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Studies in Religion

People live and die in the name of religion. What could be more important to study as an undergraduate?

The interdisciplinary Studies in Religion Program brings together faculty and students who are interested in the study of religious ideas, behaviors, values, rituals, texts, institutions, and communities. The program is taught and advised by faculty from departments in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, including Africana Studies, American Studies, Art, Anthropology and Archaeology, Classics, English, History, Judaic Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, and Sociology. It features classes on major world religions, such as Christianity or Judaism, as well as classes on age-old religious movements that are less widely studied, such as Zoroastrianism or Syriac Christianity.

The program is not only for those interested in the theology or  rituals of a particular faith; it is also for those interested in how religions have contributed to and complicated the politics, cultures, ethics, literatures, histories, questions, and societies of the world of the past and of today. The faculty teach topics in religion in a variety of different ways, including historical, ethnographic, philosophical, textual, ethical, journalistic, psychological, artistic, and sociological approaches. The wide, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspective of the program allows you to understand religious histories, conflicts, and perspectives; helps you to develop your skills as a reader, writer, researcher, and thinker; and inspires you to deepen your understanding of what it has meant (and still means) to be human.