Department of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder

We combine the intimacy of a classic liberal arts education, the rigor of a strong graduate program, Nor can it be taken at face value. This is our niche.

In the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, our research specializations range from the ancient past to the contemporary moment, from Tibet and India, to medieval and modern Europe, to the Americas and Polynesia. Beyond and across our areas of specialization, we are committed to making the study of religion accessible and relevant to public life. We strive to char

t connections between our scholarship and the always-unfolding dynamics of contemporary social and political issues. Religion, as we understand it, can never be adequately viewed from the sole vantage of scholarly ground. Interpretation, analysis, and other acts of imagination are demanded in this enterprise. We invite you to join us as we continue the ever-exciting challenge of “imagining religion.”

We offer comprehensive programs leading to the Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Arts degrees in religious studies, which aim to provide students with: detailed knowledge of specific traditions, a broad knowledge of a range of traditions and their historical and cultural relationships, familiarity with a variety of approaches to the academic study of religion, training in critical theory, training in advanced research skills. We emphasize historically- and culturally-specific studies of religion, with special attention to questions of comparison and theory. Areas of thematic strength include: religion and the body; ritual studies; dance, play and religion; politics, law, and religion; gender, sexuality, and religion. We have faculty who specialize in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, religions in America, religions in the Mediterranean, religions in Asia, and several indigenous traditions. Our faculty is highly interdisciplinary, both by way of training and by way of maintaining working connections across the university. Each faculty member is able to support advanced student training in areas of specialization on the basis of the university’s considerable resources with regard to numerous traditions. We encourage our students to make the most of interdisciplinary opportunities.

Photos from Department of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder's post

06/10/2026

The editorial team of the 𝘋̣𝘢̄𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘪̄𝘴’ 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘺 translation project recently gathered at the Tsadra Research Center in Boulder, launching an ambitious project to publish a 10-volume curated selection from this noted Tibetan anthology. 𝘋̣𝘢̄𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘪̄𝘴’ 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘺 contains sources spanning 2,000 years across the full terrain of the Tibetan plateau, and is the only Tibetan anthology dedicated to writings by, about, and for Buddhist women across historical periods, literary genres, and religious traditions.

2nd photo: The translation project is led by Sarah Jacoby of Northwestern University, Padma’tsho of Southwest Minzu University, and Professor Holly Gayley of the Department of Religious Studies and the Tibet Himalaya Initiative (THI) here at CU Boulder.

We’re especially excited that several RLST M.A. graduates are part of this large-scale translation project—they have a remarkable task ahead!

The Tsadra Research Center, Lenz Foundation, Northwestern University, and CU’s Tibet Himalaya Initiative sponsored the two-day gathering in Boulder last month.

To read more about this translation project, please visit the link in the comment section.

06/05/2026

This , we invite you to consider how religious traditions and spiritual practices have shaped your relationship with the natural world. 🌱

Interested in exploring religion and ethics? Browse our fall course offerings on the RLST website!

05/27/2026

Join us in giving a departmental shoutout to RLST student Ana Silveira Nedochetko, who successfully defended her MA thesis, “The Condition of Appearance: Niguma and the Epistemology of Ḍākinī Transmission,” earlier this month!

Photo shows Ana giving a talk at the Kagyu Sukha Choling Buddhist Center in Ashland, Oregon in April, on a text that she translated from Tibetan, “The Self-Liberated Illusion Body and the Sixfold Illusion Body,” and the relationship between Niguma, lineage founder of the Shanghai Kagyu, and her disciple Khyungpo Naljor.

Congratulations, Ana! We are proud of everything you’ve contributed to and the community. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻