Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Historical and European Studies

Religion and Spirituality Studies

Have you ever wondered whether Adam and Eve really ate that apple or whether what is written of Jesus is fact or fiction? Did Buddha really walk in the four directions of the compass when he emerged from the womb?

Why have the traditional religions lost so many adherents in the West? Is this to the benefit of society? Why have so many New Age religious movements appeared in the last few decades? Why are fundamentalisms on the rise?

Is the human spirit satisfied with consumerism? If not what else does it need? Is a spiritual quest, of necessity, an individual one?

Questions such as these are dealt with in the study of religious traditions, the ways in which religions affect society or society affects religion and the continued search for meaning/spirituality in the modern world.

The origins of religions, as ways of understanding the self or community in relationship to the cosmos, are explored; their development, which has been influenced by a diversity of factors such as politics, culture, social requirements and economics, is considered and their insights into spirituality are noted. This is explored through a variety of methodologies as appropriate: anthropological, historical, linguistic, literary, philosophical and sociological.

First year subjects

Second year subjects

Third year subjects

Details of other subjects approved for a religion and spritituality studies major can be found in the Undergraduate Handbook

Religion and Spirituality Studies Coordinator

Dr Anne Gardner
613 9479 2379
a.gardner@latrobe.edu.au