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Global Religions Minor: Degree Requirements

21 credits

  • Required Global Religions 102 and Global Religions 108
  • 3 credits in Traditions Courses: 210, 215, 221, 222, or 240
  • 3 credits in upper-level Global Religions courses (300- and 400-)
  • 9 credits elective courses
  • Maximum of 6 cross-listed credits from outside of Global Religions

About the Global Religions Program

Some of the earliest scholars of Global Religions conceived religion as the “belief in superhuman beings” or they focused on a Sacred that is “wholly other”.

The contemporary study of religion, however, is largely the study of people and of the unique ways that people make meaning in their lives.

The main goals of the Global Religions program at UW Oshkosh are to study how individuals and communities around the world do this through their use of religious language, imagery and performance.

In studying the five major World Religions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism – students will engage specific issues that pertain to the Holocaust, the roles of women in the Bible, Islamic modernism, Hindu myth and ritual and Zen Buddhist practice among others.

Additionally, students will wrestle with issues that transcend and question the boundaries of these five traditions, examining comparative and contemporary issues in the study of religion, including:

  • the varieties and meaning of Asian Ritual Performances
  • the various religious roles that women and women’s rituals play throughout the world
  • the contributions of New Religious Movements to contemporary American culture
  • the place of children, children’s literature and comic books in modern religions
  • the varieties of mystical experience performed throughout the world and the use of religious language in global violence and terrorism 

Relevance of Global Religions

More than simply describing the religions of the world, scholars of Global Religions seek to understand the historical development of traditions, texts, practices and other human behavior that might be considered “religious”.  To do this, they employ techniques, strategies and theories from many fields outside of Global Religions from Anthropology, English, History, Sociology, Psychology and many others.

Students who graduate with a degree in Global Religions will be well versed in the texts and practices of the world’s major religions and, in addition, they will be well connected to other fields and other departments on campus.

The training and the extensive practice they acquire in critical thinking, analytical writing and sympathetic discussion will serve them well after graduation as they develop the skills sought, not only by graduate schools, but by leaders in business and non-profit organizations.