Exploring religious traditions in all of their complexity
Religious Studies Program
We explore religious traditions through comparative, contextual and thematic studies. Our courses are built on the established scholarly tradition of the study of religion as an academic, as opposed to a confessional, pursuit.
Engage & Support
Major in religious studies
Interested in a specific religious tradition? Want to learn more about religious rituals throughout history and in the contemporary world? Consider an undergraduate major or minor in religious studies!
Take a class
Start with "Religion and Ecological Sustainability" (RELST 2273) or "Sensational Religion" (RELST 2276) or take one of the many other classes we offer.
Add a graduate minor in religious studies
Cornell graduate students working in fields related to the study of religion are welcome to apply for the Religious Studies Graduate Minor in the Cornell Graduate School.
Support religious studies at Cornell
Your support enables the program to enhance the experience for undergraduate students. Gifts can help fund lectures and conferences, student research, distinguished speakers, and other program priorities. We will greatly appreciate and immediately put into use any gift, no matter the amount.
Give to Religious Studies
Undergraduate Funding
This fellowship is given in honor of Gelek Rimpoche. It supports funding for summer experiential learning and research for a Cornell undergraduate student studying Buddhist practice in Asia. Funding is limited to travel, research materials, and living expenses. Preference will be given to a student with strong coursework in religious studies and Asian religions.
For more information contact the Director of Religious Studies.
Application deadline for Summer 2026 is March 16
Religious Studies News
A professor of religious studies at Brown, Lewis will also hold a faculty appointment as a professor of religious studies and German studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
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As the semester ended, 45 students from the Humanities Scholars Program (HSP) in the College of Arts & Sciences (A&S) presented their work May 2 at the annual Humanities Scholars Spring Research Conference.
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Grace Elmore is majoring in English & religious studies.
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Columbia University's Khatchig Mouradian will give a lecture, “Ethnic Cleansing in the Long 19th Century: The Native American, Circassian, and Armenian Cases,” on April 24.
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“We felt this is an important resource that should be available to our humanists at all levels, whether they have the resources to pay for membership or not,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences.
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Cornell researchers have received a $150,000 NEH Digital Humanities Advanced Grant to create a 3D virtual modeling project based on the Casa della Regina Carolina, a large Pompeian house.
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"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
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Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
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