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The Department of Religion at Sweet Briar College, one of the oldest departments in the college, is dedicated to the teaching of a historical and cross-cultural understanding of the development and role of religion in the world. This objective is based on the assumption that a liberal postsecondary education is incomplete without a critical understanding and appreciation of how human beings, across the globe and through time, create visions of the human self, establish standards of discourse, truth,and evidence, and individually and collectively act upon the awareness that flows from these visions and standards.
 Students of religion learn not only to understand how particular religions function within cultures, but also how the religious dimension is fundamental to the understanding of human existence and the cultures (including that of the modern university) that humans create. In the honest encounter with "religion" and "religions", students learn the relevance and importance to their lives of the religious values that have guided and continue to guide human activity and choice. They also gain an enriched perspective and understanding of the process of their own cultural history and that of others around the globe.
The courses that the department offers are of two types: those that focus on a historical and contextualized understanding of the literature and practices of religious communities in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East, and those that focus on the methods and critical issues raised by the subject of religion vis-a-vis the other disciplines of the academy. In both types of courses, though, the critical skills of analysis (historical, philosophical, linguistic, sociological, literary, gendered, and psychological) common to contemporary scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences are used.
Benefits of a Religion Major
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