Religious Studies

We are faculty and students building community through the study of religion at all levels of interest—for intellectual inquiry, professional development, personal enrichment, and engaged global citizenship.

Religious beliefs and practices are deeply intertwined with society, culture and politics, and coursework in religious studies helps you to understand these connections.

The study of religious beliefs and practices forms an integral part of liberal arts education. Religious commitments influence cultures, societies, and political structures. Coursework in religious studies helps you to understand these connections.

Our curriculum also offers you the chance to study sacred narratives, theological ideas, and the ways that human beings in different times and places have created meaning as they confronted fundamental existential questions. We offer a broad array of courses in the texts, traditions, and practices of religions from around the world. The global literacy nurtured by such courses will prepare you for the 21st- century world. We also have strong offerings in theology and ethics. Many students find such courses complementary to their studies in STEM fields.

Religious studies are trans-disciplinary by nature, sharing long boundaries with anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, history, literature, philosophy, political science, and sociology, to name just a few related fields. A religious studies major allows you the latitude to pursue multiple interests, and a religious studies minor can serve as a compelling supplement to your major course of study.