What jobs can I do with a religious studies major?–

A major in religious studies prepares you for diverse professions in academia, public service, and places of worship. Your religious studies major can lead to a wide range of career opportunities, including these top jobs: Religious Workers. Religious Activities and Education Directors. Community and Social Service Specialists. Clergy. Social and Community Service Managers. Postsecondary Education Administrators. Postsecondary Teachers

Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students. Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Best Research Universities for Religious Studies Degrees

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Jenn Finley

Updated: Oct 29, 2024

Key Takeaways

Studying religious studies is important because students gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural issues that arise throughout their lives.
Cultural awareness is increased by attending religious studies schools.
It is possible to develop tolerance and understanding through the study of religion.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Research Universities Religious Studies Programs in 2025

Harvard University
University of California, Berkeley
+7
Columbia University
+1
Stanford University
+3
University of Chicago
–2
Yale University
–4
Princeton University
–1
University of Michigan
+6
New York University
+6
Cornell University
+3

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

Harvard University remains in the top spot and UC Berkeley gained 7 positions to move up to the number 2 spot in our 2025 ranking of the best research universities for religious studies.

Harvard has enhanced their Program for the Evolution of Spirituality, which explores emerging spiritual movements, offering a unique community for those interested in the intersection of academic study and spiritual practice. Additionally, the Center for the Study of World Religions will host the Psychedelic Intersections conference in early 2025, examining the relationship between psychedelics and spirituality.

UC Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) has made improvements to the Designated Emphasis in the Study of Religion (DESR) for PhD students. Graduate students can focus their dissertation work on religious studies in part because of a recent $1 million grant for the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative.

Majoring in religious studies can mean different things to different students. Some religious studies degrees are secular, and approach the study of world religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism from an academic perspective, delving into the history, literature, and beliefs of each.

Other degrees, particularly those with a concentration in divinity, are firmly rooted within a religion, with the goal of developing advanced knowledge and finding employment in the clergy. Whether your goal is a life in service to your faith, or you are just fascinated by world religions, a major in religious studies can be a rewarding path.

The best religious studies schools are those which are fully accredited, which align with your spiritual and professional goals, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.

Taking part in religious research allows us to understand better how others view existence and our purpose. With religious studies degrees, graduates can become a religion teacher, advisor, counselor, or community service manager, earning a degree in religious studies is a useful qualification.

Among the topics studied in religious studies degrees at the best schools are comparative religions, the social impacts of religion, and religion’s history. Similar to Theology Divinity Religious Studies, research, writing, and communication skills, as well as critical thinking skills, are enhanced in this program.

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degrees

While many will go on to work directly in religious settings as clergy, religious studies majors can find employment in various professions. Religious studies majors build knowledge and skills that can apply in social services, education, public relations, media, business, politics, and countless other professional settings. Moreover, many undergraduate religious studies degrees are rooted in a firm liberal arts education tradition. This means you get to study a bit of everything, and develop a well-rounded knowledge base, with the critical and analytical skills to navigate new challenges, and learn in unfamiliar situations.

Whether serving as clergy within a religion, or functioning as a culture critic, religious studies majors influence how we understand and interact with religion in our daily lives. Today, top influencers in religious studies are bringing light to topics like New Testament analysis, Christian apologetics, Science and Christianity, and much more.

Religious studies is an idea major for those who have a practical interest in combining their faith and profession. Religious studies degrees are frequently offered by religious institutions. For instance, a Bachelor of Ministry (BM) may be offered by a Christian school, Bible school, or seminary. These degrees provide focused religious instruction for students who wish to apply their Christian faith to a leadership role within a religious community or organization. Similarly, degrees for aspiring clergy in the Jewish or Muslim faiths are likely to be offered by Rabbinical schools or Madrasa respectively.

By contrast, a bachelor of Theology (BTh) is more academically focused and more likely to be offered at a secular institution (as well as through most religious institutions). The Bachelor of Theology is designed for students who wish to engage with deep study of the scriptures, history and culture surrounding either a specific religion, or a variety of major world religions, without necessarily training for service in the clergy. The best religious studies degree for you will depend on both your career goals and religious affiliation.

Once you’ve declared your major in religious studies, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in a number of related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized religious studies electives, there are several common courses that most religious studies majors will be required to take, including:

Old Testament
New Testament
Church History
Introduction to Philosophy
Introduction to Theology
World Religions
Christian Apologetics
Jewish Diaspora

A major in religious studies prepares you for diverse professions in academia, public service, and places of worship. Your religious studies major can lead to a wide range of career opportunities, including these top jobs:

If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges for bachelor’s in religious studies degrees.

How do we determine the best religious studies research universities?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Influence”.

The influence of a college or university is based on the schools’s top academic influencers related to the discipline in this ranking. We track the influence of faculty and alumni affiliate with these school counting not only the publications and citations of the school’s affiliated people, but we also consider the overall web presence of the faculty and alumni. The greater the citations, authority of web links, web searches, and page views, the greater the individuals’s influence. Those combined make up the departments’s influence in the field of study. We believe tracking the academic influence of the people affiliated with a school is the best indicator of academic excellence.

If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and misused performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is more insulated from manipulation, and more reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Ranking: Best Research Universities for Bachelor’s in Religious Studies Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Religious Studies Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Religion/Religious Studies

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Starting Salary*: $26,597
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $39,969
* denotes ‘annually’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	4.08%	$86,030
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary	2.27%	$79,930

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	$86,030
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary	$79,930

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.

Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines.

Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges for a bachelor’s in mathematics.

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available.

Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online.

Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Go to all Research Universities for Religious Studies programs

The Best Religious Studies Schools in Your State

Learn More About Religious Studies

If you want to know more about religious studies, then check out our related content:

Learn how to major in religious studies
Think about your next step and what you can do with a master’s degree in religious studies
Find out who are the most influential religious studies scholars today

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Research Universities for Religious Studies Degrees

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Research Universities Religious Studies Programs in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degrees

What can I do with a religious studies major?

Is religious studies a good major?

What courses will I take as a religious studies major?

What jobs can I do with a religious studies major?

Ranking: Best Research Universities for Bachelor’s in Religious Studies Degrees

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Harvard University

Most Influential Alumni

Harvard University Religious Studies Major Concentrations:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of California, Berkeley

Most Influential Alumni

UC Berkeley Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Columbia University

Most Influential Alumni

Columbia University Religious Studies Major Zones:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Stanford University

Most Influential Alumni

Stanford University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of Chicago

Most Influential Alumni

University of Chicago Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Yale University

Most Influential Alumni

Yale University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Princeton University

Most Influential Alumni

Princeton University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of Michigan

Most Influential Alumni

University of Michigan Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at New York University

Most Influential Alumni

NYU Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Cornell University

Most Influential Alumni

Cornell University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of Pennsylvania

Most Influential Alumni

University of Pennsylvania Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of California, Los Angeles

Most Influential Alumni

UCLA Religious Studies Majors:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Duke University

Most Influential Alumni

Duke University Religious Studies Major:

Related:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of Southern California

Most Influential Alumni

USC Religious Studies Majors:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Northwestern University

Most Influential Alumni

Northwestern University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Brown University

Most Influential Alumni

Brown University Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Georgetown University

Most Influential Alumni

Georgetown University Religious Studies Major Concentrations:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Boston University

Most Influential Alumni

Boston University Religious Studies Major:

Boston University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Dartmouth College

Most Influential Alumni

Dartmouth College Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Most Influential Alumni

Northwestern University Religious Studies Major Concentrations:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at University of Notre Dame

Most Influential Alumni

UND Religious Studies Major:

Career Outlook for Religious Studies degree at Emory University

Most Influential Alumni

Emory University Religious Studies Major: