Religious Studies

Religious Studies is a challenging, research-oriented Master's programme that prepares you for participation in international research and for a career in domains where religious diversity and difference are significant factors - in culture, art, and politics. Together, we use religious studies to think about hard questions fueling the fire of public debates. What should museums do with religious objects collected in the colonial past? How and what should children learn about religions in schools? What are the limits of religious tolerance? How do we create a society that is more welcoming to the stories of Others? 

Key research areas

The program engages with the central themes and theories of religious studies, offering opportunities for focused research in the following areas:

• Material and Embodied Religion: This area examines the role of the human body and material objects in religious practices. Topics include embodied actions such as praying, fasting, and dancing, as well as the function of objects like buildings, food, clothing, weapons, and digital media in religious contexts.
• Ethics and Politics in Plural Societies: Research in this area considers the role of religion in societal debates and political developments, with attention to issues such as religious diversity, gender equality, and conflict.
• Religion and Heritage: This area explores how heritage as a political category shapes the recognition and valuation of religious expressions—both tangible and intangible—within secular frameworks of culture and art.
• Religious Texts and Practices: Building on the foundational focus on religious texts, this area reconceptualizes textual engagement as an embodied and mediated practice. It examines the interrelations between texts, their users, material forms, and oral or scriptural traditions.

Why this programme in Utrecht?

Active involvement in research

As a student of this programme, you will become part of an international community of students, PhD researchers, postdocs, and senior scholars working together at a leading research institute. You will attend small-scale seminars and learn from renowned scholars, who will actively involve you in their own research.

Multidisciplinary programme with emphasis on methodology

This programme has a strong emphasis on transnational approaches and the multidisciplinary use of methodology - you will learn to work with theories and methods from Anthropology, History, Philosophy, Comparative Literature, and Media Studies.

Integrating different approaches

The Religious Studies programme focuses on Christianity and Islam, but also addresses Jewish and Buddhist traditions, local traditions (e.g. in Africa), and hybrid religious phenomena in contexts of diversity and in popular culture. 

Thesis awards

Students who pursue a degree in Religious Studies are intrinsically motivated and this shows in their study results. Our graduates are regularly awarded prizes for writing excellent theses. 

After graduation

After successful completion of the programme, you are fully equipped for PhD research in Religious Studies and related disciplines such as Anthropology, Media Studies, Islamic Studies, Gender Studies, and History. Your training also equips you to pursue non-academic career paths requiring advanced research skills.

The concern for social relevance strengthens our sense of social responsibility and makes us aware of the many modern contexts in which religion has not disappeared but rather transformed and continues to impact lives.