The Department of Classics and Religious Studies offers programs of study leading to the degrees of Master of Arts (MA) in Religious Studies and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Religious Studies.

Objectives and Methods

The Department of Classics and Religious Studies (sector: Religious Studies) focuses on the study of the religious phenomenon through teaching and research in the same manner and on the same level as any other category of facts accessible to human experience and observation.

The disciplines that play a role in the study of religions are primarily of a historical, sociological, psychological and anthropological nature. Such a study must take into account the plurality of religious traditions and expressions in society and examine the relationships among them.

Research on the meaning of religious phenomena is accomplished through analysis and comparison of the various means of religious expression, both in the past and present. No tradition is considered normative.

Areas of Research

The programs focus on religions in Canada, including Amerindian and Inuit traditions, and on religions in the comparative cultural context as well as religions in the Greco-Roman World. The comparative cultural approach provides an opportunity to explore religious phenomena across different religious traditions expressly within their specific cultural contexts. The program favors the methods of anthropology, history, psychology and sociology.

The Department participates in collaborative programs in Women’s Studies and in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the MA level and in Canadian Studies at the PhD level.