Why Study Religion?

The study of religion is your opportunity to step back from one particular religion and observe all religions in context. The emphasis of your study is determined by your passions for this vast and fascinating aspect of our lives.

Why study religion? (http://www.studyreligion.org)

From the beginning, the Religion Department at Brandon University has approached the study of religion non-confessionally and non-theologically intentionally so as to uncover crucially important and sometimes neglected gendered, racialized and contested histories. Accordingly, the Religion Department offers a range of popular courses that actively seek to decolonize the study of religion, giving voice to vantage points and peoples who have often lived in the shadows of Brandon and the surrounding areas of our regional university in Western Manitoba. Our courses are diverse in region and scope, and also highlight the importance of diversity and having an open mind. They offer students an important safe space at the university to explore religion, spirituality, secularism and non religion using traditional European western theories and also Indigenous, Chinese, Afrocentric, feminist and queer ones. Religion Department faculty and their courses help students understand their place in a global and increasingly digital world, honing skills in cultural literacy, critical thinking, and community engagement while also providing the tools needed for future careers (see below for a list of careers).

The Department offers, within the B.A. degree programs at Brandon University, both four-year and three-year Majors and Minors in Religion.

Come to office hours to discuss teaching assistant positions, transcription, editing, and research employment opportunities, as well as local and international conference participation, and organizations like the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, The American Academy of Religion, and Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. The Canadian Society for the Study of Religion for instance offers annual undergraduate student essay prizes so keep that in mind and let us help you prepare your work for submission. Getting involved in these organizations as a member or an undergraduate student ambassador can lead to new networks of friends, colleagues, careers, and extend the horizon of possibility. Whatever your interest, Brandon University’s Religion Department encourages you to take that next step!

Religion Faculty

Prof. Susan Medd’s major area of research is contemporary spirituality and theoretical approaches to myth. Her primary teaching areas are gender and religion, mythology, and the methodologies used to study religion. She also teaches courses on religion and death, and religion and sex. Prof. Medd has won the Brandon University Senate Teaching Award, and is presently working on a manuscript titled, Divine Narratives: Contemporary Women’s Myth-Making. Professor Medd is the current Chair of the Department.

Dr. Alison Marshall researches and teaches about Asian religion and history, migration,  spirit mediumship, and drug-induced spirituality and is author of three monographs, and two anthologies. Marshall is the recipient of multiple local, national and international grants and awards, and is president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. Dr. Marshall received the provincial William Norrie Arts and Culture Award in 2021 and has also worked as a cultural consultant, including on the Oscar-nominated Pixar/Disney film Turning Red. For more about Dr. Marshall’s research see here.

Dr. Aldea Mulhern researches and teaches courses in the areas of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Afro-Carib religion. More specialized courses explore the history and practices of local and global religious groups, particularly minoritized ones, and issues related to farming, festivals, fasting, holidays, abstinence, animal slaughter regulation and rights movements, diets and more.  Her new course, Religion and Marginalization, starts in Fall 2026; next, watch out for a future course on The Pig in Global Cultures. She holds a teaching award for undergraduate writing training in the application of theory to field data.

Emeritus Faculty:

• Emeritus Professor Dr. Kurt Noll’s major research interests are history of ancient Judaisms and Christianities.
• Emeritus Professor Dr. Peter Hordern’s main research interest is the Epic of Gilgamesh. He has also co-authored studies of Brandon University graduates (which show that 96% of Arts students are getting jobs immediately or very soon after leaving the university).

Student research opportunities and topics courses

Upper-level students are given the opportunity of working with an instructor on a particular topic. The subjects are extremely varied and range from ethnographic research on spirit mediumship, the history of lived experience on the prairies to sex and gender and also the significance of food in global religious gendered contexts.

Studying Religion is Relevant and Leads to a Satisfying Career

Courses offered by Brandon University’s Religion Department are among the most regionally diverse at the university and provide students with the knowledge, expertise and understanding that helps them navigate a global world where attitudes toward religion or non-religion and issues related to secularism shape daily life and interactions. Many of our students accordingly take a double major in Religion and one other discipline, such as Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology.

Religion students have obtained a variety of jobs after graduation. Some have become high-school or university teachers, both in Canada and abroad. Many have gone on to complete Law, Social Work or Education degrees.  Some work in museums, and archives while others are full-time commercial artists and film-makers. Then there are the majority who use the critical skills they acquired to work in immigration, government, healthcare or commercial enterprises.

Questions about Religion at Brandon University: Email enquiries about our program should be directed to Dr. Alison Marshall, the Department’s Website Co-ordinator: marshalla@brandonu.ca.

Photos below: Credit Alison Marshall