This page is for faculty members preparing to teach courses that may be a good fit as an elective for the inter-religious studies minor.

Currently, the interreligious studies minor includes courses from various disciplines including History and Geography, World Languages and Cultures, English and Art History. While developed within their particular fields, interreligious studies electives are multidisciplinary courses (including seminars, internships and independent study/research) that foster important conversations about the interdisciplinary study of religion and the impact that religious traditions have on our world today.

What are the criteria for approval of courses?

Courses should demonstrate that they meet at least one of the following learning objectives for the Inter-religious Studies minor:

  1. Students will analyze the category of religion and the field of inter-religious studies, including the histories and theoretical models that inform them.
  2. Students will recognize and appreciate the contours of religious difference both within and between particular traditions.
  3. Students will interact with communities and hear from practitioners, gaining first hand-experience of worship, ritual practice, gender dynamics, the use of sacred texts, political dynamics, and/or inter-religious encounters.
  4. Students will recognize and explain the ways in which religious traditions and inter-religious encounters are embedded within cultural, political and economic systems.
  5. Students will produce nuanced reflections on ways that religious traditions and religious communities have interacted with other religious traditions and communities throughout history.
  6. Students will critique existing models for understanding and facilitating inter-religious encounter and offer constructive suggestions for improving these models.

At a minimum, each proposed course must meet learning objective #5: Students will produce nuanced reflections on ways that religious traditions and religious communities have interacted with other religious traditions and communities throughout history.

Why submit your course as an interreligious studies elective?

  • Join a growing cohort of students and faculty across campus with an interest in the critical and interdisciplinary study of religious traditions
  • Support students as they think critically about interfaith dialogue and inter-religious encounter
  • Allow students the opportunity to learn to function effectively in multi-religious and multi-cultural contexts.
  • Expand your visibility at Elon
  • Attract new and interesting students to your courses!

Submission Process

A course can be submitted for approval at any time. However, in order to ensure that your course is properly represented as an inter-religious studies elective in the registration materials (schedule booklet, OnTrack, catalog) for students’ pre-registration period, the course must have gone through the inter-religious studies approval process prior to the time that the university schedule proofs are released to the chairs and program coordinators. For that reason, please keep the following timelines in mind.

Fall course – submit by February 1.

Winter course – submit by September 1.

Spring course – submit by September 1.

Summer course – submit by December 1.

Missed the deadline? No worries, you can still submit!
If the above deadlines are not met, the course may still go through the approval process and, if approved, will count for minors, but it will be an after-the-fact notice (not indicated in pre/registration materials).