Welcome to the Department of Religious Studies!
In 1870, Max Müller, one of the founding fathers of the academic study of religion, told his audience at the Royal Institution in London that: "He who knows one [religion], knows none." As the field of religious studies has developed, this dictum has referred to the need to study religion comparatively as well as to view religion through multiple lenses – through history, literature, ritual, art, and ethics, as well as in relation to issues of power, gender, class, and ethnicity.
The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee embodies this comparative enterprise as our classes offer students the opportunity to examine the histories of a number of different religious traditions as well as to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to understand the role of religion in the contemporary world. We teach a wide variety of classes on specific religious traditions, such as "Christian Thought in Late Antiquity," "Islam in the Modern World," and "Zen Buddhism"; classes on the religions of particular geographic regions, such as "Religion and Culture in the United States," "African Religions," and "Religion and Culture in Southeast Asia"; and classes on important topics within religious studies, such as "Women and Religion," "Topics in African-American Religion," and "Voices of the Holocaust."
In contemporary America, scholars argue that too many Americans lack access to knowledge about the world's religious traditions. As a result, many struggle to understand how religion relates to some of the most pressing issues of our time, from the impact of Osama bin Laden's interpretation of the Qur'an to religious battles over human rights, environmental conservation, and an end to global poverty. The mission of the Department of Religious Studies is to provide UT students with this information so that they are well equipped to participate in an ever-changing global society. As part of a Research Land Grant University, the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies promotes its mission through research, teaching, and service to the community of Knoxville and the state of Tennessee.
The Department of Religious Studies ranks among the top programs in our discipline. Please visit our undergraduate program web site for more information.
Recent Successes
Select a faculty member below to read about their recent successes.
News & Events
- UT’s I-House to Host Discussion of ‘Christianity in the Middle East’
- Alvin Rosenfeld to Visit UT
- The Department of Religious Studies and the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies are the recipients of the second Schusterman Visiting Israel Professor for 2009-2010.
- The Department of Religious Studies and the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies received a private gift to fund the Diane and Guilford Glazer Teaching Fellow in Modern Hebrew for 2009-2010.
Quick Links
- American Academy of Religion
- International Association for the History of Religions
- Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
- North American Association for the Study of Religion
- Religious Studies Library Subject Guide
- Society for the Anthropology of Religion
- Society of Biblical Literature
Course Schedules
Contact Information
Department of Religious Studies
Rosalind I. J. Hackett, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Head
501 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0450
Phone: 865-974-2466
Fax: 865-974-0965
Email: dbinder@utk.edu