Students with questions about religion as a significant phenomenon of human life may engage in academic study of religions in an interdisciplinary context.
Religious studies major Sarita Smith, C’2013, was interested in learning what “would help to break down some of the resistance people may have when it comes to looking at religions other than their own.” For her thesis project, Smith examined founders of Buddhism and Christianity. Her research compared the two founders and used a focus group of persons from both traditions to test the possibility of changing perspectives. “I have been very interested in learning more about this topic since I began college,” Smith says, “so this research allowed me to gain knowledge in this area and find possible answers to many questions I have.”
Smith, who was contemplating graduate work in religious studies, used the senior thesis project to test the waters of a career in the academy. “I would like to explore what it would be like to pursue a career in religious studies,” Smith says. “If I were to take up religious studies on the graduate level, research like this would be done very frequently.”
The major in religious studies focuses on critical thinking, critical writing and empirical study about the diverse world views that influence human identities and activity. It is an excellent preparation for graduate study (e.g., the Ph.D. in religious studies, anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences) as well as pursuing professions for which autonomous and synthetic thinking and writing are required, such as law, public policy, non-profit leadership, social justice and organizing, social work, mental health, diplomacy, public service, managing virtual and physical information systems and libraries, marketing, journalism, military/hospital/institutional chaplaincy and ministry.