The Religious Studies Department encourages students to examine how religious beliefs, practices, and values of contemporary and historical cultures shape and are shaped by societal factors, long-standing traditions, and distinctive forms of literary and artistic expressions. Offering a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies, the department explores the myriad religious and spiritual traditions of the human landscape.

Religious Studies majors and minors in good standing are often invited to join the Alpha Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Theta Alpha Kappa, Centenary College’s official chapter of the National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology. Members discuss current trends in religious studies, submit papers for publication, and attend regional and national seminars.

Many courses in the department will ask that you spend a number of hours in a particular religious community. You can visit a mosque, a synagogue, a Buddhist wat, or a Hindu temple and cultural center. We take learning out of the classroom and into the world!

In Introduction to Religious Studies, you will have an opportunity to create an original religion, based on your work and research throughout the course.

Our internationally renowned faculty have been trained at such institutions as Vanderbilt University and the University of Chicago.

 

Many of our graduates receive scholarships to leading institutions around the globe, continuing their academic exploration in the area of religion, including Biblical Studies, Anthropology, Archeology, Religion, Cultural Studies, Islam Studies, Buddhist Studies and more. Many also enter seminaries upon leaving Centenary to receive training leading to ordination and professional ministry in a variety of religious traditions.