The department of Religious Studies encourages an inquisitive, analytical, and open approach to multiple religious perspectives; it also encourages students’ awareness of their own value frameworks through the exploration of the value frameworks in various religious perspectives.
The religious studies program studies offers an array of courses that provide broad exposure to diverse religious texts, traditions, practices, and themes throughout various world cultures/regions from the ancient to the modern periods. The program focuses on the intersection of religious meanings and specific cultural contexts that shape those meanings. The approach to the study of religion is therefore largely interdisciplinary, with any single course providing exposure to several different methods of analysis and interpretation.
The Department of Religion is a community of faculty members, staff, and students who work together on issues of religious identity in our world, formation for ministry, and preparation for careers in higher education. We are a diverse community and yet one committed to faith and to the church.
The religious studies program at Beloit College is devoted to pursuing a study of religion that is socially meaningful, culturally and historically aware, and academically responsible. We locate religious and other systems of meaning within the sociocultural environments in which they are manifest. Part of the philosophy and religious studies department, the program offers an undergraduate interdisciplinary degree program for both majors and minors in religious studies, as well as a wide array of courses relevant to students in other disciplines.
The Department of Religion offers, through its lower-level courses, opportunities for broad-based study of many religious traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and the religions of Africa, China, and Japan. Through its upper-level courses, the Department offers opportunities for in-depth study of specific religious traditions and literatures as well as grounding in theoretical and philosophical problems relating to the study of religion.
The Department of Religious Studies and Theology helps students cultivate an inquiring mind by exposing them to the role religion plays in the development and experience of humanity as a whole. Students are provided with the scientific and theological tools necessary for an academic study of religion. Students also understand and appreciate the various viewpoints and values of differing religions.
The mission of the religion program is to foster student spiritual and intellectual growth through the disciplined, critical study of religion. The four key aspects of this mission are to develop in students:
•An understanding of the nature of religion, Christian scriptures and traditions, and world religions;
•An ability to carry on disciplined, critical dialogue concerning varied understandings of Christianity, other religions and other disciplines, relating these to everyday experience;
CCU's School of Theology is committed to cultivating the minds of students who have godly character, and who demonstrate both thoughtfulness and maturity. Our desire is to come alongside you to offer encouragement, direction, and support as you become a well-founded evangelical scholar. As a student within this school, you will participate in rigorous academic programs that will help you understand a variety of viewpoints within Christianity and lead you to an intelligent commitment to the gospel.
Religious studies provides an ideal focus for a liberal arts education, which should be about opening one's mind to life's most profound questions. Long before most current subjects found their way into college and university programs, the academic study of religion served as a primary means of inquiry in literary, historical, philosophical and cultural studies, among others. It continues to be an exceptionally broad field of study, drawing together the widest possible range of concerns.
Elon offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies that encourages students to examine and discuss religion, and express themselves in discussions and in writing. Graduates begin their careers with an enhanced ability to gather information, think critically and communicate clearly and convincingly. No matter what professional field you choose, a degree in religious studies will teach you a great deal about yourself and other cultures — an honorable goal for an education and a valuable asset for any career.
The Religion major is predicated on the belief that life and society are made better and that individual happiness and national character are enhanced by the time-proven values that characterize the great religious teachings of the world.
The goal of Hamilton's Religious Studies Department is to provide students with an understanding of religion not simply as social institution or dogma, but as a powerful facet of human experience and culture.
Hamline's Department of Religion is made up of scholar-practitioners who seek to model the positive relation we see between the academic study of religion and the practice of it. As a church-related university, we strongly affirm the United Methodist emphasis on ecumenical openness to other faiths, and we embrace the global scope of the Hamline mission to prepare compassionate citizens of the world. We interpret our church affiliation as a charter of hospitality.
At Le Moyne College, we believe that exploring life's religious dimensions yields valuable insights into individuals as well as entire cultures. Beyond its often-profound personal impact, religion plays a central role in shaping societies, prompting political action, and influencing the course of history. Examining the nature and function of religion is therefore an essential part of a liberal arts education, helping students develop a richer understanding of men, women, and the world in which they live and work.
The major in Religion and Philosophy seeks to enrich students' appreciation of the history of reflection on the meaning of life and to enhance his/her understanding of current religious and philosophical issues. The major is especially recommended for students seeking an adequate foundation for further study in Religion and Theology. It is also appropriate for anyone interested in a general liberal arts degree with concentration in these areas.
In the Humanities Division, you'll ask the big questions. What is the nature of ultimate reality? What is the meaning of human existence? What is our role in the world? How have other people past and present addressed these questions? Why and why did things happen the way they did? Could history have taken a different course? Can things be different in the future?
The Religion faculty takes Muskingum University's church-related status very seriously. Muskingum's express desire, outlined in its mission statement, to educate the "whole person" and to develop students both intellectually and spiritually--with a goal of positive action and ethical sensitivity--reminds us of the Greek tradition of educating body, mind, and spirit and the medieval era when theology was the "queen of the sciences."
In this program, you will join a community of scholars who engage in the academic study of religion from the perspectives of history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, philosophy, and the arts. We look at how religion changes over time and is influenced by, and influences, other elements of culture. We examine the interactions of religion with politics and the media. We study the common themes of religions as well as their fascinating differences, which furthers the acceptance and understanding of different faiths.
The Department of Religious Studies is committed to fostering greater understanding of the roles of religion in the contemporary world and throughout history. Its approach is interdisciplinary, employing methods drawn from across the humanities and social sciences to examine the world’s religious traditions as social, cultural, and historical phenomena. Students and faculty alike benefit from a lively environment that encourages close interaction.
The Religion major consists of eight courses and requires both broad exposure to major approaches to studying religion and concentrated study in some aspect of religion. The requirements are organized in five parts:
The program in Religious Studies engages enduring questions about religion and human society. It investigates religions and how they shape and are shaped by human cultures. Studying religion invites us to consider humanity in its quest for transcendence and communion with the divine. It permits us to see what effect these desires have had on individuals and communities, for good or for ill. Since it touches all facets of human experience, the study of religion is a crucial conversation partner with many other fields of study.
The University of Denver's undergraduate religious studies program offers students the opportunity to study religion in ways not found at other universities. The BA provides students breadth and depth, balancing textual and theoretical study with a focus on lived traditions through site visits and experiential learning.
The Department of Theology and Religious Studies is a diverse community of scholars who advance the teaching and study of religion with particular attention to fostering understanding of Catholic traditions.
In support of the educational mission of the university and the furtherance of our own disciplines, we pursue excellence in scholarship. As a faculty that is multidisciplinary in both training and outlook, we bring a spirit of creativity and dialogue to bear on the exploration of religious meaning.
In keeping with the University's mission, the Department of Religious Studies has a twofold mission: to acquaint all students with the Roman Catholic tradition within the broader religious and global context in which they live, and to expose all students to the multidimensional and interdisciplinary methods utilized within the field of religious studies.