Religious Studies and Philosophy

The Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy encourages Hill students to a rigorous, thoughtful, humble, and curious application of critical thinking skills to the inner and outer worlds of human experience.

The Hill's courses in Religious Studies investigate both humanity's perceived relationships with the transcendent and the many elements of our cultures shaped by those perceptions—elements which the Western world has typically grouped together under the category "religion."

Our courses in Philosophy consider both the historical development of the discipline and the still lively questions raised by both Eastern and Western traditions. Typical departmental offerings have covered topics as diverse as ethics, comparative religion, philosophical theology, the history of religion, religion in literature, and biblical studies.

As an academic department, Religious Studies and Philosophy has no connection with the School’s Spiritual Life Program. The successful student in Religious Studies and Philosophy may be highly devout, or may have no individual religious inclinations at all: but he or she should emerge with more informed understanding of some aspect of the fundamental questions of human life and of the intellectual tools required for their consideration.

The Rev. Khristi Adams teaches Religion in Film and Contemporary Society 

For more infomation about the Religious Studies and Philosphy Department, please contact The Rev. Anne Confer Martens '02, Chair of the Religious Studies and Philosophy Department, at aconfermartens@thehill.org.

Religious Studies and Philosophy Courses:

  • Worldviews and World Religions (with Honors option)
  • Philosophy and Religion in China and Beyond (with Honors option)
  • Religion and Film in Contemporary Society (with Honors option)
  • Religious Radicals (with Honors option)
  • Good and Evil: A Religious and Philosophical Inquiry (with Honors option)
  • Philosophy Seminar: Can Virtue Be Taught? (with Honors option)*
  • God and Free Will (Honors)*
  • Advanced Latin Seminar: Religion and Philosophy*/** (College Level)

*Course not offered 2021-22

**Course fulfills the school’s Religious Studies and Philosophy graduation requirement.

View course descriptions, and the required prerequisites, in the Course Catalog.