 About Our Department
Stanford's Department of Religious Studies offers a variety of disciplinary perspectives on religion and on the history, literature, thought, and practice of particular religious traditions. The department is home to a dozen regular faculty, with strengths especially in the study of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam; it enrolls about thirty graduate students and roughly as many undergraduate majors.
Religious Studies works closely with several related programs at Stanford: the Department of Philosophy, with which we share staff and offer a joint undergraduate major; the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, with which we share Building 70 on the Main Quad; the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies; the Program in Medieval studies; and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, with which we offer joint graduate degrees. More information on these programs can be found in Resources.
In addition to our regular curriculum, the department sponsors several annual academic programs: the Religious Studies Colloquium; the Aaron-Roland Lecture in Jewish Studies; the Evans-Wentz Lecture in Oriental Philosophies, Religions and Ethics; the Howard M. Garfield Forum for Undergraduates; and the Religious Studies Lecture in Islamic Studies.
Stanford's Department of Religious Studies was founded in 1973, with William Clebsch as its first chair. A lively account of the early history of religious studies at the university can be found at former chair and emeritus professor Van Harvey's "Religious Studies at Stanford: An Historical Sketch."
New Faculty
We are pleased to announce the following:
Professor Steven Weitzman from Indiana University will join us starting in Fall 2009. His field of research and teaching is Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature in its context in Greek and early Roman culture. Prof. Weitzman has been the Director of Jewish Studies at Indiana.
Professor John McRae (Professor Emeritus, Indiana) will be the Shinnyoen Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies during the 2008-09 academic year. He will teach "Meditation and Mythology in Chinese Buddhism" (Winter), and "Chinese Buddhism in World Historical Perspective" (Spring).
Professor David Carrasco (Neil L. Rudenstine Professor at Harvard Divinity School) will be a visiting professor during 2008-09 and will offer the following courses: " Religions of Mexico" (Winter), and "Myth, Place, and Ritual in the Study of Religion" (Spring).
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