Western Research Area

Western Research Area

Research in this area is sponsored in various topics across the four main fields of study:

Religion & Politics
Religion & Culture
Western Religious Thought
Islamic Studies

We encourage a variety of approaches and methodologies.

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Religion & Politics

We study accounts of the interrelations between religion, ethics, and politics from ancient Greece to the modern West.

Areas of concentration include: the history of political philosophy; analysis of literary expressions of an understanding of religion, ethics, and politics; study of critical social and ethical theories with reference to the underlying theological and philosophical anthropologies.

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Western Religious Thought

Research examines philosophy of religion, theology, and ethics (Islamic, Jewish, Christian, secular) in the classical and modern periods.

Areas of specialization include the interrelations between philosophy and religion, hermeneutical and critical theory, secular challenges to religious thought, modern theology, and ethics.

Course work and comprehensive examinations include both historical-systematic-comparative studies of perennial theological and philosophical themes and specialized contemporary topics.

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Religion & Culture

Research focuses primarily on the anthropology of religion. Students acquire a thorough knowledge of the historical development, contemporary theory, and methodological approaches of the field.

Graduate students have pursued research on a range of topics, such as, religious healing, death rituals and religious feminisms.

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Islamic Studies

Research studies Islamic texts and peoples. Courses cover a range of topics including: Qu’ran & Hadith, modern Islamic movements, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic feminisms and Islam & globalization.

We also offer the opportunity to study Arabic.