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Like all areas in the Humanities, there are a variety of
career possibilities with the knowledge and skills gained
in the academic study of religion.
Despite declaring an REL major due simply to ones interest
in, and curiosity for, the material covered in our courses,
students are advised to think ahead. Your senior year, and
then graduation, often come sooner than you think.
For those who assume that one must be religious in order to
study religions, or that the study of religions is intended
to deepen ones own faith, career opportunities are likely
limited to entering various professional roles within religious
institutions. With such an understanding of the field in mind,
religious studies majors are sometimes also assumed to be
preparing for a careers in such fields as social work or conflict
mediation.
For those who see the field in this way, some advice for possible
careers can found found here.
Understandably, such a conception of the field is the subject
of ongoing debate in the field (read a 1996 article on this
very topic here
[PDF]).
Although graduates from Departments of Religious Studies do
indeed pursue, and excel in, such careers, those who understand
the study of religion to be an aspect of the human sciences--part
of the collective effort to study the many ways in which people
build and contest identities and systems of value--do not
necessarily see a link between the academic study of religion
and personal faith-development. Such students therefore see
their major in REL as preparing them for any number of careers
in which their nuanced ability to define, describe, compare,
understand, and account for varying types of knowledge systems
is seen as a benefit.
Although such REL majors can go on to graduate school, others
enter any number of professional fields, such as the law or
journalism.
If you are interested in applying to graduate school, please
talk with one of our professors early in your undergraduate
training. For starters, click here
for some helpful advice.
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