Outcomes
Religion Focus
We provide training for students highly focused on religion for its own sake. These students are fairly clear they want to have a future in religion at some level. This training is largely preparation for graduate school and seminary. To date, we have placed students at Drew University, Naropa University and the American Theological Seminary among others.
- Michael Purnell '06 - graduate in Religious Studies and Philosophy, American Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
- Katherine Walker '06 - graduate in Religious Studies, Naropa University, Aspen, Colorado.
Incorporating Religion
We provide training for students interested in the incorporation of the academic study of religion in a non-religion related field. Some of these students go on to graduate school. Recent placements include University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.
- Amber Myers '06 - graduate in Social Work, University of Michigan, Masters of Social Work Program, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Jude Harter '05 - graduate in History, High School teacher, Geneva, Virginia
Understanding Religion Better
Perhaps students are interested in making sense of a religious heritage in the face of modern scientific worldviews. Perhaps they want to understand the motives behind highly newsworthy events like 9/11, Vatican politics or the power of evangelicals in the Republican Party. Finally, many of our students are themselves religious and want to enrich their understanding of a particular religious heritage, explore some exotic religious tradition they find fascinating, or seek to heal from damage they believe has been inflicted on them by a repressive religious upbringing. These students seek to be culturally informed citizens who can better interpret the vital roles of religion in national and international human behavior.
We welcome and support all these outcomes but are especially inclined to believe that the third category is the true service our department provides to the college. No corner of the cultural landscape is untouched by religious belief and behavior and educating an informed citizenry for public life is crucial to our mission in the liberal arts setting. We view the liberal arts as “liberating arts,” and one of our core values is the Enlightenment goal of freeing minds from the tutelage of passively inherited customs so that students can make informed judgments regarding religion for the rest of their lives.