Fields of Study

The study of Buddhist traditions with the use of historical, text-critical, art historical, philological, anthropological and philosophical methods. The field currently highlights a context-sensitive study of Buddhism, focusing on ritual, philosophy, medicine and other intellectual developments and modes of practice in South Asia, the Himalayas, Central Asia, Tibet, China, Korea and Japan.

The interdisciplinary study of Christianity in late antique, medieval, early modern, and modern settings, with attention to transformations and continuities in Christian thought and practice.  Methods include historical, ethnographic, social-scientific, and philosophical approaches.  Faculty expertise encompasses Christianity’s Mediterranean origins and its movements and variations throughout Europe and the Americas in particular, as well as Christianity’s global influences and interactions.  Current faculty interests include areas such as ritual, politics and public life, gender and the body, interreligious engagements, media and material culture, textual analysis, healing, institutional life, and lay movements.

The study of South Asian religions from ancient to modern eras using a variety of approaches including historical, philosophical, textual, literary, anthropological and post-colonial methodologies.  The field currently has strengths in religious traditions in South Asia including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity with expertise in languages including Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrits, Avestan, Pahlavi, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Nepali, Tamil, Newari and Tibetan.

The interdisciplinary study of Islam in its various historical, cultural and geographic expressions from the seventh century to the present.  Methods include historical, text-critical, anthropological, philosophical, legal, and art historical approaches. Faculty expertise encompasses the study of the Qur’an, hadith, Islamic forms of mysticism (including Sufism), Shi’ism (both Twelver and Ismaili), philosophy, law, history of science, Islamic aesthetics (both artistic and literary), gender and Islam, Muslim diasporas and interaction with other religious traditions. The CSR has further strengths in the study of modern and contemporary Muslim societies, ritual, piety and popular practice, education and ethnography.  The U of T also offers classes in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu/Hindi, and a range of other relevant languages.

The study of Jewish religion in its various manifestations, including ancient, medieval, and modern periods. Methods include textual, historical, philosophical, gender, anthropological, and cultural analysis. Faculty expertise currently includes modern and contemporary Jewish philosophy, ethics, ritual, performance, and identity, Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Islamic relations, German Jewish thought, mysticism, medieval hermeneutics, Talmud, Midrash, and legal literatures, the second temple period, hellenistic Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient biblical interpretation. Faculty engage materials in languages including: Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Yiddish, Greek, Latin, Arabic, French, German, and Russian.

The study of religion and modernity in a range of historical, regional, and cultural contexts.  Faculty draw upon theories and methods from religious studies, anthropology, sociology, political theory, history and philosophy. This field is directly related to the CSR’s Religion in the Public Sphere initiative, which functions as a hub for students and scholars at the University of Toronto who are engaged with the study of religion as it intersects with public policy and public debate.

Critical approaches to theories and methods in the study of religion, with a focus on philosophy and intellectual history. The interdisciplinary expertise of the faculty includes philosophy, psychology/psychoanalytic theory, political and social theory, feminist theory, legal theory, and ethical theory.  The field encompasses the historical and comparative study of the category of religion as well as thematic approaches to ethics including environmental ethics, social ethics, and bioethics.

The critical study of varying epistemologies, ontologies, politics, and practices relative to embodiment, health, and wellbeing in religious contexts.  The expertise of the faculty joins the approaches of medical anthropology, history of medicine and science, psychology, and ethnography with the methods and theories of the study of religion.

We focus on the context and interplay of religious traditions in the ancient world, from the 5th century BCE to 5th century CE. Faculty expertise includes the study of Judaism, early Christianity, Greek & Roman religions, and various cults of the Mediterranean world, with the use of historical, philological, social-scientific, and archaeological methods. Other Contributing Academic Units include: Centre for Jewish Studies, Department of Classics, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, Seminar on Culture and Religion in Antiquity, Toronto School of Theology.