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A Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies student wearing a gray hoodie stands in front of a red brick building on a windy day

Religious and Interfaith Studies Minor

Humanity has held religious beliefs dear for millennia. Learn more about these traditions and why they are so important in this wide-ranging program.

College of Arts & Sciences | On-Campus

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What You'll Learn

Humans have been practicing religion for eons—in fact, for far longer than written records exist. As a Religious and Interfaith Studies student, you’ll begin with the world’s major belief systems and their texts before contemplating why religion is integral to so many cultures and societies. A new emphasis on interfaith studies will have you also engaging with lived religion in the Des Moines metro area.

In classes, you will analyze sacred traditions, explore the breadth of religious thinking and practice, conduct theological and ethical reasoning, and seek the meaning behind the quest for a comprehensive understanding of reality.

Those classes will be small, ensuring that you get to know your professors. Your faculty will get to know you, too, providing guidance, counsel, and mentorship you can count on as you shape your future plans.

About the Religious and Interfaith Studies Program

  • Be part of a program committed to interdisciplinary study.
  • Exposure to the liberal arts through the Drake Curriculum provides an all-encompassing education.
  • Study abroad and explore lived religion and religious history.
  • Build the communication, critical thinking, and analytical skills that you can apply to a wide variety of careers.
  • Conduct research and earn internships that prepare you for graduate study or the workplace.
  • Dynamic classroom environments introduce concepts through role playing, creative artistic representation, and digital storytelling.

Program Facts

  • 18 credits for the minor
  • On campus

Program Options

The Religious and Interfaith Studies program offers the flexibility to combine your studies with other interests and to select courses that match your post-graduation goals.

Religious and Interfaith Studies Minor

This 18-credit minor includes two required courses for each area of emphasis: for the religious studies emphasis, World Religions and an upper-level theory-intensive course; for the interfaith studies emphasis, Religions of Des Moines and an interfaith practicum. Additionally, four electives are required; these can be taken inside or outside the department, so long as these courses are rich in religious content.

Meet the Faculty

Religion classes are taught by faculty inside and outside the Department of Philosophy. Areas of scholarly expertise include philosophy of religion, comparative religion, religions of the world, and interfaith engagement.

Timothy Knepper

Timothy Knepper

Professor, Philosophy ; Director, Comparison Project

Brad Crowell

Brad Crowell

Professor of Law, Politics, and Society

All Faculty Members

Outside the Classroom

Religion isn’t experienced in textbooks. It’s lived every day. At Drake, you’ll see how faith is part of people’s lives through internships, studying abroad, site visits, research, and other experiences.

Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies students discuss a project on a couch on a common area

Internships

We’ll connect you with a variety of internships and apprenticeships with local interfaith organizations, such as the Des Moines Religious Council and the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

Drake students ride a canoe while wearing woven conical hats on a study abroad trip

Study Abroad

The best way to study the world’s religions is to make the world your classroom. We’ll work with you to find a study-abroad experience that fills your academic interests. Faculty-led travel seminars have included J-Term and May-Term trips to India, South Africa, the Middle East, and China.

A Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies student gestures with their hands while explaining an idea to other students sitting in a circle

Student Organizations

Keep the conversation going in student groups such as the Delphian Society, which focuses on philosophy and religion, and Interfaith, a group devoted to interfaith dialogue and comparative religion.

A group of Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies students, covered in brightly colored paint, pose in front of a building during a campus Holi celebration

Comparison Project

For over a decade, this interfaith effort has helped people learn about different belief systems, understand how religion is practiced in the Des Moines area, and become better community members and leaders. Current programming includes a lecture and dialogue series, a site-visit series, an interfaith camp, and an interfaith conference.

Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies students smile, lean, and listen during a classroom discussion around a table

Research

Work directly with faculty on individual projects, publications, and capstones. Or build professional skills as an assistant for the Comparison Project, which hires two students to help run the program every year.

Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies students participating in a youth camp activity pin items to a board

Interfaith Youth Camps

Serve as a counselor in a week-long summer camp, engaging with local high school students from different religious backgrounds to create digital stories and learn more about different traditions. The camp can also now be taken for course credit, whether over the summer or during J-term.

Careers & Skills

Understand the diverse religious traditions of the world, prepare for advanced study, or critically reflect on the ways human communities experience and describe the sacred. In addition to providing a foundation for graduate programs in theology, philosophy, law, or history, as well as seminary, a minor in Religious and Interfaith Studies also leads to careers that call for critical thinking, ethics, cultural awareness, and communication.

Opportunities

  • Graduate school
  • Seminary
  • Law school
  • Charitable organizations
  • Government
  • Business

Skills

  • Identify and compare diverse religious traditions, practices, beliefs, and texts
  • Explain and analyze religion as existentially lived, historically conditioned, and culturally intertwined
  • Recognize and apply different theories and methods of inquiry
  • Analyze and evaluate religiously informed ethical positions
Two Drake Religious and Interfaith students converse behind a classroom desk with their laptops

“Drake’s religion program opened to me an entirely new world to explore. The things I learned from and the connections I made to guest lecturers, new cultures, and differing perspectives made me a better, more mindful student and prepared me for the opportunities of a lifetime--a Fulbright fellowship in religious studies.”
Matthew Jordan, AS’23

Related Programs

Religious studies is a multidisciplinary field that includes methodological approaches across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Philosophy, BA

Philosophy develops critical reflection on fundamental questions, diverse perspectives, and one’s own beliefs and actions.

Psychology, BA or BS

Understand the science of behavior through classroom study and participation in research seminars, independent projects, and internships.

Anthropology and Sociology, BA

Explores cultural diversity and social structures through research and theory, equipping students to analyze global and local social issues.

Take the Next Step

To understand religion is to understand a critical element of human culture. The Religious and Interfaith Studies program at Drake can shine a light on practices that shape society.

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A Drake Religious and Interfaith Studies student in glasses and a denim jacket leans back during a classroom lecture