Program Overview

Religion grapples with our deepest questions about the meaning of life and how we are to live. Undergraduates in the religious studies program at The University of Toledo explore how the world’s religions answer these questions and how religion shapes the world’s political and cultural landscape.

Toledo is known for its rich, diverse religious communities. UToledo’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies is one of the country’s only departments to have community-funded endowed chairs in Catholic, Islamic and Jewish studies.

UToledo also is one of the first programs to offer a concentration in religious diversity. This concentration builds on our faculty's expertise in the field. Students study what happens when different religions encounter each other and how to make these encounters an opportunity for growth and understanding.

Highlights

• One-of-a-kind community partnership. Toledo has been nationally recognized for its religious diversity. UToledo is one of the only religious studies departments in the country with three endowed positions funded by the local community. This allows us to employ esteemed faculty in Islamic studies, Catholic thought and Jewish biblical studies.
• Choose your focus. Students can work with a faculty adviser to create individualized programs and focus on their areas of interest.
• Service learning is a highlight in religious studies courses. Students observe how religion effects positive change in Toledo and visit congregational spaces in all the major traditions. They may take part in community projects, such as joining a religiously diverse team of UToledo students to mentor at-risk, inner-city youth.
• World-class, well-rounded faculty. UToledo’s professors are global leaders in their areas of expertise (Islamic, Jewish and Catholic studies, as well as philosophy of religion and religious diversity). All of our professors conduct, present and publish research.
• Internships. UToledo’s religious studies majors work with local, national and international organizations, including UToledo’s Center for Religious Understanding. Students intern as teacher aides in religious school settings, and as pastoral associates and youth pastors.
• Career-planning seminar. UToledo religious studies majors take a professionalization seminar to help them plan how to put their religious studies degrees to work. They do some soul-searching about their path and craft resumes, writing samples and more.
• UToledo’s Center for Religious Understanding is housed in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. The center promotes religious education and interreligious understanding through lectures, dialogues and small-group forums.