- [Narrator 1] Religion is not disappearing,
it's becoming one of the central organizing forces
in many different countries and globally.
- [Narrator 2] Religion is a big part of
human self identity, right now.
- [Narrator 3] Religion has been a pervasive and
dominating force, for as far as we can tell.
- [Narrator 4] I think it really is about
how people place themselves in the universe.
What are we doing here?
Where do we come from?
Where are we going?
Why are we here?
Why is there rain?
What happens after death? And so on.
(piano music)
- I think the academic study of Religion
is a kind of portal to the liberal arts.
- A religion teaches students to be empathetic readers,
of putting themselves in the perspectives and
viewpoints of somebody,
perhaps radically different from them.
- If you're interested in studying human beings,
as they're making meaning to their lives and
giving value to their lives.
The study of religion is going to
give you a lot of analytical tools in that regard.
- Above all, perhaps all other disciplines,
it provides an inside into what it means to be human.
- I think a religion major,
you can kind of take it in whatever direction you want.
- When I considered, wow, which department
is going to give me a certain sense of structure,
but also breathing space.
Religion was it.
- It has a lot of intersections with other fields of study.
Like, literature, politics, sociology.
- Women and gender studies, film, economics, history and
classics, and of all these courses were still
under the umbrella of religion.
- Businesses like people who study religion
because it shows they have an understanding of ethics.
Hospitals like people who study religion
because they have an understanding of ethics
that can apply.
- Medical school, because of the importance
of being able to understand other people's cultures
when you treat them as patients.
- Attorneys, entrepreneurs, physicians.
- Artists, philosophers, everything.
- The religion department at Dartmouth
has the huge advantage of having
a large faculty
compared to the number of students
who want to major in religion.
Which means that our students get considerable,
individualized, attention.
- The relationship between students and faculty
is unlike anything I've seen
in any other place.
- Because so many of the religion courses are
discussion based or have a strong discussion component,
I feel like I have really gotten to know
the other people in my classes.
- The time that our faculty take to invest in the students,
is really second to none.
- It's very easy to interact with the religion professors.
I think they're very friendly and out going.
And they're definitely invested in the kids and
they want to get to know you.
- I think it's a great major if you want to just
come out as an educated person who's able to read closely,
write clearly and think critically.
- They come out well schooled in oral communication skills
because they have a lot of opportunity to speak in class
because our classes are small and
they come out very well schooled
in critical thinking skills because we have some of
the world's most interesting text to think about.
- The kind of student who majors in religion,
generally has to be curious about themselves and
about other people.
Very open to other cultures,
very questioning and challenging
to your own ideas.
- They like the kind of
easy flow of conversation
that tends to be characteristic of our courses and
it also offers them the opportunity
to ask some big questions.
- They tend to be students who are more reflective,
who are interested in questions that'll be significant
to them throughout their life,
not just questions of preprofessional development.
- One can look at questions about
gender, culture, race, class and
so many other aspects
of human experience through the
particular lines of religions.
- Questions about yourself.
Kind of, am I religious?
Am I spiritual?
Do I actually believe in this?
- Very few other classes I've taken where we
actually debate things like the existence of God or
what is good, what is evil?
- Bringing those questions together
is the study of religion.
- I think whether or not you have personal religious beliefs
studying religion is something that will
give you immense personal gain.
- You're asking all of these big questions,
it's something that has global ramifications.
But on the other side of things it's also
incredibly intimate and personal.
- My professor asked me, and asked the rest of the students,
what questions keep you awake at night.
And I would advise anyone who's coming to Dartmouth or
pursuing a religion major to ask themselves,
what keeps you awake at night and
how can you use the opportunities that Dartmouth has
to help you find some answers to that question.