Chair: Associate Professor Raymond Patterson
Professors: James Byrne, Jeffrey Trumbower
Assistant Professor: Eva Pascal
Keeping with the mission of Saint Michael’s as a Catholic liberal arts college, courses in religious studies primarily examine the foundations, development, meaning, and cultural relevance of the Christian tradition: its literature and history, beliefs, practices, and ethics. Courses are also offered in other religious traditions, such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. By its nature, religious studies approaches traditions in a multi-disciplinary fashion and inquires into both life’s ultimate questions and issues central to everyday life. The skills of empathic understanding and critical thinking developed in religious studies are not only valuable for almost any career, but they also serve to enrich one’s entire life. Recent majors and minors in religious studies are successfully pursuing careers in teaching, law, business management, journalism, information management, social services, college administration, various church ministries and other fields.
Religious Studies Learning Outcomes:
Students will demonstrate comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the Christian tradition.
Students will demonstrate a familiarity with religious traditions other than Christianity, and deeper understanding of at least one of these traditions.
Students will demonstrate understanding of the field of religious studies, including an appreciation of disciplines and sub-disciplines within the field.
Students will demonstrate increased religious literacy, including the ability to comprehend a range of theories and methods in the study of religion.
Students will demonstrate appreciation of the complexity of interpretations in the study of religion including hermeneutical theories.
Students will demonstrate understanding of the importance of research and scholarship through completion of a Senior Thesis to be completed in RS410 (Sr. Seminar).
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