Global Religions (Study Abroad)

Religion is central to our ever-evolving relationships with the world, others, and ourselves. This creative and inclusive degree builds on our pioneering legacy of Religious Studies that spans religious traditions around the world – from India to the Middle East and Africa.

You’ll explore themes such as women and gender, conflict and peace, and societies and states, all in a truly global context. With lecturers and professors who contribute to worldwide scholarship, you’ll graduate inspired and at the forefront of the latest knowledge.

Why Lancaster?

• Discover a course that expertly combines the study of the world’s major religious traditions with the most pressing global issues of today

• Be part of the UK’s first Religious Studies degree that focusses on all religious traditions equally

• Be among the first to hear about the innovative research carried out by our leading experts in the field

• Study a programme that prioritises authenticity, with sensitivity to context and real ways of understanding, and feeling about religion on a global scale

• Graduate with critical thinking skills and essential knowledge of global issues that will open up a range of career prospects

A diverse learning experience
This degree brings together the study of religious traditions from around the world with the major global issues that are impacting societies, including war, decolonisation, development, gender, sexuality, state and government, violence, peace, protest, and race. In our teaching we emphasise curiosity, exploration, openness and understanding.

From India to the Middle East, and Africa, religion plays a vital role in shaping political and cultural identities. You will explore questions of ethics and values that lie at the heart of how individuals and societies shape themselves. How can modernity integrate with tradition? How can ethics shape politics? What is choice and a free self? How have people expressed the struggle for agency across cultures and time? How can one live in the world and yet be free of its constraints?

You will learn to navigate the religious dimensions of these and other issues in a global context, including the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, not to mention Europe and the United Kingdom. In addition to studying demographically significant religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, you will also be introduced to a range of methods of studying Global Religions through political, philosophical, sociological, and anthropological ways of thinking.

Putting your studies into practice
You will have the opportunity to apply your skills to live projects via an internship with Lancaster’s Richardson Institute for Peace Studies. This voluntary programme allows you to work alongside leading policy and research organisations whilst providing you with opportunities to:

Work with organisations such as NGOs, think tanks, and charities
Work with students across the University on high-impact research projects
Publish your work
Gain valuable work experience that will be attractive to future employers

Study abroad
The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.

Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.