Welcome to Religious Studies Resources. The purpose of this site is to provide easy accessibility to information about religions on the World Wide Web. The site provides links to web sites pertaining to religious studies and specific religious traditions (currently, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam).
Please keep reading for more information about this site and other web sites dealing with religions and/or religious themes . . .
A few things to keep in mind about the links found on this site:
Many of the links on this site I stumbled upon more or less by chance. Many I found on the Wabash Center web site (one the most useful resources on the web for teachers of religious studies). These sites have not been compiled through systematic research of relevant sites on the web. Religious Studies Resources is a somewhat random collection of sites and not intended to be comprehensive in its coverage of religion-related web sites.
A note about the categories used on this site:
With some exceptions, the links on this site are grouped according to the following categories:
- Reference
- Academic
- Confessional
- Popular Religiosity
- Texts
- Professional Organizations and Academic Departments
- Miscellaneous
These categories should be approached as a very general--and quite possibly misleading--guide. Time constraints currently prevent me from devising a clear and consistent way of grouping these sites. I attempt to explain what I mean by these categories in this table. I welcome suggestions via e-mail regarding the categories themselves and my classification of sites within categories.
General guidelines for approaching web sites on religions:
I strongly advise that anyone using the web as a resource of information on religions keep the following, general points in mind.
Most web sites about religions are sponsored by or created by religious organizations or individuals who self-identify as members of a particular religion. In many cases, the purpose of these sites is to articulate the beliefs of the sponsoring group/religion. For a student of religions, such sites are obviously useful because they present factual data about the beliefs of a particular religion or branch of a religion. These sites provide primary source data about religious traditions. However, this does not mean the views expressed there are true, except in the sense that they may truly represent the beliefs of a particular group or community of religious believers. For example, a fundamentalist Christian site will likely claim that the Bible is the infallible word of God. This is useful information for someone trying to learn about fundamentalist Christianity, since it is a fact that fundamentalist Christians tend to believe this. But this has nothing to with the actual truth or falsity of the doctrine of Biblical infallibility.
The same applies to the implicit beliefs presupposed by explicit religious claims. For example, religious beliefs are often supported based on the "evidence" of a canonical text(s). This presupposes the implicit belief that the text is authoritative. A critical thinker will not, of course, accept such a claim at face value.
In general, the content of any web site created by religious believers should be approached with suspicion. Interpreting and evaluating the information on a site may require serious and extensive research (ideally, research that includes peer-reviewed secondary sources) and critical thinking. Useful resources to support religious studies research (in general and on the web) may be found using the following links:
- Tutorial on using the Internet for religious studies and theology
- How to evaluate religious studies sites [this is one part of the preceding tutorial]
- San Jose State's tutorial on critical thinking
This site was created as a final project for a basic web development class at San Jose State University. Unfortunately, I do not have time to maintain it or repair broken links. If you notice broken links, an e-mail to randallsjsu(at)baymoon.com letting me know would be greatly appreciated. I also welcome suggestions regarding sites that you think would be good additions to Religious Studies Resources.