NEAR EAST 496/596 - Satan & Evil in Judaism, Christianity, & Islam: Home

Primary sources are critical to scholarship on religion.  Primary sources are "firsthand information – either direct or proximate – relevant to a topic or question".*  Examples may include scriptures, sermons, images, interviews, novels, letters, etc.  Primary sources provide valuable data for research in religious studies. However, primary sources reflect the perspectives of the creators and must be critically interpreted when used in academic research and writing. Primary sources offer factual information about the beliefs associated with particular religions; this does not necessarily mean the information is true in any other sense.  

*Studstill, R., & Cabrera, P. (2010). Online primary sources in religious studies: Active learning exercises for information literacy instruction. Journal of Religious and Theological Information, 9(3), 84.
Image: Banner of El Avenir newspaper