Department of Global Religions

Why should students think about studying Global Religions?

Global Religions opens doors for students to explore the vast diversity of religious experience and thought around the world.  Students grow as global citizens -- aware, conversant and sensitive to many outlooks and ways of seeing the world. They develop skills most urgently sought after in today's workplaces (critical thinking and problem solving, fluent communication, ethical awareness, collaborative skill and experience). Courses guide students to learn about the historical roots of world religions, and further engage students with urgent social realities of today's world. Prospective teachers, lawyers, business-people, health-care providers, those seeking work in the non-profit world, and anyone planning to enter graduate school will be very well served through exploring a minor (5 courses) or major (9 courses) in Global Religions. See our Student Spotlight page for stories about where the Global Religions programs are taking our students!

The Global Religions Experience

Your study will take you around the world as you explore the nature and function of religion in human experience.  You will learn many different methods to investigate religious texts, theologies, rituals, beliefs, cultures, histories and more, as you question the ways religion enriches and complicates the lives of people as a major source of their values, ideals, and practices.

"What are you going to do with that major?"  Take a look below!

Taking one or more courses in the Religion Department will increase your capacities in the following areas that are highly desired by employers in today's world: 

• We work to develop student internships that build a post-college vision for work and life;
• In your capstone you create a project that creates a pathway to your future;
• You will develop intercultural understanding,
• practice with addressing life's big questions,
• critical thinking,
• excellent and flexible writing skills,
• abilities to read any kind of text,
• opportunities for moral deliberation regarding complex and thorny human dilemmas,
• and the application of all these skills to new global contexts and lived behaviors.

You're encouraged to bring your own questions to the building of skills in thinking and reading, speaking and writing, and approaching and understanding cultures radically different from your own. Our study helps us learn to listen and understand the differences in and between people.