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Religious Studies
Introduction

Religious Studies - Introduction

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What is Religious Studies

Religion is a fundamental and distinctive aspect of human culture. As religion represents the deepest hopes, fears, concerns and values of human being, it can play both constructive and destructive roles in society.

 

Religious Studies takes religion primarily as a cultural and social phenomenon and studies it critically as well as sympathetically. Since religion is embodied in different culture and in various dimensions, including social, experiential, ritual, ethical, narrative, doctrinal and material, Religious Studies must be cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary, including the methods of cultural studies, psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, history and literature, etc. Hence, Religious Studies is an academic discipline that is an integral part of the human sciences.

 

Our undergraduate programme of Religious Studies at CUHK provides a comprehensive and in-depth study of religion. It introduces to students not only traditions and classics of various religions, but also issues related to religion and contemporary society as well as methodologies employed in Religious Studies.