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Religious Studies

Why Study Religion?

 

International and Interdisciplinary Scholarship

Painting of a reclining scholar studying
Religion shapes, and is shaped by, every other dimension of human society. It is impossible to fully understand politics, law, history, or science without understanding religion. We invite you to learn more about the most interdisciplinary field in the university: Religious Studies.

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Featured Story

 

Desire and Intimacy in the Study of Religion Recap

The 2024 Northwestern Religious Studies Graduate Student Conference on Desire and Intimacy in the Study of Religion was a tremendous success. This was the first graduate student conference since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and brought scholars from Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Vienna, Berlin, and more. Throughout our five panels, presenters explored on intimacies of land, reading intimacies, digital and media intimacies, sensorial intimacies, and scholarly intimacies. To read more about our Fall graduate conference, click on the link below

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Find Your Direction

 
Alumna Adina Goldman had a path that led her from pre-med to English literature and biological anthropology and then to religious studies and music.

News and Events

 

Faculty in the News

 
Professor Kevin Buckelew's new book Discerning Buddhas was recently published! Congratulations!
Click below to read more about Professor Buckelew's book Discerning Buddhas, which explores themes of authority, agency and masculinity in Chan Buddhism. 

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Upcoming Events

 
May
6
2025
Faculty Book Colloquium with Kevin Buckelew

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, No Location

Faculty Book Colloquium for Professor Kevin Buckelew’s new book, Discerning Buddhas. Panelist: Professor Stephanie Balkwill, The Depart...

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Latest News

 
Graduate Student Appreciation 'Sip and Paint!'
Congratulations to Ray Buckner for the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship!
Congratulations to Lugyal Bum for receiving the 2025 Summer Language Grant from The Graduate School
Congratulations to Cara Snajczuk for receiving the 2025 Summer Language Grant from The Graduate School
Congratulations to Juliana Sexauer for receiving the 2025 Summer Language Grant from The Graduate School

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