Overview

The critical study of religion is the scholarly path to understanding humanity’s ultimate concerns. We help students comprehend and empathise with a diversity of cultures, societies, and worldviews. Through the dynamic examination of sacred literatures, art, rituals, institutions, virtues, morals, and ethics we build creative and original ways to be curious about the objects and ideas that our species holds most important. Through a wide variety of research-based projects, community-engaged investigations, presentations and discussions, our students develop the confidence to academically analyse – socially and historically – the faith claims, truth claims, and comprehend the most important ideals of the world’s cultures.

The Studies in Religion program is offered as a minor and is designed to amplify and hone multiple analytic skills that are useful across the humanities. Our units are carefully designed to complement your choice of major, whether that be English, Philosophy, History, Classics, Sociology, Visual Arts, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Archaeology, and many more. Study with us deepens your experience of these other fields by encouraging you to critically respond to the core methodologies of the Humanities. We do this by helping you to appreciate the multiple modes of sacralisation humans use to mark out the special and the set-apart. In senior units we do this through the development of personally customised assessments. This research work encourages you to expand your interdisciplinary learning and explore sacred themes, histories, and texts in ways that deepen your broader academic enthusiasms.

Students will work within a small but vibrant and mutually supportive scholarly community. Here, the chief outcome of this minor is the ability of students to use their acquired knowledge and skills in a variety of academic, empathetic, critical, and creative ways. These include the understanding of important methodological themes behind the teaching of religion at primary and high school level, contributing to public policy, profoundly understanding the link between community text and literature, and being able to critically analyse how the ultimate concerns of others impact on social cohesion in our contemporary multi-ethnic and multi-faith world.

Requirements for completion

The Studies in Religion minor requirements are listed in the Studies in Religion unit of study table.

Contacts and further information