An education to prepare you for life

Our Religious Studies students are equipped to understand our diverse and rapidly changing world while learning much about themselves. This comparative field of study imbues students with the ability to assess diverse actions, traditions, and values. The knowledge and habits of mind learned in Religious Studies remain relevant forever, as key to a life of conscious choice and thoughtful, multi-cultural engagement.

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Understand the world differently

Religious Studies courses help you examine your core values, both objectively and in terms of personal experience. In our classes, you will explore how people make sense of the world and enhance your global cultural knowledge as you engage in a wide variety of topics from barbecue to baseball, magic to mindfulness, and sexuality to the sacred.

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IU Day 2025

The world-class education and research that IU provides are largely dependent on private support. Please consider a gift to IU Religious Studies today!

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“The (Im)Possibilities of Indigenous Philosophy”

Please join the Institute for Indigenous Knowledge for this special presentation by Prof. Michael Ing, on Friday, April 25, 12pm at 422 N. Indiana Ave.

Event details

Imhoff Co-Authors Book on Gender in Jewish Studies

Sarah Imhoff co-authored a new book, The Woman Question in Jewish Studies, which examines the place of women and nonbinary people in Jewish studies, arguing that, for both intellectual and ethical reasons, the culture of the field must change.

The Religion of Harry Smith Workshop

Prof. Cooper Harriss hosted a workshop on the collector, ethnomusicologist, animator, filmmaker, artist, expert on games and folkways, chronicler of Native cultures, alchemist, practitioner of the esoteric, mystic, and all-around weirdo Harry Smith (1923-1991).

Experimental Pedagogy by TRiP Grad Lab

The Teaching Religion in Public (TRiP) Grad Lab cohort has spent the year workshopping and experimenting with their pedagogical curiosities and impulses.

Read about their experiments

Cheers to Prof. Sullivan

Winnifred Fallers Sullivan will be retiring from the department at the end of this spring 2025 term. She will continue her work in the field as a Visiting Scholar at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago for the 2025-26 academic year.

About Prof. Winnifred Fallers Sullivan

9th Annual URSA Research Symposium

Ten students from Indiana University, University of Virginia, Brown U, Georgetown and Northwestern met on March 28-29 as part of our Undergraduate Religious Studies Association (URSA) Symposium.

Read about the symposium

Slaughter Joins Bayard Canada

Dr. Maggie Slaughter (Ph.D. 2024) has joined Bayard Canada as Acquisitions Editor of English titles at Novalis Publishing.

A community of support

Our department is home to an incredible community of teachers and students ready to support your intellectual and personal pursuits. We are innovative and open-minded researchers who welcome unconventional ideas to help us better understand the role religion plays in culture and society.

Explore our research

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Meet our faculty

Being Human

The study of religion broadens and deepens your understanding of the diverse richness and mystery that attends being human. Our faculty is engaged in research through the LUCE-funded Being Human project to learn more about what it means to be human in our rapidly changing world.

Learn about the Being Human project