BA in Religion

Area of Study Overview

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The Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree program in Religion prepares adults for career change, advancement, or graduate education, while providing personal enrichment. The program enables students to study major religious traditions with critical insight into fundamental tenets and allows a deeper investigation of a broad spectrum of the world's religions and their historical impact. Students develop a broad general knowledge of the traditional liberal arts disciplines while developing a greater depth of knowledge in religion.

Degree Requirements

A minimum of 18 credits must be upper level, 300 level or above, within the area of study.

Credit Distribution

I. General Education Featured Courses (45 Credits)

TESU Featured Courses are listed as a guide. Other courses may satisfy the areas and can be viewed on our website under General Education Courses. For more information see About Our General Education Program. To plan your program please contact an Advisor.

A. Intellectual and Practical Skills (15 Credits)

ENC-101	English Composition I	3
ENC-102	English Composition II	3
COM-209	Public Speaking	3
MAT-105	Applied Liberal Arts Mathematics	3
SOS-110	Critical Information Literacy	3

For all TESU course options that will satisfy this area of the degree, go to Intellectual and Practical Skills.

B. Civic and Global Leadership (9 Credits)

SOC-101	Our Changing World An Introduction to Sociology	3
ETH-230	Ethics in the Digital Age	3
POS-110	American Government	3

For additional TESU course options that will satisfy this area of the degree, go to Civic and Global Leadership.

C. Knowledge of Human Cultures (15 Credits)

SOC-210	Marriage and the Family	3
HIS-113	American History I	3
FIL-110	American Cinema	3

Select two featured courses from the list below

SOC-291	Criminology	3
HIS-114	American History II	3
HIS-121	Introduction to World History I	3
HUM-103	Introduction to the Humanities III: Music	3
PHI-130	Introduction to Critical Reasoning	3

For additional TESU course options that will satisfy this area of the degree, go to Knowledge of Human Cultures.

D. Scientific Knowledge (6 Credits)

EAS-101	General Earth Science	3
BIO-208	The Science of Nutrition	3

For additional TESU course options that will satisfy this area of the degree, go to Scientific Knowledge.

II. Area of Study (45 Credits)

A. Required Courses (6 Credits)

REL-405	World Religions: Exploring Diversity	3
PHI-370	Philosophy of Religion	3

B. Religion Electives (24 Credits)

-TRSFR REQ.

Religion Electives

C. Humanities Electives (12 Credits)

Humanities Electives

Complete any 12 credits in the Humanities area.

D. Capstone (3 Credits)

LIB-495

Liberal Arts Capstone

III. Electives (30 Credits)

For TESU course options, go to Elective Courses.

TRANSFER REQUIREMENT: TESU accepts credits in transfer from accredited institutions as well as non-collegiate providers. View information and resources on where you may find additional learning experiences.

Total Credit Hours: 120

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Religion program will be able to:

discuss the basic concepts and methods of the study of religion in an academic context;
demonstrate the historical, textual, artistic, ritual, ethical, and experiential dimensions of major religions in the East and West;
analyze the power of religion both to unify society and to disrupt and divide it; and
demonstrate knowledge of areas of similarity in religions and potential points of cooperation among them in a shrinking global context.