A Bachelor of Arts (BA) major in Religious Studies is a pathway to understanding the world we live in. The majority of people on the planet subscribe to a religious tradition or faith, and our legal, political, musical, literary, philosophical, and cultural traditions make more sense if we study the religions that inform them. These beliefs and practices motivate people to kill and to heal, to include and exclude others, to love and to hate, and to produce sublime, inspired art, music and literature.
We ask questions such as: what do you believe? Why do religions persist, grow and decline? Is religion the cause of terrorism and war? Do religions have a role to play in the 21st century? Are the gods the invention of humanity or vice versa?
Victoria's Religious Studies Programme gives you a broad and comprehensive introduction to the major religious traditions of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism, as well as the religions of India, China, and Japan. Learn about the ways in which religion impacts on the contemporary world, and as your degree advances you can link religion with other themes, like religion and politics, religion and death, contemporary spirituality, mysticism, conflict and peace, and religion and identity.
Religious Studies teaches you to appreciate human values in all their diversity - useful skills for living and working in our complex world. Knowledge and understanding of humanity at its deepest level are an invaluable guide, whatever career or personal path you follow.
