The department offers a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and critical program that explores the variety of religious experiences and expressions. In addition to courses that demonstrate the power and limits of various critical disciplines in the study of religion, the department provides opportunities to analyze systems of belief and patterns of religious behavior; the history of religious traditions; the effects of religion in society; the ways religions can form collective identity through race, nationalism, gender and sexuality, class, caste, language, and migration; and various forms of religious expression such as myth, ritual, sacred story, scripture, liturgy, theological and philosophical reflection.

A range of courses is available to students interested in taking one or two courses. Clusters of courses can be devised in consultation with members of the staff for those who wish to develop a modest program in religion in support of another major. For those planning to major in the department, a number of alternative programs of study are available. A student who chooses a double major must fulfill all requirements except when representatives of the two departments approve alterations in the student's program.

The department offers four categories of courses through which students can organize a curriculum of studies appropriate to their needs:

• Access courses. The department encourages the beginning student to take these courses, for they assume no background in religious studies and serve as a useful foundation. For those who wish to take more advanced courses on the 200-level, the department recommends courses designated as General Education, as well as survey courses in the major religious traditions of the world and in archaic religions. In particular, the department recommends Introduction to the Study of Religion (RELI151) as the most effective way to acquire broad knowledge about religion and the methods employed by scholars in the field of religious studies.

• Historical traditions courses. Many offerings in the department deal with the historical content of the major religious traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, as well as Confucianism and the religions of Caribbean peoples. These courses examine the texts, histories, institutions, and rituals of these religions. In this category are both survey courses (generally numbered at the 200-level) and seminars (generally numbered at the 300-level). In the main, these courses have no prerequisites, though in most seminars, some background knowledge is assumed. To gain entry to these seminars, students are advised to check with the instructor with regard to what is expected. Most access courses, except RELI151, are also considered historical traditions courses. And, in general, courses that are not thematic approach or method and theory courses are considered historical traditions courses.

• Thematic approach courses (numbered RELI270-290 and 370-390). These courses are designed to focus on the encounter of religious groups and their contemporaneous cultural settings within a defined social space past or present. They concentrate on the relationships between a particular religious formation and its larger social context, aiming to understand that formation's reflective, critical, and decisive interaction within, for, and/or against its context.

• Method and theory courses (numbered RELI291-310 and 391-400). These courses review and critically analyze methods, theories, and strategies employed by scholars of religion.

The department's Majors Colloquium in Religious Studies (RELI398) is required of all majors and is to be taken in the junior year. The task of this course is to reflect upon the methodological pluralism in the field of religious studies with the opportunity to apply these methods to specific texts, concrete issues, or other cultural formations.

Program for majors. All majors are required to take Introduction to the Study of Religion (RELI151), in which they must earn a grade of B- or better. This Intro course will be taught every semester. Majors are required to take it before the end of their junior year. It is strongly encouraged that students take the Intro course in their first two years at Wesleyan.

To complete a major in religion, students are also required to take a minimum of nine courses (with a maximum of 14, including thesis credits) numbered 200 or above.

The minimum of nine courses will be distributed as follows:

• Four courses in two areas of historical traditions
• Two courses in thematic approaches
• Two courses in method and theory, one of which must be the Majors Colloquium in Religious Studies (RELI398)
• The additional course may be taken in any of these areas at the student's option.

Religion majors are strongly encouraged to develop knowledge in an ancient and/or modern foreign language.

Honors program. Religion majors with a B+ (88.3) average in the department may choose to write a senior honors thesis or do an equivalent (two-semester) project. Candidates for honors must submit to the department chair a 2-3 page proposal abstract and bibliography by the last Friday of April. The proposal should be a description of the intellectual problem of the thesis and the method to be used (whether it will be historical, ethnographic, etc.).  Students should list three faculty members who would make good thesis tutors, in order of preference.  The department will determine which theses will move forward with which faculty and may possibly reject some proposals. Students will be notified of the department's decision before classes end in May.  High honors may be awarded after a student's work has been submitted for a departmental colloquium.