First use of the word 'religion'

[AurG]

Hi,

I'm doing a bit of a research on the historical use of the word 'religion'. I was hoping that perhaps you could share some good references. I'm not really interested in the latin etymology and the word 'religio' used in Rome. I am looking for the actual word 'religion'. Be it in English, French or German.
I have found this translation of an entry in a French dictionary:
www . antisectes . net / religion - defined . htm
which is exactly what I am looking for. Unfortunatelly I have no page number, no translator's name, nothing I can use in an academic paper as a reference. If you could point me to a similar academic article (or book) describing the above, or at least the page number from the dictionary the abovementioned translation has been taken from, I'd be very gratefull.

Many thanks,
Aur

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Hi,

I'm doing a bit of a research on the historical use of the word 'religion'. I was hoping that perhaps you could share some good references. I'm not really interested in the latin etymology and the word 'religio' used in Rome. I am looking for the actual word 'religion'. Be it in English, French or German.
I have found this translation of an entry in a French dictionary:
www . antisectes . net / religion - defined . htm
which is exactly what I am looking for. Unfortunatelly I have no page number, no translator's name, nothing I can use in an academic paper as a reference.

If you're talking about this page here, then it gives you the page numbers and so forth at the top. First, it gives the page numbers: "Cet article peut être trouvé en français pages 3161 et 3162 du dictionnaire en question".

There are your page numbers. As for the "dictionary in question", it tells you: "Dictionnaire Historique de la langue française"

The publisher is Le Robert and the "author" is Alain Rey. Also, it's Le Dictionnaire Historique en format poche, according to the site. I don't know, however, but as it lacks information that my edition has (e.g., references to the linguist Émile Benveniste, such as "D'après Émile Benveniste, ce verbe signifiait, abstraitement...Benveniste conduit à écarter la tradition chrétienne d'un rapport...and so on), I assume it's from a shortened edition.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

You may also find the OED (the equivalent of the french dictionary) useful. The following is from (but is ony part of) the OED's entry for religion.

For historical sources listed under definition 1 ("A state of life bound by religious vows; the condition of belonging to a religious order"), the OED gives:

"a1225 (▸c1200) Vices & Virtues 43 (MED), Ðo ðe ðese swikele woreld habbeð forlaten and seruið ure drihten on religiun, hie folȝið Daniele, ðe hali profiete.
c1230 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 9 Easkið him..hwer he funde in hali writ religiun openlukest descriueþ & isutelet þen is i sein iames canonial epistel: he seiþ what is Religiun, hwuch is riht ordre.
c1350 (▸a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 63 (MED), Relessed Schel hym nauȝt be religioun, Þaȝ he be nauȝt professed.
▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 1265 (MED), In blake clothes thei hem clothe, This lady and the dowhter bothe, And yolde hem to religion..After the reule..Where as Diane is seintefied.
a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23049 (MED), Þai..Went þaim in to religiun..For to beserue vr lauerd dright.
▸c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 484 (MED), Oon maner religioun is..a bynding aȝen of a mannys fre wil with certein ordinauncis maad bi God or bi man or with vowis or oothis.
a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 1300 Non orderis had he of Relegioune.
1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. d viii, Ware thou never in religion? Yes so god helpe me and halydom, A dosen yeres continually.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 3673 Mariage, be my opinioun, It is better Religioun, As to be freir or Nun.
1586 A. Day Eng. Secretoriei. sig. P3, Forsweare thou nothing good..but building of monasteries and entring into religion.
1663 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xxviii. 111 Those of the country [sc. China] repute him for a Saint, because he ended his dayes in Religion.
1672 in F. O. Blundell Old Catholic Lancs. (1941) III. v. 47 She is called in Religion by the name of Barbary Ignatius.
1764 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto iv. 139 My father..was retired into religion in the kingdom of Naples.
1825 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 32 364 We must enter into religion and be made nuns by will or by force!
1886 H. N. Oxenham Mem. R. de Lisle 6 The two others..are in religion; the former entered the Order of the Good Shepherd in 1863.
1907 A. B. Teetgen Life & Times Empress Pulcheria xxvi. 220 Eutyches, the superior of a populous monastery outside the walls of Constantinople, had spent practically the whole of his life in religion.
1998 M. P. Magray Transforming Power of Nuns iii. 44 Women did not long remain in religion without a sense of spiritual purpose."

A sample of historical sources listed under other subheadings of various definitions:

"†c. Collectively: people devoted to a religious life. Obs.

1487 (▸a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xx. 162 Till religioune of seir statis, For heill of his saull, gaf he Siluir in-to gret quantite.
a1525 (▸c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 190 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 100 Alkyn chennonis eik of vyer ordouris All maner of religioun ye less & ye maire.
1568 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. f. 80, All religioun levis in holines."


"a. Belief in or acknowledgement of some superhuman power or powers (esp. a god or gods) which is typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship; such a belief as part of a system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement.

▸?a1439 Lydgate tr. Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. l. 2757 Lik as he wolde haue luyed ther in pes..Withynne the temple of myhti Hercules Vnder a shadwe of religioun.
1533 tr. Erasmus Enchiridion Militis Christiani Pref. sig. b.viiv, He dothe not strayte condempne their maner of lyuyng whiche dothe shewe & admonysshe them in what thynges most true religyon doth stande or rest.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xlvjv, Amonges the Suyces encreased dayly contention for Religion.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politiev. lxv. 165 The tribe of Ruben..were..accused of backwardnes in religion.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 20 True Religion is the right way of reconciling and reuniting man to God.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathani. xii. 52 There are no signes..of Religion, but in Man onely.
1704 R. Nelson Compan. Festivals & Fastsii. ix. 475 It keeps a lively Sense of Religion upon our Minds.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 474 So very slender a security as the probity and religion of the inferior officers of revenue.
1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley iii. 45 The best part of religion is to imitate the benevolence of God to man.
1877 W. Sparrow Serm. vii. 90 True religion, in its essence and in kind, is the same everywhere.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 2/2 Religion is the great divider of mankind.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day iii. 49 Religion..formed a natural part of my life.
1963 R. N. Frye Heritage of Persia v. 190 Religion dominated the lives of the ancients far more than of contemporary man.
2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 27 May 14/1 He wasn't calling for the overthrow of religion by rock and roll."

"[4]a. A particular system of faith and worship.

c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2812 (MED), Þanne þe religion & holi chirche worþ ef sone ybroȝt al adoun.
▸a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 192, It is worthi to trowe sawes & writynges of poetes and of writers ȝif here religioun and feþ is nouȝt aȝens gode þewes and maners.
a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 18944 (MED), In þat siquar was in þat tun Men of alkin religioun, Of al maner of nacioun.
c1450 tr. Honorius Augustodunensis Elucidarium (1909) 32 (MED), Leef maister, which is þe beste religioun?
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xcijv, They neyther allure nor compelle any man vnto their Religion.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politieiv. xi. 189 The Church of Rome, they say,..did almost out of all religions take whatsoeuer had any faire & gorgeous shew.
1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newesii. iv. 55 in Wks. II, I wonder what religion hee's of.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræii. vi. §15 Whereby we plainly see what clear evidence is given to the truth of that religion which is attested with a power of miracles.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. iv. xxv. 263 The Christian Religion, which pretends to teach Men the Knowledge and Worship of God.
1791 T. Paine Rights of Mani. 75 If they are to judge of each others religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is right.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 65 All religions were the same to him.
1862 F. Max Müller in Edinb. Rev. Apr. 381 All important religions have sprung up in the East.
1918 A. W. Fortune Conception of Authority in Pauline Writings ii. 67 Christianity was not intended to be a Jewish religion.
1925 San Antonio (Texas) Light 11 July 1/1 More primitive religions..represent their gods as liars, cheats and destroyers of earth women.
1968 A. Storr Human Aggression (1976) vi. 81 The history, both of religions and political ideologies, clearly shows that beliefs are bound to become modified in the course of time.
1991 A. Hourani Hist. Arab Peoplesii. v. 96 In northern Iraq there were Yazidis, followers of a religion which had elements derived from both Christianity and Islam."

"[5] a. Belief in or acknowledgement of some superhuman power or powers (esp. a god or gods) which is typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship; such a belief as part of a system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement.
▸?a1439 Lydgate tr. Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. l. 2757 Lik as he wolde haue luyed ther in pes..Withynne the temple of myhti Hercules Vnder a shadwe of religioun.
1533 tr. Erasmus Enchiridion Militis Christiani Pref. sig. b.viiv, He dothe not strayte condempne their maner of lyuyng whiche dothe shewe & admonysshe them in what thynges most true religyon doth stande or rest.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xlvjv, Amonges the Suyces encreased dayly contention for Religion.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politiev. lxv. 165 The tribe of Ruben..were..accused of backwardnes in religion.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 20 True Religion is the right way of reconciling and reuniting man to God.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathani. xii. 52 There are no signes..of Religion, but in Man onely.
1704 R. Nelson Compan. Festivals & Fastsii. ix. 475 It keeps a lively Sense of Religion upon our Minds.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 474 So very slender a security as the probity and religion of the inferior officers of revenue.
1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley iii. 45 The best part of religion is to imitate the benevolence of God to man.
1877 W. Sparrow Serm. vii. 90 True religion, in its essence and in kind, is the same everywhere.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 2/2 Religion is the great divider of mankind.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day iii. 49 Religion..formed a natural part of my life.
1963 R. N. Frye Heritage of Persia v. 190 Religion dominated the lives of the ancients far more than of contemporary man.
2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 27 May 14/1 He wasn't calling for the overthrow of religion by rock and roll."

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Additionally, the OED lists common phrases and compounds with historical sources. A sample:

"P1. man (woman, etc.) of religion : a person bound by religious vows, as a monk or nun; a member of the clergy. Now hist.
[After Anglo-Norman home de religiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French home de religion (c1227; Middle French, French homme de religion), Anglo-Norman gent de religiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French gent de religion (1275 or earlier in Anglo-Norman; French gent de religion) respectively. With woman of religion compare Middle French dame de religion nun (1364 or earlier), and also Anglo-Norman dame de religiun abbess, prioress (1328 or earlier).]

a1225 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 49 (MED), Ac þis loc [sc. of perfection] ne haueð non to offren bute þese lif holie men of religiun.
c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5735 (MED), King edgar & seint aþelwold..An oþer hous..hii rerde of seinte marie, Of womman of religyon & made a nonnerye.
c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 8 (MED), By his heued ben bitokned gode prelates of holy chirche. By þe heer þe Men of Religioun [Fr. la gent de religiun] þat shullen ben white þorouȝ holynesse.
c1400 (▸?c1380) Cleanness (Nero) (1920) 7 (MED), Renkez of relygioun þat reden and syngen And aprochen to hys presens and prestez arn called..Þay hondel þer [sc. at the altar] his aune body and usen hit boþe.
▸1440 Promp. Parv. (Harl. 221) 360 Nune, womann of relygione, monialis, monacha.
a1475 (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 3192 (MED), The cheff vyker..Haue set..Somme folkys of relygyon Hys offys to excersyce.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 310 This bischope and the lordis of reliegieoun..gaif sentance against this innocent man.
1670 J. Evelyn tr. Moral Pract. Jesuites 296 The Iesuites..might practise on him the Doctrine of their Father Amy, who allows a man of Religion to kill him who publishes things scandalous of his Order.
a1707 W. Petyt Jus Parliamentarium (1739) i. v. 57 Others which had Offices perpetual, should be as perpetual as People of Religion.
1809 Amer. Law Jrnl. Jan. 57 The whole of this statute is in force, except those parts which relate to Prelates, men of Religion, and writs of attaint.
1878 ‘Ouida’ Friendship III. xxxi. 46 As women of religion, with the red cross on their breasts, bend over the wide war-wounds of naked men, so she beheld corruption.
1911 G. Hodges Saints & Heroes 239 The principal business of a man of religion,—a priest, a monk, or a friar,—was to say prayers.
1996 L. M. Bitel Land of Women viii. 168 Their stories of lustfully wayward women of religion."

"P4. orig. U.S. to get religion : to be converted; (in extended use) to take matters seriously, to give proper attention to an issue.

1772 A. Hunter Let. 18 Mar. in P. V. Fithian Jrnl. & Lett. (1900) 22 We have had a considerable stir of religion in college since you went away, Lewis Willson is thought to have got religion.
1802 Methodist New Connexion Mag. Nov. 432 A number, too, are wrought upon in the usual way, and hopefully get religion without any of these extraordinary appearances.
1857 C. W. Elliott New Eng. Hist. I. 460 Capt. Underhill killed his neighbor's wife, and ‘got his religion on a pipe of tobacco’.
1908 ‘E. C. Hall’ Aunt Jane of Kentucky (1909) i. 24 We went home feelin' like we'd been through a big protracted meetin' and got religion over again.
1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Oct. 7 It is sad news for his publishers that he has got religion.
1993 N.Y. Times 26 Mar. a 28/1 The White House spokesman said the formal plan may not be ready for another few weeks, so it's still possible his boss may get religion.
2001 Time 22 Oct. 73/1 The Bush Administration..has suddenly got religion about tracking down terrorists' assets..and an array of other tools on law enforcement's wish list."

"P5. religion of nature n. (a) = NATURAL RELIGION n.; (b) a religion involving the worship of natural objects and phenomena in place of a more formal system of religious belief.

1622 G. Goodman Creatures praysing God 32 If you consider the Creatures, betweene God and God, in stead of a naturall discourse, here you haue a religion of nature.
1730 M. Tindal (title) Christianity as old as Creation, a republication of the Religion of Nature.
1827 F. A. Walter tr. B. G. Niebuhr Rom. Hist. I. xxii. 265 The early religion of the Latins was a religion of nature [Ger. Naturdienst].
1895 J. Kidd Morality & Relig. v. 191 Vedism..was a religion of nature. The objects of its worship..were the powers of nature.
1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience iv. 91 In that ‘theory of evolution’ which..has within the past twenty-five years swept so rapidly over Europe and America, we see the ground laid for a new sort of religion of Nature, which has entirely displaced Christianity from the thought of a large part of our generation.
1954 R. N. Stromberg Relig. Liberalism 18th-Cent. Eng. iii. 31 Committed to a religion of nature, they [sc. deists] suspected that the whole Christian revelation was no more than a tissue of lies and fables.
1961 D. G. James Matthew Arnold i. 22 The essay itself is given up chiefly to a warm exposition of her religion of nature.
1997 N. Walter Humanism 49 Ernst Haeckel, the German advocate of Darwinism (and inventor of Ecology in 1866), advocated a religion of nature called Monism."

"† religion-dresser n. Obs. rare
a1634 J. Day Peregrinatio Scholastica (Sloane 3150) f. 30, This new vicker was made out of an olde ffrier, that had bene twice turnd at a Religion-dressers."

"religion-mender n. now rare
1647 Mercurius Clericus No. 1. sig. A4v, A further account concerning the affaires of our Syon, and the..Religion-makers, Menders, or Marers there.
1737 E. Smith App. Cure of Deism 19 These are some of the Nostrums of our great Religion-Mender.
1822 J. Hook Pen Owen I. i. 16, I never knew any good come of your state-menders or religion-menders. They all make more holes than they stop.
1824 W. E. Andrews Crit. & Hist. Rev. Fox's Bk. Martyrs I. 380 The irreligious and blasphemous pretentions of those religion-menders."

Finally, variant spellings:
"Forms: ME relegeon, ME religeoun, ME religioune, ME religiune, ME relygeoun, ME relygioun, ME relygyoun, ME relygyun, ME–15 relegyon, ME–15 religiun, ME–15 religyone, ME–15 relygion, ME–15 relygione, ME–15 relygyon, ME–16 religeon, ME–16 religione, ME–16 religioun, ME–16 religyon, ME–17 religon, ME– religion, lME riligioun, 15 relegion, 15 relygyone, 15–16 relligion; Sc. pre-17 ralegioun, pre-17 relegioun, pre-17 relegioune, pre-17 releidgeon, pre-17 reliegieoun, pre-17 religeoun, pre-17 religeowne, pre-17 religione, pre-17 religioun, pre-17 religioune, pre-17 religyowne, pre-17 relligion, pre-17 relygyon, pre-17 relygyoun, pre-17 relygyoune, pre-17 relygyown, pre-17 relygyowne, pre-17 17– religion, 18– releegion."

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Also, I wouldn't just look at how "religion" has been used. The use of words like "religious" alone might be as important. Some examples from the OED:

"1a. Of a person or group of people: bound by vows of religion; belonging to a monastic order, esp. in the Roman Catholic Church.

a1225 (▸c1200) Vices & Virtues 3 (MED), Ðes awerȝede gast, hie makeð ðane religiuse man, ðe alle woreld-þing for godes luue hafð forlaten, sari and drieri and heui on godes workes.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 241 (MED), Man religious ne ssel noþing oȝen habbe ine erþe.
a1400 (▸c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 7382 (MED), Þe fourþe synne ys more perylous with man and womman relygyus.
c1405 (▸c1390) Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) I. §2. ⁋891 Yet been ther mo speces of this cursed synne, as whan that oon of hem is religious.
a1425 (▸?a1400) Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6149 Religiouse folk ben full couert Seculer folk ben more appert.
▸?a1513 W. Dunbar Ballat Abbot of Tungland in Poems (1998) 56 A religious man he slew And cled him in his abeit new.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Ii, Howe ydle a companye ys theyr of prystes, and relygyous men, as they call them?
1599 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 59 The said city is as big as two of Bononia, & in it are many monasteries of religious persons, al which do worship idols.
1633 T. Stafford Pacata Hiberniai. v. 41 With a competent number of three thousand Souldiers Pioners, and religious persons.
1681 Dryden Spanish Fryarii. iii. 21 There's a huge fat religious Gentleman coming up, Sir.
1756 A. Butler Lives Saints I. 234 The superintendency of all the houses of religious women in his kingdom.
1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting I. iii. 51 As the frock of no religious order ever was green, this cannot be meant for a friar.
1810 R. Southey Curse of Kehama vii. 59 Never yet did form more beautiful..Bless the religious Virgin's gifted sight.
1884 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 391/1 The religious men and women generally follow the rule of St. Basil.
1904 A. B. C. Dunbar Dict. Saintly Women I. 391/1 Not being able to find in England (where there were at that time scarcely any nunneries) a religious woman fit to model this new establishment.
1950 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 24 Sept. 3/1 Only four religious orders will be permitted to function [in Hungary]—the Franciscans, Dominicans, Piarists and an order of nuns.
2005 S. Cassedy Dostoevsky's Relig. iv. 87 At the monastery there resided a religious man whom Dostoevsky was eager to engage in conversation."

"2a. Chiefly of a person: devoted to religion; exhibiting the spiritual or practical effects of religion, following the requirements of a religion; pious, godly, devout. Also fig.

?c1225 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 60 Ȝef ani weneð þet he beo religius & ne bridleð naut his tunge, his religiun is fals.
c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 52 (MED), Þat þe sterres fellen bitokneþ hem þat semeden religious [Fr. religius] shullen haten þan þe riȝth bileue forto sauen her bodyes.
▸c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds ii. 5 Ther weren in Jerusalem dwellinge Jewis, religiouse men [a1425 L.V. religiouse men, that is, deuout in the worching of God; L. viri religiosi], of ech nacioun that is vndir heuene.
▸a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 252, Þe arabes telleþ þat thus schal nouȝt be gadered..but of holy men and religious [L. sacris & religiosis].
a1425 (▸?a1400) Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6236 Full many a seynt in feeld and toune..Deuoute and full religious Han deied that comyn cloth ay beeren.
?a1475 (▸?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl.) (1869) II. 231 (MED), Thei were religious men [a1387 J. Trevisa tr. lyuede faire lyf; L. essent religiosi]..hauenge glorious vertues, as astrology and geometry.
1542 T. Becon Newe Pathway vnto Praier vii. sig. D.vj, Who woulde not haue thought this holy religious father worthy to be canonysed?
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks.i. iii. 83 The Iewes religious Riuer Which euery Sabaoth dries his Channell ouer; Keeping his Waues from working on that Day.
a1616 Shakespeare Henry V (1623) ii. ii. 127 Seeme they religious? Why so didst thou.
1642 D. Rogers Naaman 144 Earthly Selfe so scrues and mixes it selfe with religious, that oft-times the soule markes not the difference.
1667 Milton Paradise Lostxi. 622 That sober Race of Men, whose lives Religious titl'd them the Sons of God.
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructori. iv. 96, I think I am religious enough in all Conscience.
1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 154 He is..very limited in his understanding, and religious, bordering on bigotry.
1841–8 F. Myers Catholic Thoughts II. iv. §23. 293 A man may be Moral without being Religious, but he cannot be Religious without being Moral.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith i. 13 The Apostle John and Benedict Spinoza were both intensely religious persons, but it would be difficult to say what their religious feelings had in common.
1902 R. Bagot Donna Diana vi. 65 Trust a religious old maid for scenting out love!
1942 G. M. Trevelyan Eng. Social Hist. xviii. 563 The popular heroes of the period..were religious men first and foremost..life was the service of God.
1983 M. Roberts Visitationii. iii. 87 You're still religious, still believing all that mystifying rubbish about gods and souls and the after-life.
1991 A. Unterman Dict. Jewish Lore & Legend 29/1 In the State of Israel autopsies are an emotive issue and have led to clashes between religious Jews and government authorities."

"3a. Of, relating to, or concerned with religion.

?1504 W. Atkinson tr. Ful Treat. Imytacyon Cryste (Pynson) i. xix. sig. Bvv (heading) The good relygyus exercyse of a relygyus soule.
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 26 Yf hys mynd were not ryghtly set, wyth relygyouse honowr..toward god.
1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) iii. 447 A sad religious awe The quiet trees vnstirr'd by winde doe draw.
1645 Milton Il Penseroso in Poems 43 Storied Windows richly dight, Casting a dimm religious light.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathaniv. xlv. 361 They made it for a Religious use.
1720 Pope Verses Addison's Medals in Wks. 6 Some felt..hostile fury, some, religious rage.
1788 Gibbon Decline & Fall V. l. 202 From his earliest youth, Mahomet was addicted to religious contemplation.
1809 M. Waring (title) A diary of the religious experience of Mary Waring.
1835 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (1837) I. xi. 163 Prayer is the most directly religious of all our duties.
1853 T. T. Lynch Lect. Self Improvem. iii. 72 Books least religious in letter and phrase may be most religious in effect.
1877 J. C. Geikie Life of Christ (1879) xlix. 584 Jerusalem was the religious centre of the Jewish nation.
1927 R. H. Wilenski Mod. Movement in Art 7 There is such a thing as religious art distinct from other forms of art.
1978 Listener 9 Mar. 296/3 Religious broadcasting is not a job for a good man.
2007 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 7 Jan. 27/1 Her religious beliefs forbade her from wearing the Baywatch-style bikinis of her white Australian counterparts."

"3b. Holy, sacred. Freq. poet. Now rare.

1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 7th Serm. sig. Dd.iii, The bloud if Hales was taken once for a religious relique.
1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. H8, Pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and many other religious persons.
1618 T. Gainsford True Hist. P. Warbeck 8 Euen the name of Mortimer and Yorke was sanctified and religious amongst them.
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. B3, Bring Part of the creame from that Religious Spring.
1747 W. Collins Odes 28 Thy Shrine in some religious Wood.
c1820 S. Rogers Fire-fly in Italy 22 Those trees, religious once and always green.
1904 C. H. Monro tr. Justinian Digest I. i. viii. 41 Even an empty tomb is held on the whole to be a religious place."

"religious-mad adj.

1830 W. Irving Devil & Tom Walker 22 Nobody knew exactly what to make of Joel; whether he was..religious-mad, or honestly crack-brained in the way of nature.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Apocalypse (1931) vi. 98 Men were religious-mad: not religious-sane.
2003 R. Le Gallienne tr. Poems from Divan of Hafiz 9 To the wilderness I'll flee, And live on roots, religious-mad, up in the lonely mountains."

"religious-minded n. and adj.

a1744 J. Fothergill Acct. Life & Trav. (1753) 185 The Lord God of Mercies..extended very largely and mercifully towards all People..in order to awaken and repair the Decaying, as also to feed and strengthen the few honestly religious-minded.
?1774 R. Sanders Lucubrations Gaffer Graybeard III. lix. 151 The assistance of a religious-minded lady.
1888 C. M. Yonge Beechcroft at Rockstone II. xx. 153 Thoroughly religious-minded,..his aspirations had been blighted by his father's death.
1932 E. A. Kirkpatrick Sci. of Man in Making xiii. 336 The religious minded are concerned with doing the Father's will.
2008 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 5 Aug. 6 An alarming message would have been sent to religious-minded voters throughout the Muslim world."

"religious right n. (with the) a chiefly Protestant faction in the United States, holding strongly conservative social and political views and regarded as an active and influential political group.

1973 N.Y. Times 14 Aug. 31/1 Building himself a powerful radio receiver and tuning in to Fundamentalist preachers... ‘The Preachers’ is an act of love by a gourmet of the religious right.
1994 Church Times 18 Nov. 2/3 Reactions suggest that the bite of the religious right may be getting to be as big as its bark.
2005 A. Wolfe Does Amer. Democracy still Work? v. 133 The religious right..had never given up trying to dismiss the theory of evolution."

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

And for non-dictionary entries, some sources:

First, both for articles and for other sources, I'd look through the Concise encyclopedia of language and religion

Journal articles & similar academic papers:

Kollman, P. (2011). At the Origins of Mission and Missiology: A Study in the Dynamics of Religious Language. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 79(2), 425-458.

Smith, J. Z. (1998). Religion, religions, religious. Critical terms for religious studies, 269-284.


Gordon, R. (2008). Superstitio, Superstition and Religious Repression in the Late Roman Republic and Principate (100 bce–300 ce). Past & Present, 199(suppl 3), 72-94.

Canfield, J. D. (1980). Religious Language and Religious Meaning in Restoration Comedy. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 20(3), 385-406.

Saler, B. (1987). Religio and the Definition of Religion. Cultural Anthropology, 2(3), 395-399.

Yamane, D. (2000). Narrative and religious experience. Sociology of religion, 61(2), 171-189.

Smith, J. Z. (2004). A matter of class: taxonomies of religion. Relating religion: Essays in the study of religion. University of Chicago Press.

Jasper, D. (1996). The death and rebirth of religious language. Religion & literature, 28(1), 5-19.

McKinnon, A. M. (2002). Sociological definitions, language games, and the "essence" of religion. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 14(1), 61-83.


Books-
Longfellow, E. (2004). Women and religious writing in early modern England. Cambridge University Press.

Kuchar, G. (2008). The poetry of religious sorrow in early modern England. Cambridge University Press.

Canuel, M. (2002). Religion, toleration, and British writing, 1790-1830. Cambridge University Press.