Colby’s Religious Studies Department trains students to critically analyze the ways in which individuals and communities conceptualize the transcendent, that which they regard as vitally significant. Its courses explore diverse religious traditions, regions, and time periods through three analytical frameworks:
Identity: How ideas about the transcendent interact with societal norms regarding hierarchical conceptions of human difference, including those associated with gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class.
Interpretation: How individuals and communities express ideas about the transcendent in literary and artistic works, and how they engage ideas expressed within their religious traditions.
Practice: How individuals and communities seek to actualize their ideas about the transcendent through rituals, material culture, and daily life.
Faculty and Staff
Learn more about the members of the department
Nikky Singh
Crawford Family Professor of Religion; Chair of Religious Studies