The Studies in Religion discipline seeks to explore how humans have ordered and made sense of their world from ancient times to the present with reference to religious and spiritual thought.
As well as looking to the past, our goal is to adopt a forward-looking approach to understanding religions, belief systems and spiritualities, by relating them to the contemporary issues and discussing how they continue to be at the centre of important debates about our place in the world and the shape of our futures.
We provide excellent teaching, research and community engagement; offering a critical, multi-disciplinary approach to a range of faiths and spiritual experiences. We have a commitment to high quality teaching through our courses and supervision of our students, enabling them to undertake independent research and immerse themselves in texts and sources relating to their area of interest.
Research
The scholars in the Studies in Religion group use qualitative, quantitative, textual, and integrative (correlating Christian theology and human scientific/philosophical work) methods in their research.
Our current major research projects consist of the following. First, there is exegetical work being conducted on ancient Sanskrit texts, especially the Mahābhārata and related works, along with analysis of their social, cultural, and political impact throughout the history of India. Others in the group take sociological and anthropological approaches to address issues such as persuasion strategies used by antagonists in the religion and science interaction, spirituality/religion and media persuasion in the anti-vaccination movement in Australia, and well-being and belonging among Muslims in Europe and Australia. Lastly, there is research being carried out on both ecclesial practices (e.g., worship and preaching, counselling) and public ones (healthcare, management of organisations) with the aim of improving these practices. A new initiative driven by the group, in collaboration with colleagues in History and Anthropology, is an investigation into the historical and contemporary diversity of religion in Queensland (the Queensland Atlas of Religion).
The research strengths in the group are Sanskrit textual study, the sociology and anthropology of religion, and practical theology.
