Why study Religious studies
The religious studies sector of the Department of Classics and Religious Studies has a particular interest in the following areas: Amerindian and Inuit religions, religion and culture in Canada, women and religion, religions in comparative cultural context, and religions in the classical and contemporary periods.
Religious studies pursue the investigation of religious phenomena 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. Moreover, in the modern context, such a study must take into account the popularity of religious traditions and expressions in society, and examine relationships among them. To this end, religious studies takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of religious phenomena using historical, sociological, psychological, anthropological and textual perspectives to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of religious expressions.
Research on religious phenomena is accomplished through analysis and comparison of the various means of religious expression, both in the past and present. The programs do not consider any religious tradition to be normative. What the programs offer are not theological studies from within any given religious tradition, but rather a scientific study of religion and religions.