UC Riverside Department of Religious Studies

The Department of Religious Studies provides an opportunity to study diverse religious traditions of the world. Students are able to examine texts, symbols, myths, rituals, ideas, values, institutions, and intellectual (theological, philosophical, and ethical) systems of many traditions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, African and Native American religions. Religion is studied empathetically, descriptively, and critically with the aid of historical, exegetical, literary, philosophical, theological, and social-scientific (e.g. anthropological, socio-logical, and psychological) methods of inquiry.