Michael Stausberg is Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is a co-editor of the journal Religion and of The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion (second edition, 2021).

1. On theories of religion: Varieties, distinctions, questions; 2. A rational choice-based theory of religion: On Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith (2000); 3. Religion as differentiated communication: On Niklas Luhmann, A Systems Theory of Religion ([2000] 2013); 4. Religion as the unintended product of brain functions in the 'standard cognitive science of religion model': On Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained (2001) and The fracture of an Illusion (2010); 5. The United States of Religion: On David Sloan Wilson, Darwin's Cathedral (2002); 6. Religion as a costly but beneficial evolutionary by-product: On Scott Atran, In Gods We Trust (2002); 7. Routes, flow, and homemaking: On Thomas A. Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling (2006); 8. Practices and the promise of salvation: On Martin Riesebrodt, The Promise of Salvation (2007/2010); 9. Religion as anthropotechnics: On Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life (2009); 10. Religion as world maker: On Robert Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution (2011); 11. Social practice as a holistic frame: On Stephen S. Bush, Visions of Religion (2014); 12. Real religion from the person up: On Christian Smith, Religion (2017); 13. Life in a strange world: On Gavin Flood, Religion and the Philosophy of Life (2019); 14. Orchids and ghosts, concrete and coal: On Paul-François Tremlett, Towards a New Theory of Religion and Social Change (2020); 15. The evolution of semiotic systems: On Volkhard Krech, Evolution der Religion (2021); 16. Davidsonian semantic holism as meta-theoretical framework: On Gabriel Levy (2022), Beyond Heaven and Earth (2022)