Biblical and comparative religion scholarship

James Hastings

1852 – 1922

James Hastings was a Scottish United Free Church minister and biblical scholar who edited some of the most comprehensive reference works of his era, including the five-volume Dictionary of the Bible (1898–1902) and the thirteen-volume Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (1908–1926). Though a churchman himself, his encyclopaedia surveyed religious and magical practices across every known culture with scholarly impartiality, making it an indispensable tool for researchers in comparative religion, mythology, and esotericism. His compilations gathered the best Victorian and Edwardian scholarship on topics ranging from alchemy to Zoroastrianism in a single authoritative resource.