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University of Wisconsin, OshkoshDepartment Name: Religious Studies and Anthropology Department website: Approximate Enrollment (entire institution): 14,000 Number of Religion Majors: 29 Number of Full-Time Departmental Faculty: 8 Public Institution?: Public Related to a religious denomination or body?: No Which best describes the institution?: Grants bachelor and master degrees Department offers undergraduate coursework in ministerial preparation (either a track, a minor, or a major)?: No Department or institution offers masters programs in religious studies or theological studies?: No Department or institution offers doctoral programs in religious studies or theological studies?: No Description of Undergraduate Major: Some of the earliest scholars of Religious Studies conceived of religion as the “belief in superhuman beings”, or they focused on a Sacred that is “wholly other”. The contemporary study of religion, however, is largely the study of people and of the unique ways that people make meaning in their lives. The main goals of the Religious Studies program at UWO are to study how individuals and communities around the world do this through their use of religious language, imagery, and performance. In studying the five major World Religions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism – students will engage specific issues that pertain to each: the Holocaust, the roles of women in the Bible, Islamic modernism, Hindu myth and ritual, and Zen Buddhist practice to name just a few. - the varieties and meanings of Asian ritual performances - the various religious roles that women and women’s rituals play throughout the world - the contributions of New Religious Movements to contemporary American culture - the place of children, children’s literature, and comic books in modern religions - the varieties of mystical experience performed throughout the world and the use of religious language in global violence and terrorism.
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