Religion Degrees Online

The academic study of religion in a secular and public institution has several goals. It acquaints the student with religion as a phenomenon in human experience. It examines the forms in which religion has been described, organized and practiced throughout history. It analyzes the interaction of religion with cultural institutions and groups and with the individual. It focuses on religion as an expression of meanings and values in the context of what is perceived as ultimate. Finally, it introduces the student to the methods and procedures appropriate to study in the field.

The objectives of the Department of Religious Studies are:
To offer a broad, pedagogically effective, and academically current set of course options in the academic study of religion to any undergraduate, graduate, or special student who has an interest in such study;
To provide an excellent academic experience to students who enroll in our courses;
To provide introductory principal courses to a diverse student population;
To offer a comprehensive curriculum to undergraduate majors in both a B.A. and B.G.S. program, and to those who select a minor under the modified B.G.S. program;
To conduct and publish the results of research in the field of religious studies and allied fields of inquiry;
To disseminate the fruits of the academic enterprise to the larger public.

Scholarship

Religion plays a central role in virtually all societies, and it interacts with all other dimensions of culture. Indeed, religion is a fundamental dimension of the human experience. For these reasons, the academic study of religion at Furman is an indispensable part of the liberal arts curriculum.

Our department expects students to engage religion courses with the same kind of academic rigor and methods of critical inquiry found in other departments within the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, these other disciplines highlight the multi–disciplinary and cross–cultural undertaking that characterizes the study of religion.

To encourage both a breadth and depth of study, the department has a wide range of offerings, both within the Christian tradition — Bible, ethics, theology, and history — as well as courses in other major religious traditions of the world — African religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Native American religion. Courses explore the historical, social, and political dimensions of these traditions, particularly in relation to their surrounding culture.

While it is situated clearly in the liberal arts curriculum, the study of religion is unique among the disciplines. The academic endeavor can never be separated completely from the personal exploration of religious questions. While affirming that religious experiences, for example, may be interpreted sociologically, the Religion Department supports the view that it is academically misleading to suggest that these explanations preclude any genuinely religious interpretation. Moreover, guided by its religious heritage as well as the academic enterprise, Furman affirms that such questions and interpretations are important. Furman’s heritage is in the non–creedal, free church Baptist tradition which has always valued particular religious commitments while insisting not only on the freedom of the individual to believe as he or she sees fit but also on respect for a diversity of religious perspectives, including the perspective of the non–religious person. This heritage has always maintained that the religious journey has both a private and public dimension and is a lifelong undertaking that cannot be tied to doctrinal propositions. Thus, faculty members, through scholarship, teaching, and example in their own lives, seek both to nurture and to challenge students in their religious reflections, spiritual growth, and attempts to understand sympathetically the religious perspectives of others.