Religious Studies (B.A.) (2 subjects)

The study of Religious Studies imparts fundamental knowledge about religious traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Manichaeism, but also about newer religions such as the Baha'i or Scientology, as well as about past religions such as the religions of the ancient Mediterranean or the Aztecs.

Processes of religious and social change, interreligious relations, religious politics and everyday religiosity are topics of study, as are the special theoretical questions and research methods of the subject.

The subject is firmly anchored in an interdisciplinary way at Göttingen University and institutionally spans three faculties. The Faculty of Theology is represented by Prof. Dr. Andreas Grünschloß, the Faculty of Philosophy by Prof. Dr. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and the Faculty of Social Sciences by Prof. Dr. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel.

The subject of teaching and research is the multifaceted world of religions and spiritual practices in the past and present. Important topics are, for example, religious and social change, religious politics and everyday religiosity, religious conflicts, religious self-perception and perception of others, conversion, religion and healing, asceticism and mysticism.

At Göttingen, training in religious studies is embedded in a variety of neighbouring philological and socio-empirical disciplines, which themselves have integral references to the subject of religion. Ideally, Religious Studies is combined with a subject that provides historical-philological or empirical qualifications. Without these qualifications, access to certain primary sources is not possible. These sources include religious texts ("sacred scriptures", myths, ritual songs) or empirically observable forms of religiosity in different cultural regions. Religious Studies offers thematic and comparative perspectives on religion and religions, such as "religion and food" or "pilgrimage". It also imparts knowledge in areas not covered by other subjects, for example on the topic of new religious movements or East Asian religions.

It is desirable that students combine the subject of religious studies with a scholarly philology (Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, etc.) or at least acquire additional qualifications for studying sources within the framework of their area of professionalization. Anyone studying the subject of religious studies with a specialization profile must spend at least 12 AP in the field of such philological competencies.

Self-evident and well-proven are subject combinations with related disciplines of cultural science: Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology, Indology, Arabic Studies /Islamic Studies and related subjects. A combination with History or German Studies and similar subjects is sensible and possible based on personal interest constellations.

As in many cultural scientific programmes, possible occupational fields depend very strongly on the selected subject combination and additional key qualifications. The programme for religious studies is strong in the area of intercultural and interreligious competences and offers good opportunitues to go into adult education or publishing, or to take on intercultural tasks. It is important to have broad knowledge in "classical" topics as well as modern topics and topics related to the present day, as well as forms of religion.