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion

A medium-difficulty quiz on the academic study of religion, including its definitions, objects of study, related disciplines, comparative questions, methods, and principles of responsible scholarship.
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02/14 Methods and Theories in Religious Studies

A medium-difficulty quiz on comparative methods, insider and outsider perspectives, emic and etic analysis, classification, interpretation, and responsible scholarship in religious studies.
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07/14 Religions of South Asia

A comparative quiz on the historical development, teachings, practices, texts, and institutions of Hindu traditions, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The questions emphasize accurate comparison and application of concepts while recognizing internal diversity.
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Flashcards

14

11/14 Religion, Modernity, and Globalization

A focused flashcard set covering how modernity, reform, everyday practice, migration, globalization, digital media, and research methods shape contemporary religion.
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07/14 Religions of South Asia

A comparative study of the histories, teachings, texts, practices, institutions, and internal diversity of Hindu traditions, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Flashcards · Updated

10/14 Indigenous and Diasporic Religious Traditions

A focused study tool on the diversity, authority, history, institutions, and responsible comparative study of Indigenous, African, and African diasporic religious traditions.
Flashcards · Updated

14/14 Comparative Case Studies and Research Methods

A focused set of flashcards on comparing religious cases, selecting and evaluating evidence, applying research methods, and conducting ethical, reflexive studies.
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08/14 Abrahamic Religious Traditions

A concise comparative study of the shared histories, scriptures, beliefs, practices, authorities, diversity, and relationships of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Flashcards · Updated

02/14 Methods and Theories in Religious Studies

Review comparative methods, insider and outsider perspectives, classification, interpretation, and safeguards against bias in the study of religion.
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09/14 Religions of East Asia

A focused review of how Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, and Buddhism developed distinctive teachings while interacting across East Asian religious life.
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05/14 Ritual, Practice, and Religious Experience

A focused review of how ritual practices express religious meaning, shape communities, transform participants, and can be studied comparatively.
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04/14 Sacred Texts and Religious Authority

A concise study tool on how religious communities recognize, transmit, interpret, and use sacred texts as sources of ritual, legal, ethical, and spiritual authority.
Flashcards · Updated

06/14 Religious Institutions and Communities

A focused set of flashcards covering the organization, authority, community life, law, education, services, and political relationships of religious institutions.
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03/14 Key Concepts for Understanding Religion

A focused introduction to the comparative study of religion through key concepts including myth, symbols, worldviews, cosmology, revelation, tradition, religious change, identity, and secularism.
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13/14 Secularism, Nonreligion, and Contemporary Belief

A focused set of flashcards distinguishing nonreligion, belief and knowledge claims, humanism, secularism, spirituality, religious categories, and research methods in contemporary religious studies.
Flashcards · Updated

12/14 Religion, Society, and Power

A focused set of flashcards on how religion interacts with identity, institutions, law, conflict, social movements, and political power.
Flashcards · Updated

01/14 Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion

A concise introduction to religious studies, its objects, methods, comparisons, disciplinary relationships, and principles for responsible academic inquiry.
Flashcards · Updated