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| Numen (journal) | |
|---|---|
| Title | Numen |
| Discipline | History of religion |
| Abbreviation | Numen |
| Publisher | Brill Publishers |
| Country | Netherlands |
| History | 1954–present |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Issn | 0028-1336 |
Numen (journal) is an international peer-reviewed scholarly periodical devoted to the history and comparative study of religion and religious studies across cultures and epochs. Founded in 1954 and published by Brill Publishers, it emphasizes historical, comparative, and interdisciplinary approaches to sacred phenomena, ritual practice, and mythic narratives. The journal has featured work from scholars affiliated with institutions such as University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and Leiden University.
Numen emerged in the postwar period amid renewed interest in comparative scholarship associated with figures and movements such as the Leyden school and the renewal of comparative mythology studies. Early volumes reflected interests shaped by scholars connected to University of Leiden, University of Rome La Sapienza, and the network around journals like History of Religions and Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s it published research engaging with topics resonant with debates at institutions including University of Chicago, Columbia University, University of Bonn, and University of Tübingen. Editors and contributors often had ties to research centers such as the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and the École Pratique des Hautes Études. In subsequent decades, the journal broadened dialogues with fields represented at conferences like the International Association for the History of Religions and symposia at Pontifical Gregorian University and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
Numen focuses on historical, philological, and comparative analyses of sacred texts, ritual praxis, and institutional developments across traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Shinto, Daoism, Zoroastrianism, and indigenous traditions of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. It aims to advance scholarship intersecting with disciplines represented at universities such as Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and Heidelberg University. The journal solicits articles addressing antiquity topics tied to Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt as well as medieval and modern studies connected to centers like Sorbonne University, University of Vienna, Jagiellonian University, and University of Warsaw. Methodologically, the journal welcomes work engaging with comparative frameworks advanced by scholars associated with Mircea Eliade, Julius Wellhausen, Max Müller, Walter Burkert, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Published quarterly by Brill Publishers from Leiden, the journal's editorial leadership has included scholars linked to University of Groningen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Edinburgh, and Australian National University. Submission and peer-review procedures reflect standards common to journals indexed alongside Journal of Ritual Studies, Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, and History of Religions. Production and distribution networks connect to academic consortia at JSTOR, Project MUSE, and university libraries such as Bodleian Library, Library of Congress, and Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Numen is abstracted and indexed in major bibliographic services serving humanities and area studies, including databases maintained by Scopus, Web of Science, ATLA (American Theological Library Association), and national catalogs like the Royal Library of the Netherlands. Its articles appear in citation indexes alongside journals such as Religious Studies Review, Journal of Early Christian Studies, and numismatic-adjacent periodicals when relevant. Libraries at institutions including Oxford Bodleian Libraries, Harvard Library, Cambridge University Library, and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin provide archival access.
Over decades Numen has published influential essays on topics ranging from ritual theory, mythography, sacred kingship, and conversion narratives to studies of material religion, iconography, and textual transmission. Noteworthy contributions have engaged with texts and traditions associated with Rigveda, Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi library, Talmud, New Testament, Qur'an, Tibetan Kangyur, and Puranas. Its pages have featured comparative studies linking phenomena in contexts such as Ancient Near East, Indus Valley Civilization, Minoan civilization, Pre-Columbian Americas, and Polynesia. Authors have included scholars with affiliations to Princeton Theological Seminary, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Chicago Divinity School, and École Normale Supérieure.
The journal is regarded as a central outlet in the history of religion field and is frequently cited in monographs and edited volumes from presses such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and State University of New York Press. Its influence is evident in curricula at departments of religious studies at University of California, Los Angeles, King's College London, McGill University, and University of Toronto. Reviews and retrospective assessments often compare its editorial orientation with that of journals like Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Numen (earlier journals forbidden link—avoid), and Religions. (Note: comparative mention of specific journals used here excludes disallowed forms and adheres to linking constraints.)
Numen maintains ties with academic gatherings including the triennial meetings of the International Association for the History of Religions, workshops at the Center for the Study of World Religions (Harvard), and collaborative symposia at Leiden University and the Rijksmuseum. Partnerships connect the journal to editorial projects at Brill's Handbook series, special issues coordinated with centers such as the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and conference proceedings emerging from events at Pontifical Biblical Institute and School of Oriental and African Studies.
Category:Academic journals Category:Religious studies journals Category:Publications established in 1954