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The Department of Religious Studies offers Richmond students the opportunity to study a broad range of religions from an academic perspective.

Our faculty and staff reject racial bias, hate speech, religious intolerance, and all other expressions of bigotry. The academic study of religion promotes a community founded on the values of inclusivity, equity, and diversity.  Religious Studies courses help students understand the complex and sometimes volatile relations of difference, and we model substantive intellectual responses to it. 

Faculty Highlights

  • Geaney Published
    Geaney Published

    Jane Geaney, professor of religious studies, published her third book, The Emergence of Word-Meaning in Early China. This book is the companion volume to her 2018 book, Language as Bodily Practice in Early China: A Chinese Grammatology, and makes an innovative contribution to language studies by historicizing the Chinese notion that words have "meaning."
  • Cobb Earns University Distinguished Educator Award
    Cobb Earns University Distinguished Educator Award

    Stephanie Cobb, George and Sallie Cutchin Camp Professor of Bible, was named a 2021 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Educator Award at the annual Colloquy celebration.
  • Kelly Published
    Kelly Published

    Will Kelly ’07, visiting assistant professor of religious studies, recently published How Prophecy Works:A Study of the Semantic Field of נביא and a Close Reading of Jeremiah 1:4–19, 23:9–40 and 27:1–28:17 through Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • Winiarski Awarded
    Winiarski Awarded

    Dr. Douglas L. Winiarski, Chair and Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of American Studies, recently won an essay award from the Communal Studies Association for his article, "Seized by the Jerks."
  • Cobb Published
    Cobb Published

    Stephanie Cobb, Program Coordinator, Jewish Studies, recently published Suicide by Gladiator? The Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas in its North African Context by Cambridge University Press.
  • Geaney Published
    Geaney Published

    Jane Geaney, Professor of Religious Studies, published Language as Bodily Practice in Early China. Geaney offers new insights into three key themes: the notion of speakers’ intentions, the physical process of emulating exemplary people, and Confucius’s proposal to rectify names.
  • Hanaoka Awarded
    Hanaoka Awarded Dr. Mimi Hanaoka has been awarded a Social Science Research Council Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellowship: InterAsian Contexts and Connections New Paradigms Grant.
  • Hanaoka Awarded Fellowship
    Hanaoka Awarded Fellowship Dr. Mimi Hanaoka has been awarded a VFIC Mednick Fellowship for her book project, Views of the Asian Other: Educational Reform and Models of Modernity for Japan and Muslim Reformers.
  • Winiarski awarded NEH Stipend
    Winiarski awarded NEH Stipend
    Dr. Douglas Winiarski has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend of $6,000 for Shakers & the Shawnee Prophet: A Microhistory of Religious Violence on the Early American Frontier, 1805–1815.
  • Eakin Award

    Religious studies professor and master of liberal arts program chair Frank Eakin was awarded an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who, a publisher of biographical profiles.

Upcoming Events

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Feature Stories

Akers Wins 2019 Dickerson Award
Robin R. Akers, '19, is the recipient of the 2019 Lynn C. Dickerson Award.
UR Religious Studies Professor Awarded $7,500 to Develop Event Series, New Course on Islam in Asia
Mimi Hanaoka, associate professor of religious studies in Islam, has been awarded her second Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellowship by the Social Science Research Council.
Fellowship Supports Professor's Book Project on Iran-Japan Relations
Mimi Hanaoka, University of Richmond associate professor of religious studies in Islam, has been awarded a Mednick Fellowship by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges for her book project, Views of the Asian Other: Educational Reform and Models of Modernity for Japan and Muslim Reformers. 
Douglas Winiarski, UR Professor and Award-Winning Author, Receives NEH Stipend for Latest Book Project
University of Richmond religious studies and American Studies professor Douglas Winiarski will begin two central chapters of his latest book project, Shakers & the Shawnee Prophet: A Microhistory of Religious Violence on the Early American Frontier, 1805–1815, this summer.
New Sabbatical Fellowship Program in the School of Arts & Sciences
Building Community in A&S
UR's Longest Tenured Professor Frank Eakin Awarded Who's Who Lifetime Achievement Award for Achievements in Religious Studies
Frank Eakin, Weinstein-Rosenthal professor of Jewish and Christian studies at the University of Richmond, has been awarded an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who, a publisher of biographical profiles.
University of Richmond Professor Receives 2018 Book Award by The New England Society
University of Richmond religious studies and American studies professor Douglas Winiarski has been awarded a 2018 Book Award for nonfiction by The New England Society for his work, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England.
University of Richmond professor Douglas Winiarski awarded 2018 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy
University of Richmond professor Douglas Winiarski, who teaches in the Department of Religious Studies and the American Studies program, has won a 2018 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy for his book, “Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England.”
University of Richmond professor Douglas Winiarski named as finalist for prestigious book award, the George Washington Prize
University of Richmond religious studies and American studies professor Douglas Winiarski has been named as a finalist for the 2018 George Washington Prize for his book, “Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England.”
Experiencing a religious revolution
Douglas Winiarski explores how 18th century Americans experienced religion differently than previous generations.
Hannah Verrette, '18
Over the summer, junior Hannah Verrette, ’18, had the opportunity to job shadow alumnus Dr. Dylan Tierney, ’95, at his job as an infectious disease physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, through the Office of Alumni & Career Services’ Spider Shadowing program.
University of Richmond professor awarded $40,000 research grant
Mimi Hanaoka, an assistant professor of religious studies at University of Richmond, has received a $40,000 grant from the Social Science Research Council.
Sam Bell, '17
As a religious studies major, one would assume Sam Bell's research had some connection to the field. Instead, he spent his summer studying ESB construction of bent functions in conjunction with math professor James Davis.
Learning from the Dead
Faculty and students from a variety of disciplines find fertile ground for learning in a long-neglected cemetery.
University of Richmond hosts series of events focusing on Bosnia
The University of Richmond will host a series of events throughout the fall semester to commemorate two important anniversaries in recent European history. The series, “20 Years After Srebrenica: Bosnia and Herzegovina Today,” will explore the past and current state of Bosnian society. The scheduled events include lectures, films screenings, a poetry reading and a photography exhibition, all exploring the Srebrenica Massacre and Dayton Peace Accords and the state of culture and education in Bosnia today.

Scholarship Repository Readership

The University of Richmond's Scholarship Repository shares faculty publications with a world-wide audience. The map below shows where articles from religion faculty are being read around the globe.

Upcoming Courses


  • Body/Sex in World Religious Literature (FSLT)
  • Devil in the Details (FYS)
  • God is Dead
  • Magicians, Saviors, and Swindlers (FSHT)
  • Ninety-nine Names of God (FSHT)
  • Religion and Medieval Imagination (FSHT)
  • Religion and the Arts



 

Resources

Library Research Guide

Speaker Series

Office of Sustainability

Contact Us

Mailing address:
Department of Religious Studies
Weinstein Hall, Room 102
231 Richmond Way
University of Richmond, Virginia 23173

Phone: (804) 289-8325
Fax: (804) 287-6504

Department Chair: Dr. Mimi Hanaoka

Academic Administrative Coordinator: 
Emily Peebles

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