Welcome to the University of Gävle and Master Programme in Religious Studies!

Programme introduction and registration

Registration and an introductory session to your programme is held on Tuesday 3 September at 10:15–12:00 via Zoom.

Here you will receive a short introduction to your programme by your programme director, Jari Ristiniemi.

We use Zoom for web meetings, please download the app. You are able to participate in the introductory session and even in other seminaries through zoom.

Web meetings with Zoom

Presence in the introduction is non-mandatory, but we presuppose that you contact Jari Ristiniemi at jari.ristiniemi@hig.se to confirm your participation in the programme. If you have not confirmed your participation either through e-mail or during the introduction, you will lose your place on the programme.

Programme information from your programme director

The Master program in Religious Studies is a distance-based educational program that offers the possibility to obtain a Master of Religious Studies entirely off-campus. The official language throughout the studies is English. There are no restrictions related to geographical location. All courses can be followed online. The lectures will be available online on a web-based learning management system Canvas for watching at any time.

At the University of Gävle you have the unique possibility to study Religious Studies at the master’s level. Here, we study the interaction between individual, society and culture during different historical epochs. The influence of religion on current politics, the relationship between aesthetics/art and religion, the relationship between mentality and forms of organisation, as well as different forms of action strategies for a sustainable society, are all issues in focus. The Master Programme in Religious Studies includes four specialisations, you choose one of these during the second semester: Ethics and leadership; Religion in post-secular society; Environment, health and working life; Religion and folklore in the past and in the present.

A great majority of the world’s population say that they are followers of different religious traditions. At the same time, religion is heatedly debated in media. The picture is complex and demands specific tools to avoid simplified assumptions: How can we understand the development of terror organisations like the Islamic State, compared to the parallel growth of Muslim feminism and the struggle for civil rights in the Middle East? How about Syria, is Syria the last secular state in the middle of the growing conservative Islam? How about the scientific worldview, does it really offer an alternative to religious world-views? What kind of leadership does the world need today? The spiritual leadership, what is it? How about the burn-out phenomenon, what is its genesis and how to cope with it? How do the indigenous African religious traditions see on the human/nature interaction?

As a student in the master programme, you will be offered the opportunity to pose the above-like questions and learn more about diverse religious phenomena. We explore a variety of religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, as well as expressions of “New Age” like Spiritism and shamanism. The religious ways of living are all expressed in a multitude of ways, for example as beliefs, rituals, codes concerning food and dressing, politics, gender roles, and different art genres. The master programme studies these phenomena from historical, contemporary, behavioural and existential perspectives. All are used to understand the interaction between individual, society and culture in today’s local/global world. The diminishing influence of traditional religion in different contexts and religious change are also studied. In addition, we also ask the question if there is a difference between what we call religion and spirituality, and if they are related.

Communication
The course communication will happen both through the learning management system Canvas and through e-mail contacts.

Programme timetable

• Programme timetable for Master Programme in Religious Studies
• The timetable will be published July 1st.

In preparation for your first courses

Below you will find welcome letters for the first course(s) that you will take as part of your programme. You will find information about course registration, links to the course syllabus and reading list, timetable and more in your course welcome letter. Welcome letters for courses are published at the latest four weeks before the course start date.

• Welcome letter - Contemporary Religious Studies 7,5 credits