Undergraduate Program

College of Arts and Sciences and Religious Studies Program Undergraduate Admission Requirements

A minimum of 26 credit hours; 23 credit hours must be in courses acceptable toward graduation.

A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.00 on all work.

  • Transfer students must have a 2.00 transfer GPA.
  • Continuing UNM students must have a 2.00 institutional GPA.

Demonstrated academic achievement by satisfying the following:

  • Completion of General Education Curriculum: Communication.
  • Completion of General Education Curriculum: Mathematics and Statistics.
  • Completion of General Education Curriculum: Second Language.

Completion of Religious Studies Program admission course work with grades of "C" or better:

  • RELG 2110.
  • RELG 2120.

Degree Offered

  • Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.)

Major Study Requirements

The major requires 33 credit hours in Religious Studies, of which at least 18 must be at the upper-division level. Required are: RELG 1123, 1126, 2110, 2120, 452 (the capstone course). In addition to the required courses, the student must also take at least one other course in each of the four distributional areas: Asian Religions, Western Religions, Sacred Texts and Religion in America.

In order to provide flexibility of scheduling, the “Asian Religions” distributional requirements (RELG 2110 and another Asian religions course) and the “Western Religions” distributional requirements (RELG 2120 and another Western religions course) may also be met by appropriate pairs of general courses that together cover Asian and Western religions respectively. Thus, for example, the “Asian Religions” requirements may also be met by taking two courses, one in Hinduism and one in Buddhism; and the “Western Religions” requirements may also be met by taking two courses that cover the major Western traditions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity or Islam).

Classes in Religious Studies are divided among the four distributional areas (RELG 347 and *447 are assigned to one of these areas as appropriate). The courses for each area are:

  1. Asian Religions: RELG 1110, *438, 453.
  2. Western Religions: RELG 326, 327, 361, 365, 475.
  3. Sacred Texts: RELG 1120, 1123, *463.
  4. Religion in America: RELG 303, 441.

List of distributional courses is not exhaustive. Topics and seminar courses may also apply.

Dual Major Requirements

Students may combine a major in Religious Studies with another major. For students with such dual majors, the total number of credit hours required for the Religious Studies major is reduced from 33 to 30, while the other requirements for the major remain the same.


Minor Study Requirements

The Religious Studies minor requires 18 credit hours, of which at least 9 must be in courses with a RELG prefix.


Additional Information

With the permission of the Director of the Religious Studies Program, a student may include among courses for a major or minor a limited number of courses in such languages as Classical Chinese, Classical or Biblical Greek, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, Arabic and Sanskrit, when these courses include a study of religious texts and are integrated with a program of advanced studies of sacred texts.

Religious Studies undergraduate courses count with Group II (Humanities) in the Arts and Sciences group requirements.


Departmental Honors

Students wishing to work for Honors in Religious Studies should contact the Director of the Religious Studies Program during their junior year. Honors students sign up for two consecutive semesters of RELG 497, in which they prepare an Honors thesis under the direction of a committee.


Courses

RELG 1110. Introduction to World Religions. (3)



RELG 1120. Introduction to the Bible. (3)



RELG 1123. Hebrew Bible. (3)



RELG 1126. New Testament. (3)



RELG 1550. Religion, Health and Medicine. (3)



RELG 1996. Topics. (1-6, no limit Δ)



RELG 2110. Eastern Religions. (3)



RELG 2120. Western Religions. (3)



RELG 2996. Topics. (1-6, no limit Δ)



RELG 303. Black Liberation and Religion. (3)



RELG 310. Introduction to Jewish Thought. (3)



RELG 312. Introduction to Islam. (3)



RELG 313. Islamic Fundamentalism. (3)



RELG 314. Islamic Mysticism. (3)



RELG 319. Sex and Gender in Ancient Religion. (3)



RELG 320. Magic in Ancient Religion. (3)



RELG 321. Apocalypse in the Ancient World. (3)



RELG 322. Sexuality and the Bible. (3)



RELG 326. History of Christianity to 1517. (3)



RELG 327. History of Christianity, 1517 to Present. (3)



RELG 335. Goddesses and Gods of India. (3)



RELG 343. Catholic Saints in North America. (3)



RELG 346. Religion in New Mexico. (3)



RELG 347. Topics in Religious Studies. (3, may be repeated six times Δ)



RELG 350. Religion and Literature. (3)



RELG 351. Catholicism in America. (3)



RELG 361. Modern Christian Thought. (3)



RELG 365. Philosophy of Religion. (3)



RELG *434. South Asian Mystical Traditions. (3)



RELG *438. Indian Buddhist Philosophy. (3)



RELG 441. Religion in American History. (3)



RELG *447. Seminar in Religious Studies. (1-3, may be repeated three times Δ)



RELG 452. Theories of Religion. (3)



RELG 453. Asian Studies Thesis. (3)



RELG *463. Seminar in Biblical Studies. (3, may be repeated once Δ)



RELG *475. Dante in Translation. (3)



RELG 497. Independent Studies. (1-3, may be repeated twice Δ)



RELG 507. Teaching World Religions. (3)



RELG 547. Advanced Seminar in Religious Studies. (3, may be repeated six times Δ)



RELG 551. M.A. Problems. (1-6 to a maximum of 12 Δ)



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