Religion across cultures
Comparative Religion Texts
Comparative religion texts on ritual, myth, sacrifice, belief, ancient religion, and cross-cultural theories of sacred practice.
- Texts
- 101
- Authors
- 65
- Range
- 1500 BCE to 1926
Overview
The main subjects, texts, and practices represented in this collection.
Comparative Religion gathers works that study ritual, sacrifice, myth, taboo, sacred kingship, and religious belief across cultures. It includes Frazer, Muller, and early history-of-religions scholarship where comparison is the central method.
- Comparative study of ritual, sacrifice, myth, taboo, and sacred kingship.
- History-of-religions scholarship and cross-cultural religious analysis.
- Works that use anthropology, philology, or mythology to compare religious forms.
Texts
Key source texts and related works for studying Comparative Religion.
Chips from a German Workshop (Vol 1)
F. Max Müller1867
PrimaryAdvanced
Mysteries of All Nations
James Grant1880
PrimaryIntermediate
Three Essays
F. Max Müller1873
PrimaryAdvanced
Chips from a German Workshop (Vol 5)
F. Max Müller1881
PrimaryIntermediate
Chips from a German Workshop (Vol 3)
F. Max Müller1870
PrimaryIntermediate
Chips from a German Workshop (Vol 4)
F. Max Müller1875
PrimaryAdvanced
Isis Unveiled, Vol. 2: Theology
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky1877
PrimaryAdvanced
History of the Devil
Paul Carus1900
PrimaryIntermediate
Isis Unveiled Vol. 1
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky1877
PrimaryIntermediate
The Book of Thoth
Jean-Baptiste Alliette (Etteilla)1785
PrimaryIntermediate
Morals and Dogma
Albert Pike1871
PrimaryAdvanced
Within the Temple of Isis
Belle M. Wagner1895
PrimaryIntermediate
More Comparative Religion Texts
Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man
Albert Churchward1910
PrimaryAdvanced
The Upanishads
Anonymous (Ancient Hindu sages)1200 BCE
PrimaryIntermediate
Tao Te Ching
Laozi (Laotse)600 BCE
PrimaryIntermediate
Bhagavad Gita
Anonymous (Attributed to Vyasa)200 BCE
PrimaryIntermediate
The Book of Enoch
R. H. Charles (Translator)200 BCE
PrimaryAdvanced
Dhammapada
Buddhist tradition (compiled)200
PrimaryIntroductory
Philosophumena (Vol 1)
Hippolytus of Rome222
PrimaryAdvanced
Philosophumena (Vol 2)
Hippolytus of Rome222
PrimaryAdvanced
The Enneads
Plotinus250
PrimaryAdvanced
On the Mysteries
Iamblichus300
PrimaryAdvanced
Heaven and Hell
Emanuel Swedenborg1758
PrimaryIntermediate
The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary
Karl von Eckartshausen1802
PrimaryIntermediate
Thaumaturgia
Richard Harris Dalton Barham1835
PrimaryIntermediate
The Symbolism of Freemasonry
Albert G. Mackey1869
PrimaryIntermediate
Life of Buddha
Henry Steel Olcott1882
PrimaryIntermediate
The Tarot of the Bohemians
Papus (Gérard Encausse)1889
PrimaryAdvanced
The Gospel of Buddha
Paul Carus1894
PrimaryIntermediate
Liber 777
Aleister Crowley1909
PrimaryAdvanced
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
Max Heindel1909
PrimaryAdvanced
History of Human Folly
Max Kemmerich1912
Primary
Le grand secret
Maurice Maeterlinck1921
PrimaryIntermediate
Myth, Ritual and Religion Vol. 2
Andrew Lang1887
Advanced
Myth, Ritual and Religion Vol. 1
Andrew Lang1887
Advanced
History of Religions
Crawford Howell Toy1913
Advanced
Bible Myths
Thomas William Doane1882
Intermediate
Error's Chains
Frank S. Dobbins1883
Intermediate
Literature of the Ancient Egyptians
E. A. Wallis Budge1914
Intermediate
The Blood Covenant
H. Clay Trumbull1885
Intermediate
Migration of Symbols
Goblet d'Alviella1891
Advanced
Religions of Primitive Peoples
Daniel Garrison Brinton1897
Intermediate
Psychological Origin of Religion
James H. Leuba1909
Intermediate
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1913
Advanced
Myths and Dreams
Edward Clodd1885
Intermediate
Magic and Religion
Andrew Lang1901
Intermediate
Varieties of Religious Experience
William James1902
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1906
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1906
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1906
Advanced
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1908
The Legends of the Jews
Louis Ginzberg1909
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1911
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1912
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1913
Advanced
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1913
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1916
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1917
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1918
Pagan and Christian Creeds
Edward Carpenter1920
Intermediate
Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings1926
Primitive Culture, Vol. 2
Edward B. Tylor1871
Advanced
An Introduction to Mythology
George W. Cox1873
Introductory
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1890
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1890
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1907
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1907
Advanced
Psyche's Task
James George Frazer1909
Intermediate
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1912
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1913
Advanced
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1915
Origin of Man and Superstitions
Carveth Read1920
Advanced
The Book of the Dead
Anonymous (Ancient Egyptian priests/scribes)1500 BCE
The Christian Mythology
Charles François Dupuis1794
Intermediate
Primitive Culture Vol 1
Edward B. Tylor1871
Intermediate
Curiosities of Superstition
William Henry Davenport Adams1882
Introductory
The Golden Bough
James George Frazer1890
The Secret Doctrine Index
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky1897
Advanced
Magic and Fetishism
Alfred Cruikshank Haddon1906
Intermediate
Balder the Beautiful, Volume I
James George Frazer1913
Advanced
Oedipus Aegyptiacus
Athanasius Kircher1652
Advanced
Antient Mythology (Vol 1)
Jacob Bryant1774
Advanced
Antient Mythology Vol 2
Jacob Bryant1774
Advanced
Heathen Mythology
Anonymous1842
Intermediate
The Kabbalah
Adolphe Franck1843
Advanced
Student's Mythology
Catherine Ann White1873
Intermediate
Myths and Myth-Makers
John Fiske1873
Intermediate
The Dawn of History
Charles Francis Keary1878
Intermediate
Demonology and Devil-lore
Moncure Daniel Conway1879
Intermediate
Primitive Manners & Customs
James Anson Farrer1879
Advanced
Mythology of Greece and Rome
Otto Seemann1881
Intermediate
Custom and Myth
Andrew Lang1884
Intermediate
Ritual and Belief
A.W. Buckland1891
Intermediate
Strange Survivals
Sabine Baring-Gould1892
Intermediate
The Crowd
Gustave Le Bon1895
Intermediate
Solomon and Solomonic Literature
Moncure Daniel Conway1898
Intermediate
Egyptian Magic
E. A. Wallis Budge1899
Intermediate
Myths and Fables of To-Day
Samuel Adams Drake1900
Introductory
Signs, Omens and Superstitions
George Lyman Kittredge1915
Intermediate
The Evolution of the Dragon
G. Elliot Smith1919
Advanced
Old Babylonian Gilgamesh
Morris Jastrow Jr. and Albert T. Clay1920
Advanced
James George Frazer1854 to 1941 | 17 textsJames Hastings1852 to 1922 | 6 textsF. Max Müller1823 to 1900 | 5 textsAndrew Lang1844 to 1912 | 4 textsHelena Petrovna Blavatsky1831 to 1891 | 3 textsE. A. Wallis Budge1857 to 1934 | 2 textsEdward B. Tylor1832 to 1917 | 2 textsHippolytus of Rome170 to 235 | 2 textsJacob Bryant1715 to 1804 | 2 textsMoncure Daniel Conway1832 to 1907 | 2 textsPaul Carus1852 to 1919 | 2 textsA.W. Buckland1832 to 1899 | 1 textAdolphe Franck1809 to 1893 | 1 textAlbert Churchward1852 to 1925 | 1 textAlbert G. Mackey1807 to 1881 | 1 textAlbert Pike1809 to 1891 | 1 textAleister Crowley1875 to 1947 | 1 textAlfred Cruikshank Haddon1855 to 1940 | 1 text
Anonymous1 text
Anonymous (Ancient Egyptian priests/scribes)1 text
Related Topics
ritual documentation15Anthropological analysis7sympathetic magic7Mystical philosophy6European folklore5Folklore & Superstition5Ritual magic5Ancient Magic4Buddhist philosophy4esoteric symbolism4Seasonal rituals4British anthropology3Classical mythology3Enlightenment and Nirvana3meditation3mistletoe3ritual sacrifice3Totemism3
Comparative Mythology
Comparative mythology texts on gods, hero cycles, symbolic patterns, classical myth, Indo-European myth, and cross-cultural mythic structures.
Anthropology of Religion
Anthropological texts on ritual, animism, totemism, taboo, early religion, culture, and theories of belief formation.
Folklore Studies
Folklore studies texts on folk tales, fairy belief, superstition, regional customs, oral tradition, and the collection of vernacular belief.
Theosophy
Theosophical texts on occult cosmology, root races, comparative religion, esoteric evolution, hidden masters, and modern esoteric synthesis.
Freemasonry
Freemasonry source texts and studies covering Morals and Dogma, Masonic symbolism, Scottish Rite philosophy, speculative Masonry, ritual allegory, and esoteric interpretation.
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