Join our spring 2026 semester class about History of the Crusades with Professor Elijah Wallace.

We have more spring 2026 courses coming your way! Check out Professor Ajay Skaria's course where you will learn more about Hinduism: Making Modern India. If you have any questions you can reach out to us anytime.

Join our spring 2026 semester class about History of the Crusades with Professor Elijah Wallace.

The American Academy of Religion announced that Anna Seastrand, a Religious Studies Core Faculty Member, won the 2025 Religion and the Arts Book Award for Body, History, Myth: Early Modern Murals in South India. We congratulate Professor Seastrand on this incredible achievement.

If you haven't or even have registered for spring classes yet still check out our Religious Studies department courses! Join Professor Atur Ranjani in learning more about the interesting topic of Death and the Afterlife.

We have more classes coming your way this Spring! Check out this Religion and Culture course with Professor Aisha Ghani. Learn about tracing the origins and history about the Religion and Culture.

Spring semester registration is now open! Join Professor Andrea Sterk for World of Christianity, offered every Monday and Wednesday. Examine the history, beliefs, and cultural influence of Christianity in a course designed to expand your perspective.

Trace the history of Islam in America—from early exploration and the slave trade to Malcolm X and post transformations. Join RELS 3631: Islam in America: A History of the Present with Professor Aisha Ghani, Thursdays 4–6:30 PM, Spring 2026.

Explore the spiritual and cultural dimensions of South Asian art. Art of India, offered this spring by the Religious Studies Department, examines how artistic traditions reflect history and faith.

Are you interested in learning more about key theories and the methods in the academic study of religion? Register to Professor Katharine Gerbner's spring semester course Theory and Method in Religion: Critical Approaches to the Study of Religion.

Are you interested in understanding religion from a global & cultural perspective?
Enroll in RELS 1001 with Professor Sarah Dees : Spring Semester, M/W 2:30–3:45 PM.

We want to highlight the release of Katharine Gerbner's groundbreaking book, Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica. Duke University Press, 2025.

Religious Studies Assistant Director Awarded 2025 Ann Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize

Congratulations to Nathanael Homewood, Assistant Director of the Religious Studies Program, whose book Seductive Spirits has been awarded the 2025 Ann Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize.

Don’t miss this!

On October 14th at 4 PM, join Kevin O'Neill and Patrick Wall in conversation about Unforgivable, a critical look at abuse and accountability in the Catholic Church.

📍 Location: Northrop Crosby Seminar room

#Unforgivable #KevinONeill #PatrickWall #UMNEvents #religiousprogram

We have two exciting opportunities for students that we want to share! We are offering a scholarship that is open to Religious Studies Majors/Minors, and Islamic Studies Minors, as well as hiring for a student worker position (open to all students). See the photos below for more details!

We are excited to announce this talk, which will be presented by Dr. Francesca Chubb-Confer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Oberlin University. See all the details in the poster below.

Congratulations to Religious Studies Affiliate Faculty member Dwight K. Lewis Jr. (Philosophy), who recently received a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation for his work with the Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) here at UMN. For more info about CCEC: www.minnesotaccec.com

We are excited to announce our 2025 Roetzel Family Lecture! See the following poster for more details