ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on a wide range of literature and examples to display the considerable contribution that document analysis can make to the effective study of religion. Documents are far more than simply a resource for historians. Both recent and historic documents provide insights into peoples’ lives, thoughts, beliefs and practices. Rarely, however, have they been used as a major resource in the social-scientifi c study of religion. Instead documents are often regarded simply as a point of reference or secondary source of information. For the reasons set out below, we commend a more positive approach: document analysis should be fully integrated into the repertoire of methods available to scholars of religion.
