Why Study Religion?
International and Interdisciplinary Scholarship
Religion shapes, and is shaped by, every other dimension of human society. It is impossible to fully understand politics, law, history, or science without understanding religion. We invite you to learn more about the most interdisciplinary field in the university: Religious Studies.
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Graduate Program
Featured Story
Religious Studies Major Stella Zhu's Study Abroad in Vienna!
We're excited to share the reflections and photos from Religious Studies Major Stella's Zhu Fall quarter abroad in Vienna, Austria!
"I studied abroad in Vienna in Fall 2025 and took five courses. Two courses that stood out most to me were “Jewish Life in Vienna: Past and Present” and “Religion and Multiculturalism.” Both were far more transformative and immersive than I initially expected.
I visited synagogues in Hungary and Slovenia, as well as Jewish museums, concentration camps, and former ghettos across Germany, Austria, Poland, and beyond."
Click the link below to read more of her story!
Find Your Direction
Alumna Adina Goldman had a path that led her from pre-med to English literature and biological anthropology and then to religious studies and music.
News and Events
Faculty in the News
Professor J. Michelle Molina's new book Inventories of Ruin was recently published! Congratulations!
Click below to read more about Professor Molina's book Inventories of Ruin, which dramatizes the ruination of the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus as their power and influence waned over a period of approximately fifty years in the eighteenth-century Spanish Atlantic world.
Upcoming Events
Oct
22
2026
Amazing Grace: Yoruba Worlds
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Evanston
Amazing Grace: Yoruba Worlds. A Documentary Showing and Discussion with Filmmaker Raynald Leconte
Oct
30
2026
Religious Studies Autumn Analog Party
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM, Evanston
Join the Religious Studies department for an Analog Autumn Party! Friday, Oct 30 | 3:30 - 5:30 PM Kresge 2305 Paint a picture, make a...
Nov
5
2026
Erasures of Religion & History Disembodying Diversity: Jews, Chr...
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM, Evanston
Join us for the 2026 American Lectures in the History of Religion: Lecture 2 at Northwestern University in collaboration with the Ameri...