BA in Religion
The Religion Department at GW is highly regarded for our excellence in teaching. Students benefit from individualized attention and build relationships with faculty. This is a department where all of our majors work closely with professors and benefit from small class sizes. Religion majors regularly publish their theses in peer-reviewed journals and are accepted into top graduate programs in law, medicine, and religious studies.
Many students choose to double major or minor in Religion alongside their major in subjects such as History, International Affairs, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology/Anthropology. Our students successfully combine pre-med requirements with our flexible major and minor requirements.
The BA in Religion curriculum begins with an survey course about the world's major religions and ends with the senior capstone. Along the way, students take a required course about theories and methods in religious studies, in addition to six electives chosen from across Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic religions. Our diverse and exciting course offerings cover topics such as:
- Buddhist meditation
- Chinese religions
- Confucian literature
- Daoism
- Christianity
- Ethics
- Hinduism
- Islam and politics
- Judaism
- Violence and peace
- Women and gender
“The department staff and professors are incredible and genuinely care about students’ success and well-being. And, the large scope and variety of classes is a strength in engaging both religion-declared and other students. To my memory, I have never taken a religion class that was purely religion students.”
Victoria Lewis
BA '19
Capstone
All religion majors must complete REL 4101W: Senior Capstone Seminar in the Fall semester of their final year. During the course, students refine and consolidate what they have learned throughout their studies.
As the capstone is also a Writing in the Disciplines (WID) course, material includes significant engagement in writing as a form of critical inquiry and scholarly expression.
Departmental Honors
Students interested in earning special honors in religion to be noted on their transcript must:
- Meet Columbian College requirements for Special Honors
- Be declared religion majors and maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 in courses in the major
- Meet specific requirements for their major
- Receive a minimum grade of A- in REL 4101W: Senior Capstone Seminar
Course Requirements
The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Undergraduate Programs.
Program-specific curriculum:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite | ||
| REL 1003 | Introduction to World Religions | |
| Required | ||
| REL 3901 | Thinking About Religion: Classic and Contemporary Approaches | |
| REL 4101W | Senior Capstone Seminar | |
| Electives | ||
| Nine Religion (REL) courses (27 credits). At least two of these courses must be taken at the 2000-level or above. At least two courses must focus on Abrahamic religions and at least two on non-Abrahamic religions, selected from the following: | ||
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Abrahamic religions | ||
| REL 1009 | The Hebrew Scriptures | |
| REL 1010 | The New Testament | |
| or REL 1010W | The New Testament | |
| REL 2165 | The Gospels | |
| REL 2169 | Lost Gospels | |
| REL 2201 | Judaism | |
| REL 2211 | Rabbinic Thought and Literature | |
| REL 2301 | Christianity | |
| REL 2401 | Islam | |
| REL 2981 | Women in Western Religion | |
| REL 3141 | Second Temple/Hellenistic Judaism | |
| REL 3151 | The Historical Jesus | |
| or REL 3151W | The Historical Jesus | |
| REL 3221 | Issues in Jewish Ethics | |
| REL 3291 | Modern Jewish Thought | |
| REL 3310 | Apocalypse and Social Change | |
| REL 3321 | Christian Ethics and Modern Society | |
| REL 3342 | Medieval Faith and Symbolism | |
| REL 3343 | Religion in the Renaissance and Reformation | |
| REL 3405 | Shi'ite Islam | |
| REL 3414 | Islamic Philosophy and Theology | |
| REL 3419 | Islamic Civilization and the West | |
| REL 3425 | Islamic Political Thought | |
| REL 3431 | Sufism/Islamic Mysticism | |
| REL 3432 | Persian Sufi Literature East and West | |
| REL 3475 | Islamic Religion and Art | |
| REL 3481 | Women in Islam | |
| REL 3482 | Gender and Piety in Islam | |
| REL 3666 | The Book of Revelation and Other Apocalypses | |
| REL 3701 | Religion in the United States | |
| REL 3711 | Religion in Contemporary America | |
| or REL 3711W | Religion in Contemporary America | |
| REL 3915 | Islam and Hinduism in South Asia | |
| REL 3923 | Violence and Peace in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam | |
| Non-Abrahamic religions | ||
| REL 2501 | Hinduism | |
| REL 2562 | Mythologies of India | |
| REL 2601 | Buddhism | |
| REL 2802 | Introduction to Chinese Religions | |
| REL 2811 | Confucian Literature in East Asia | |
| REL 2814 | Religion and Philosophy in East Asia | |
| REL 2831 | Introduction to Daoism | |
| REL 3566 | Dharma in Hinduism and Buddhism | |
| REL 3614 | Buddhist Philosophy | |
| REL 3814W | Religion and Philosophy in East Asia | |
| REL 3831W | Daoism in East Asia | |
| REL 3832 | Myth, Ritual, and Popular Religion in China | |
| REL 3841 | Religion and Politics in China | |
| REL 3881 | Women, Gender, and Religion in China | |
| REL 3915 | Islam and Hinduism in South Asia | |
| REL 3989 | The Goddess in India and Beyond | |
Required Courses Schedule Notes
Students planning their schedules around the degree requirements for both the Religion Major and Minor should note that REL 3901 Thinking About Religion will only be scheduled during Spring semesters and REL 4101W Senior Capstone Seminar will only be scheduled during Fall semesters.