Religious studies papers

Pofolia’s corpus holds 95 papers from Religious studies (2012–2026), each with a short summary. Below, the 20 most-cited, then the most recently added.

At a glance

• Most cited: Religion and the Decline of Magic (2017, 2,131 citations).
• The 20 papers listed have 12,032 citations between them.
• 1 of the 1 with a known journal quartile appeared in a Q1 journal.
• Most frequent journals: Choice Reviews Online, 1517 Media eBooks, Bloomsbury Academic eBooks.
• Published between 2012 and 2021.

Most cited

Ranked by citation count. Because citations accumulate over time, this list naturally leans towards work published a few years ago; for where the field is now, see “recently added”. How to read the signals

• Religion and the Decline of Magic

  Macat Library eBooks · 2017 · FWCI 180.50 · 2,131 citations

  Keith Thomas's "Religion and the Decline of Magic" established magic as a legitimate historical problem, arguing that the Protestant Reformation, by displacing Catholic "superstition," created a vacuum that allowed other forms of belief, including magic, to persist until the rise of science.

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• The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age (1984)

  Bloomsbury T&T Clark eBooks · 2018 · FWCI 696.44 · 915 citations

  This influential 1984 work introduces a post-liberal approach to theology, advocating for a cultural-linguistic perspective on religion and a rule-based theory of doctrine.

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• Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten

  Felix Meiner Verlag eBooks · 2016 · FWCI 117.90 · 903 citations

  This abstract describes the digitization and online upload of Immanuel Kant's "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" by Google and the Internet Archive.

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• Early Christian Doctrines

  Bloomsbury Academic eBooks · 2014 · FWCI 43.93 · 777 citations

  This book provides a clear historical account of the development of principal Christian doctrines from the late 1st to the mid-5th century.

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• Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2018 · FWCI 61.46 · 749 citations

  Victor Turner's book explores how social actions gain meaning through metaphors and paradigms, and how new ones emerge from specific circumstances.

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• Letters and Papers from Prison

  1517 Media eBooks · 2020 · FWCI 705.05 · 746 citations

  This collection of correspondence and notes from prison by a prominent author, curated by Eberhard Bethge, introduced his influential ideas of 'religionless Christianity' and theological appraisals to a wide postwar audience, particularly in North America.

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• Buddha Is Hiding

  2019 · FWCI 60.86 · 578 citations

  This ethnographic study reveals how Cambodian refugees in America navigate contradictory pressures of self-reliance and systemic constraints based on ethnicity and class, reshaping their understanding of citizenship.

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• The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs

  2012 · FWCI 313.03 · 545 citations

  This paper traces the historical development of core Jewish concepts and beliefs.

• The Ritual Process

  2017 · FWCI 80.95 · 515 citations

  Victor Turner's "The Ritual Process" introduces the concept of "Communitas," an absolute inter-human relation transcending social structure, derived from his fieldwork among the Ndembu in Zambia.

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• Nine Talmudic Readings

  Indiana University Press eBooks · 2019 · FWCI 64.10 · 432 citations

  This work presents nine distinct readings of Talmudic texts, exploring themes of ethics, spirituality, and societal transformation.

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• Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics

  2012 · FWCI 45.37 · 405 citations

  This book explores the extensive use of literary forgery and counterforgery as a rhetorical strategy in early Christian polemics. It details the motives, techniques, and detection methods employed by various factions.

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• Haiti: the aftershocks of history

  Choice Reviews Online · 2012 · 395 citations

  Historian Laurent Dubois argues that Haiti's persistent poverty and corruption stem not from internal failings, but from a legacy of international punishment for its successful slave revolt in 1804.

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• Bodies in the System

  Small Axe A Caribbean Journal of Criticism · 2013 · Q1 · FWCI 31.29 · 395 citations

  This essay proposes extending Michel-Rolph Trouillot's framework for analyzing power systems by introducing the human body as a fourth unit of analysis, alongside the village, world, and nation.

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• The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

  Princeton University Press eBooks · 2014 · FWCI 64.85 · 392 citations

  This is the most comprehensive dictionary of Buddhism ever produced in English, featuring over 5,000 entries and covering terms from all canonical Buddhist languages and traditions.

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• The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics

  Open MIND · 2017 · FWCI 380.13 · 376 citations

  This primer introduces Stanley Hauerwas's vision of Christian ethics, emphasizing Jesus' life and teachings as central to moral life.

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• Metodologi penelitian

  2020 · 374 citations

  This paper addresses the issue of youth disengagement from church service due to technology misuse, specifically gaming addiction, and its impact on religious activities.

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• Paul and the faithfulness of God

  Choice Reviews Online · 2014 · 366 citations

  This book presents a comprehensive, 1500-page synthesis of Paul's theology, integrating its Jewish roots and Graeco-Roman influences within a grand schema.

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• Roman Faith and Christian Faith

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2015 · FWCI 31.94 · 349 citations

  Early Christian 'faith' (pistis/fides) was deeply influenced by its Jewish and Graeco-Roman contexts, shaping its dominance in New Testament writings.

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• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African

  2021 · FWCI 735.09 · 345 citations

  This abstract recounts the life of Olaudah Equiano, an African kidnapped into slavery in the 1700s who eventually purchased his freedom and settled in Great Britain.

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• Bantu Prophets in South Africa

  2018 · FWCI 13.24 · 344 citations

  This work, originally published in 1948 and updated in 1961, details the religious and social landscape of the Zulus and the emergence of the Independent Church Movement.

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Recently added

• Christ the Jailer: Paul’s Carceral Theology

  New Testament Studies · 2026 · Q1

  This article argues that the Apostle Paul's self-description as a 'prisoner of Christ' implies Christ functions as a jailer, exploring how Paul uses imprisonment imagery to describe his relationship with God and subverts carceral language to denote safety.

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• Misconduct and Sickness: Reciprocity at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor 11.30)

  New Testament Studies · 2026 · Q1

  First Corinthians 11:30 describes divine punishment for misconduct at the Lord's Table as sickness and death, reflecting a non-metaphorical reciprocity between human misbehavior and divine judgment.

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• Teachings of Demons in Later Times (1 Tim 4.1–5)

  New Testament Studies · 2026 · Q1

  A new syntactic reading of 1 Timothy 4.1-3a argues that demonic teachings primarily target dietary restrictions, not marriage prohibitions, resolving long-standing interpretative issues.

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• When public choices collide: territorial mesoeconomics and uneven development in Haiti and the French Caribbean

  Third World Quarterly · 2026 · Q1

  A new framework, territorial mesoeconomics, explains how conflicting policy objectives across different scales lead to similar patterns of uneven development in Haiti and the French Caribbean.

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• God as the Φωστήρ (Light Source) of the New Jerusalem in Rev 21.11

  New Testament Studies · 2026 · Q1

  Revelation 21.11 describes the New Jerusalem's light source (φωστήρ) as God, not as the city reflecting God's glory, based on the word's consistent ancient Greek meaning of 'luminary' or 'light source'.

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• Kingship and almsgiving: on the Khotanese ‘Dharma-preaching text on the Pravāraṇa day’ from Dunhuang

  Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society · 2026 · Q2

  A Khotanese Buddhist manuscript from Dunhuang, previously misidentified, is revealed as a 'Dharma-preaching text on the Pravāraṇa day' used by monks to legitimize King Viśa’ Saṃgrāma as a dharma-protecting ruler.

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• Public Leadership Ethics in Indonesia: A Christian Ethical Reading of Proverbs 16 in Dialogue with Pancasila

  Studies in Christian Ethics · 2026 · Q1

  A Christian ethical framework for Indonesian public leadership emerges from a dialogue between Proverbs 16 and Pancasila, integrating moral accountability, character, institutional responsibility, and the common good.

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• Miϑra and His Mąϑra: Jesus as the Eschatological Fulfillment of the Mazdean Final Saošiiaṇt in John’s Prologue

  Religions · 2026 · Q1

  The Gospel of John's Prologue creatively assimilated Mazdean concepts, particularly the final Saošiiaṇt figure, into its Christology through a process of interpretatio Iohannica.

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Journals in this field

The journals that publish most of this field’s papers. Quartile (Q1–Q4), SJR and h-index are from SCImago Journal Rank; “in this field” is how many of the journal’s pooled papers belong here. What is a Q1 journal? · What is the h-index?

Every journal in Religious studies (Q1–Q4) →

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