Studies in Religion

The Department of Studies in Religion is part of the School of Letters, Art, and Media (SLAM) and is located within the John Woolley Building.

The department provides open, serious, scholarly and critical study of religion, aiming to offer the broadest possible curriculum. Units of study covering Celtic and Germanic mythology, history of Christianity, meditation and other spiritual practices, the connections of religion with sexuality and consumer culture, the interface of religion with art and film, Buddhism and a range of new religious phenomena, are offered on a rotating cycle.

The department offers a program in undergraduate, postgraduate coursework and postgraduate research study. Students begin Studies in Religion by completing two junior units of study. RLST1002 The History of God charts concepts of God and the divine from prehistory through the ancient world to the modern. RLST1005 Atheism, Fundamentalism & New Religions considers issues of contemporary debate through the lens of various on-going controversies.

Major
A major in Studies in Religion is 36 senior credit points (six senior units of study). It is possible to do fourth year honours in Studies in Religion if you complete a further 12 senior credit points and your average result across the 48 credit points of religion is a Credit or better (65+).

Crosslisting
A number of units in other departments are crosslisted and up to three crosslisted units may be included in a Studies in Religion major (18 senior credit points). For crosslisted units see the information on the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences website sydney.edu.au/arts

Pathways
The study of religion can be fruitfully combined with studies in many other departments within the Faculty of Arts such as Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Ancient History, English, Medieval Studies, Film Studies, Art History and Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Honours (see chapter 5 for further information)
Honours is a stimulating and prestigious way to cap off your undergraduate studies, and involves a methodology seminar and the writing of a thesis in which you personally devise and research a project under the supervision of an academic staff member. Further detail regarding the nature of the honours year is described in chapter 5 of this handbook.

Foreign Language
Staff in the department encourage research work, particularly at an honours level, with original texts in the languages of Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Summer School and Winter School
Summer School and Winter School courses are regularly offered.

Contact/further information
For further information about the program see the department website: sydney.edu.au/arts/religion
Undergraduate Student Adviser: Dr Jay Johnston, +61 2 9351 6840, email: