The Department of Religion is dedicated to the academic study of religion as a complex and dynamic phenomenon closely interwoven with other aspects of life and culture. As an interdisciplinary field, the study of religion uses a variety of approaches: historical, social scientific, philosophical, theological, textual, hermeneutical, or aesthetic.

The faculty are both teachers and scholars, and draw on their own scholarship to formulate a comprehensive and exciting program of study. The department’s courses treat religion as a realm of human experience and action, without making claims about the truth or falsity of particular religious beliefs.

Students are encouraged to think about religious ideas and ways of life sympathetically and critically. Belief or observance in any particular tradition is neither assumed nor discouraged.