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.

Anthropology of ReligionHistory of ReligionsHistory of religionComparative ReligionComparative study of religious phenomenaBritish anthropologyAnthropological approach to religionComparative theologyEarly Christian GnosticismPythagoras PhilosophyMystical experienceall magical systems indexed from previous volumesComparative Mythology (Scholarly)

Archive Paths

Gnosticism and Apocrypha

Gnostic and apocryphal texts covering Pistis Sophia, the Book of Enoch, early Christian gnosis, pseudepigrapha, mystical revelation, and esoteric Christian cosmology.

Gnosticism

Gnostic texts and studies on revelation, emanation, demiurgic cosmology, salvation through knowledge, and esoteric readings of Christianity.

Comparative Religion

Comparative religion texts on ritual, myth, sacrifice, belief, ancient religion, and cross-cultural theories of sacred practice.

Anthropology of Religion

Anthropological texts on ritual, animism, totemism, taboo, early religion, culture, and theories of belief formation.