The Religious Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara is the largest religion department in the University of California system, and one of the most diverse religion departments in the world. With an internationally recognized faculty of twenty-three professors, two permanent lecturers, and more than twenty affiliates and visiting scholars, the Department prides itself on both the breadth and depth of its course offerings and programs. Many of the languages necessary for the study of the religion — Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Punjabi, Sanskrit, and Tibetan — are taught within Religious Studies. The Department will celebrate its 50th anniversary during calendar year 2014. Please check back for details about the many anniversary-related events we are currently planning, and please join us for these celebrations! (Read more…)
José Cabezón – Chair
Maybe it’s because I tend to think in spatial terms, but over the years I have come to conceive of the study of religion as a series of lines meandering through a vast, three-dimensional space. The trajectories of these lines can be described using three variables (the axes). The first is the variable of traditions: the so called Great Traditions, but also those traditions that, to borrow a phrase, “have no name.” (Read more…)