Global Humanities and Religions
The department offers a holistic and global exploration of the great books and scriptures, art and ideas, and cultural and religious traditions that have shaped humanity.
What is Global Humanities and Religions?
The department鈥檚 programs impart knowledge of societies, cultures, and religious traditions around the globe. Students seek and discover the rich variety of ancient and modern intellectual traditions, art and ideas, classic and modern works of literature and poetry, and religious wisdom from an array of perspectives. We practice skills such as close reading, critical thinking, analytical writing, and cross-cultural understanding of the commonalities and differences in human experiences. Students gain a fuller understanding of their own world and the confidence to navigate a variety of careers.
Global Humanities and Religions Degree(s)
Humanities鈥擧istory of Culture, BA
The humanities include the disciplines which study philosophy, religion, history, literature, and the arts. The BA in Humanities: History of Culture serves students who want to major in more than one Humanities discipline, using interdisciplinary methods of investigation.
Contact
Michael Slouber, Professor
sloubem@wwu.edu | (360) 650-7649
Department Website(s)
View in Catalog
Religion and Culture, BA
The BA in Religion and Culture provides scholarly, critical, nonsectarian study of religions. Students study religious beliefs, practices, identities and organizations, and how they have influenced and been influenced by other aspects of society and culture.
Contact
Holly Folk, Program Advisor
Holly.Folk@wwu.edu | 360-650-6875
Department Website(s)
View in Catalog
The Humanities: History of Culture major has proved to be excellent preparation for professional careers in teaching, law, libraries, museums, or archive administration, and for research and administrative positions with a wide variety of businesses and non-profit organizations.
The Religion and Culture major is particularly helpful for students who plan careers in education, and the ministry or graduate study in religion and has proved to be excellent preparation for professional careers in teaching, law, library science, archive administration, and for research and administrative positions with businesses and non-profit organizations.
Graduates have gone on to a variety of professional graduate schools, including law, library and information science, and conflict resolution. Students who have done excellent work in the department have succeeded in graduate academic programs in literature, history, and the study of religion.
Western鈥檚 Humanities program attracts students who want to major in more than one humanities discipline, using interdisciplinary methods of investigation.
The humanities support the study of cultural history on a global level, including Europe and the Americas, China, Japan, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and predominantly Islamic areas. Its courses give attention to historical development and cross-cultural interaction, both in the past and in the modern period. Students learn to analyze individual works of the humanities and to relate them to social and cultural developments.
Religions supports the study of religious beliefs, practices, identities and organizations, and how they have influenced and been influenced by other aspects of society and culture. The degree program includes a broad survey of several world civilizations as a basis for understanding their religious traditions, both as they developed historically and with their modern interactions and changes. Students study the origin, history, and methods of the academic study of religion. They are introduced to methodological issues in the study of religion and learn to use methods appropriate to different kinds of problems.
The concentration includes the study of religious tradition in both a broad survey of Western culture and a focus on one non-Western culture. Students study the origin, history, and methods of the academic study of religion as it has developed in modern Europe and North America.
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Related Majors
Related Minors
What grabbed my attention in the Department of Global Humanities and Religions were the passions that I had with world cultures and its religions. Humanities gave me the binoculars of history, literature, philosophy, and religion. These lenses enabled me to view other cultures and to empathize and understand others.
Vivian Kwan
Student
We encourage the objective study of religion and culture. But because religions pose moral questions, the study of religion allows for a second type of inquiry as well, one rooted in a subjective, evaluative response. Religious studies is the ultimate interdisciplinary adventure.
Holly Folk
Faculty
The small size of classes and seminars in the Humanities program encourages close relationships between students and faculty. Students conduct independent research on topics of their own choosing. Working closely with faculty, students learn to formulate problems clearly; to consider and evaluate different methods and concepts; to do efficient and thorough research; and to write clearly, concisely and effectively.
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