WHAT IS RELIGIOUS STUDIES?

Put simply religious studies is the academic study of religion.  Unless you have taken a religious studies course, however, this might not mean too much to you.  It might help to say what religious studies is not.  It is not "Sunday school" at the college level, or a professional program that trains people for the ministry.  You don't have to be religious to study religion.  Then, again, you certainly can be religious, and study your own religion, or other religious traditions, but from an academic perspective.

Religious studies explores the range of phenomena that fall within the categories "religion" or "religious," from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.  What should be included within the categories of "religion" or "religious" is an on-going debate in the field, but the discipline is probably wider than you think.  Courses in this department might cover, for example, myths, symbols, values, beliefs, writings, and rituals of individuals and communities in many different times and places.  Religion is a constellation of beliefs/values/behaviors that deeply influence personal and public life rather than a narrow, isolated segment of individual and social life. It is impossible to understand the perspective and motivations of most of the world’s people, past or present, without a sense of the religious sources of their identity.  So when you study religion, you are studying what makes most people and civilizations "tick" rather than a set of official dogmas or rituals that are isolated from real life.

Religious studies brings together perspectives and approaches from history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and literature to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the individuals and traditions that constitute religions and cultures.

For a long while many westerners have tended to think that religions are either "dying out' or have been relegated to the private sphere where they have little public or political importance.  Recent events in the United States and around the world, however, have made it harder and harder to sustain this view. In our increasingly cosmopolitan world, the need to understand the root beliefs and values of diverse cultures has become a political and moral imperative.  The academic study of religion seeks to explore the deep intersections between religions and cultures which have shaped, and continue to shape, personal and collective identity.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES AFFILIATIONS :
The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict
Religious Studies Society
Islamic Studies Undergraduate Certificate Program
Jewish Studies Program

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