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Students in this concentration acquire the requisite skills to investigate “lived religion” both over time and amid contemporary contexts. Specifically, they will learn important theoretical frameworks (e.g., interactionism, conflict theory, secularization theory) that enable them to conceptualize the place of religion in everyday life as well as various sociological methods (e.g., participant observation, in-depth interview, survey) that equip them to interrogate religious phenomena, practices, and trends empirically.

Students in this concentration study New Religious Movements as organizational movements, religious ideas, and distinctive spiritualties that emerged in the nineteenth century (metaphysical churches, Latter Day Saints, Bahá'í, occult and esoteric movements) and in the upsurge of non-traditional and alternative movements from the mid-twentieth century forward (Western appropriations of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Sufism; neo-paganism; New Age movements; human potential movements). Drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, sociology, literary studies, theology, history, and spirituality,...

Students in this concentration engage in the interdisciplinary study, research, and teaching of Islam in its theological, historical, cultural, and comparative contexts, with a focus on Islamic texts in contemporary contexts, Islam as a lived tradition, and the global expressions of Muslim diversity, both past and present. Key topics of study include Islam and Muslims in the West, secular modernity and religious formation, Islam and Muslims in interreligious contexts, and the public understanding of Islam and Muslims, especially through media and technology.

Students in this concentration study the Christian religion through critical historical investigation of the unity, diversity, and development of Christian communities, their material cultures and spiritualities, and their relations to other religions. This concentration offers opportunities to study in ancient, medieval, Reformation, early modern, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christianity. The History of Christianity concentration urges its students to take advantage of the historians and other students of religion at the University of California, Berkeley.

Students in this concentration study Christian religious experience. The focus is on Christian Spirituality in the context of the broad contemporary understanding of spirituality. Students prepare to interpret the biblical text on its own terms for spirituality; to contextualize major figures, texts, and themes in the historical development of Christian Spirituality; to achieve a dialogical understanding of other spiritualities not within the Christian tradition; and to do research and develop analytical arguments from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students are encouraged to be...

Students in Art and Religion focus on the theological, cultural, and spiritual meanings expressed by, and experienced through, visual, plastic, performative, liturgical, and ritual arts across local and global religious contexts. Interdisciplinary methodologies from aesthetics theory, semiotics, art history, iconography, material culture studies, religious studies, and related disciplines serve as the analytical and interpretive frameworks for research, teaching, and the creative arts. The concentration aims to nurture the aesthetic, moral, spiritual, and creative imagination. It prepares...

Students in this concentration work to develop competencies in broad-ranging aspects of rabbinic literature. Study focuses on the historical development of rabbinic Judaism in its late-antique context as well as the various styles of rabbinic expression and rhetoric. Students are trained in a variety of disciplinary approaches including literary and cultural criticism, as well as historical and sociological analysis. Students draw on related fields such as biblical studies and medieval and modern Jewish literature and culture. The advanced study of rabbinic texts requires near-fluency in...

Students in this concentration work to develop competencies in the study of the Qur’an and Prophetic Tradition. Contextualizing these foundational sources through their historical development and the contributions of generations of Muslim scholars, students study related texts and traditions, including Islamic law, theology, and spirituality that together inform the textual and interpretative community of Islam.

Students in this concentration work to develop competencies in broad-ranging aspects of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: in critical study of biblical and extra-biblical texts, in relevant ancient languages; in classic and contemporary methodological approaches, ancient and modern contexts, and interpretive frameworks. They show themselves prepared to engage, at a critical and creative level, the far-reaching interdisciplinary discourses that shape research and teaching in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies.