Religion is arguably one of the most significant forces in human life. Whether you are pursuing a career in a professional field like business, nursing, allied health sciences, education, or engineering, or if you are thinking about pursuing graduate study in the humanities or social sciences, religious studies provides transferrable skills and deepens understanding of the human experience, culture, and traditions both past and present. Students who are already majoring in another field may choose to complement their studies and bolster their dossiers by pursuing a minor in Religious Studies.

We encourage you to meet with a faculty advisor to work with you to help plan out the most direct course for you to pursue and complete the minor.

All minors must take the following core classes (10 credits):

• REL 100: Religions of the World (credits: 3)
• REL 200: Understanding Religions in Human Experience (credits: 3)
• REL 300: Religions in the World Today: Theories, Methods, Issues (credits: 3)
• REL 482: Integrative Statement (credits: 1)

In addition, minors must take at least 9 credits from the following list of elective courses:

• REL 305: Christianity: Scriptures and Tradition
• REL 306: Hinduism and South Asian Religions (SWS)
• REL 310: Jewish Scriptures and Traditions 
• REL 335: Sacred Texts – Global Contexts 
• REL 340: Religion and Popular Culture in the United States
• REL 380: Special Topics in Religious Studies
• INT 314: Life Journey (SWS)
• INT 330: Ideas of Nature
• INT 400/401/401: Visionary Leadership/Thinkers
• IDS 350: Civil Discourse
• AHS 352: Intro to Holistic Health
• ANT 315: Comparative Religions
• ANT 421: Social Movements
• CJ 405: Terrorism
• CLA 315: Ancient Religions
• ENG 386: Literary Responses to Death and Dying
• HRT 335: Theory of Human Rights
• HST 311: History of Religion in the United States
• HST 337: The Age of Islamic Empire
• HST 342: History of East Asian Religions
• HST 376: History of Witch Hunts
• HTM 368: Geotourism
• MES 350: Islam: Scriptures and Rituals
• MGT 340: Ethics in Business, Social Justice and Sustainability
• PA 360: Voluntarism and Nonprofit Sector
• PHI 306: Eastern Great Philosophers
• PHI 312: Medieval Great Philosophers 
• PHI 341: Philosophy of Death and Dying
• PHI 343: Philosophy of Religion
• PHI 400: Wisdom of the East: Advanced Topics in Asian Philosophy
• PLS 330: Religion and Politics in America
• PSY 385: Psychology of Religion 

Students can also use courses from the Honor’s College “Alliance & Conflict” sequence (which includes HNR 151, 152, 153, and 154) or one of the following upper-division Honor’s courses to meet the elective requirement within the REL Minor. Those upper division courses include:

• HNR 350: Textual Tease
• HNR 350 Prophetic Critique in the Modern World
• HNR 350 The Terror of Monotheism 

Have a course that you think should be on this list but isn't? Please contact the REL Program Coordinator to discuss further. Additional options for elective credit could include REL general credits (from transferred courses), independent readings (REL 399) or independent research (REL 499).