M.A. / PhD - Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies

University of California - Santa Barbara

The Department of Religious Studies is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading centers for the analytic study of religion and is renowned for its cross-cultural and multidisciplinary approach to the study of religions. The department offers training in the religious dimensions of the human experience in diverse cultures and traditions around the world and through the course of history. We embrace both humanistic and scientific approaches to the study of religions and emphasize the importance of advanced study of relevant languages. Our faculty members employ a diverse array of methods in their research and draw from a broad range of theoretical perspectives. Indeed, a rigorous multidisciplinary and analytic approach to the study of religions, often involving comparative perspectives across traditions, has been one of the enduring hallmarks of UCSB’s Department of Religious Studies since its founding more than fifty years ago, in contrast with our peer institutions whose programs have been founded on a seminary model rooted in ministry.

College of Letters and Science