Undergraduate Programs

The Department offers BA Major, BA Honours, and a BA Minor in Religious Studies.  View requirements PDF

For further information about the Honours program in Religious Studies, please contact the Department of Religious Studies office.

BA Honours Theses Completed in Religious Studies

Teaching Goals

Our program is designed to teach transferable skills including:

  • The ability to think critically and creatively
  • The ability to understand and practice social-scientific and humanistic methods
  • Oral and written communication: In every RLST course, students are taught to speak and write clearly and persuasively and they develop these skills through practice. All RLST courses evaluate students on their ability to communicate their ideas in writing and many of our classes encourage practice in oral presentation.
  • How to develop a structured and coherent argument based on data collected
  • How to work independently in the construction and implementation of a research project
  • The development of a 'global historical consciousness' so that students can view the present within the context of the past, appreciate tradition, and understand the critical historical forces that have influenced the way we think, feel and act
  • The identification of the ethical dimension, so that students can understand how cultural values are developed and how they impact on the understanding of our own culture and the culture of others
  • The acquisition of intellectual flexibility, remaining open to new ideas and new information
  • The ability to manage a coherent sophisticated understanding of a major body of knowledge with all its complexities, power and limitations. Students acquire research competency through reading, research and writing
  • The encouragement of self-motivated and collaborative learning

Languages

The Religious Studies curriculum provides instruction in some of the languages required for Religious Studies research. Religious Studies faculty teach language courses in Coptic, Sanskrit, classical Chinese, and Modern Hebrew and students are encouraged to study relevant languages taught in other Departments: International Languages, Classics, and French.

We strongly encourage developing language skills during the undergraduate years. Although this is a strength in the Department, we do not always have the resources (especially the time) to deliver these courses

While there is no language requirement beyond that required by the Faculty of Arts, for those planning to go on to graduate school, competence in those languages related to the culture they will be studying is mandatory.