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About Us

The Department of Religious Studies is the principal hub and focal point at Stanford University for the academic study of religion, that is, the study both of religion in general as a human phenomenon and of specific religious traditions, from a scholarly and critical standpoint, using the tools and methods of various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

By developing and maintaining a coordinated program of undergraduate and graduate courses broadly representative of the major areas, themes, and methods of Religious Studies, we seek to afford all Stanford students the means to enhance their knowledge and appreciation of religion as an important aspect of the human experience and of the world’s cultural diversity, with a view to enriching their education and equipping them for global citizenship.

To fulfill these aims we are committed to being an open and inclusive department. We are working to increase the diversity and inclusivity of our course offerings, as well as of our community of faculty, staff and students.  Through our curriculum and pedagogy, as well as through our extra-curricular departmental activities, we will continually strive to seek ways to realize our commitment to making the academy a more just and reflective place, particularly for people who have been historically marginalized and systemically excluded.

In addition, our goal is to contribute to the public understanding of religion and its role in human affairs, by working, in collaboration with other Stanford departments and affiliated centers dedicated to the study of particular religious traditions, to stage lectures, symposia, and other events directed towards the wider community.

We embrace these objectives in the conviction that religion is not simply a fact of life, a product of history, or a force in the contemporary world to be known and understood, but is also something that by its very nature prompts critical reflection on knowledge itself, and on what it means to be human.

Mission of the Department

The Department of Religious Studies brings a variety of disciplinary perspectives to bear on the phenomenon of religion for the purpose of understanding and interpreting the history, literature, thought, social structures, and practices of the religious traditions of the world. Comprised of sixteen regular faculty with particular strengths in the study of American Religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, it enrolls about twenty graduate students (mostly doctoral) and roughly as many undergraduate majors, minors, and combined majors.

Religious Studies works closely with several related programs at Stanford: the Department of Philosophy, with which it offers a combined undergraduate major; the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies; the Taube Center for Jewish Studies; the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies; the McCoy Center for Ethics in Society; the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies; and the Center for South Asia.

While some undergraduates continue their study of religion in a graduate or professional program, most pursue meaningful and successful careers in business, government, the nonprofit sector, and medicine. In this respect, Religious Studies is an ideal interdisciplinary major in the liberal arts. Graduates of the department's doctoral program generally pursue academic careers and are routinely placed in the best universities and colleges in the country and overseas.

The department offers a Bachelor of Arts major, minor, and honors program in Religious Studies, and a combined major with the Philosophy Department in Philosophy and Religious Studies.

The departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies jointly nominate for the B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies those students who have completed a major in the two disciplines. See a description of this combined major under the program section of this bulletin, the program section of this bulletin, or in the guidelines available from the Director of Undergraduate Studies of either department.

The graduate mission of the department is to provide students with an interdisciplinary setting of study within which to focus on their respective areas of specialization. The department offers an internal M.A. and a Ph.D. degree in Religious Studies. The master's program is restricted to current Stanford students.

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Department of Religious Studies
450 Jane Stanford Way
Building 70 | Main Quad
Mail Code: 2165
Stanford, CA 94305

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