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.
New Courses Spring 2025
Sex and Sexuality in Islam (RELST 2555) MW 10:10-11:25
Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism in Historical Perspective (RELST 2656) MW 10:10-11:25
Gospel & The Blues: A Black Women's History II, 1973-2023 (RELST 3422/6422) W 11:15-1:45
Islamic Mysticism: Life, Love, and History (RELST 3448/6338) MW 1:25-2:40
Religion and Social Life (RELST 4110) W 2:00-4:30
Topics in South Asian Culture and Literature (RELST 4414/6602) W 12:20-2:15
Martin Luther King, Jr. (RELST 6865) F 11:15-1:45
Spring 2025 Class Roster
Religious Studies News
“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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Coming from the University of Toronto, where he is the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen begins his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
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Kim Haines-Eitzen, the Paul and Berthe Hendrix Memorial Professor of Near Eastern studies, and Mostafa Minawi, associate professor of history and director of Critical Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies, will pursue research projects in residence in Durham, North Carolina.
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Kathryn Cuneo is a religious studies major.
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The collection “Households in Context: Dwelling in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt” shifts the archaeological perspective from public and elite spaces such as temples, tombs and palaces to everyday dwellings and interactions of families.
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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!
Earn honors in religious studies
The honors program is open to religious studies undergraduate majors who have done superior work and who wish to devote a substantial part of their senior year to advanced, specialized, independent research and writing of a thesis.
Take a class
Start with "Religion and Ecological Sustainability" (RELST 2273) or "Sensational Religion" (RELST 2276) or take one of the many other courses or seminars we offer.
Apply for a summer fellowship
Given in honor of Gelek Rimpoche the Weiner Family Summer Fellowship supports funding for summer experiential learning and research for an undergraduate student studying Buddhist practice.
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.
The minor is designed to offer students in relevant major fields the opportunity to delve more deeply into religious studies, build an intellectual community around the study of religion, and prepare themselves professionally for academic positions in a religious studies department.
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