Undergraduate Programs
The Department of Religious Studies offers an online major and minor as well as specialized concentrations such as in Religion and Nonprofit Leadership.
Faculty & Research
The faculty and students of the Department of Religious Studies at University of Tennessee, Knoxville engage is a wide range of research. We specialize not just in a wide range of geographical areas and historical religious traditions, but also a variety methods and approaches.
Events & Programs
The Department of Religious Studies at University of Tennessee, Knoxville hosts speakers and programs on a wide range of topics including endowed lectures in Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.
Charles H. Reynolds Distinguished Alumnus/a Award
Charles H. Reynolds served as department head from 1980 – 2001. In the wake of his passing on January 25, 2017 [TN Today | Knoxville News-Sentinel] the Department decided to create an award in his honor. Because he stayed connected to many of his former students, we decided to honor a distinguished alumnus or alumna each year. The award is handed out at the Graduation and Awards Ceremony in the spring.
Our 2025 winner is Sean Blevins, an alumnus from the class of 2003.
Religious Studies in the News
- Jenny C. Bledsoe Honored with Distinguished Alumna Award
Jenny C. Bledsoe (‘11), Torchbearer award winner, will receive the 2026 Charles H. Reynolds Distinguished Alumna Award from the Department of Religious Studies. Bledsoe—now a tenured professor and researcher at… Read more: Jenny C. Bledsoe Honored with Distinguished Alumna Award - Manuela Ceballos’ Book Featured on Podcast
Assistant Professor Manuela Ceballos book, Between Dung and Blood: Purity, Sainthood, and Power in the Early Modern Western Mediterranean, was recently featured on the New Books Network in Islamic Studies podcast, a special channel of the larger New Books Network podcast. - Megan Bryson in ‘The Conversation:’ How women are reinterpreting the menstrual taboos in Chinese Buddhism
Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee In many religions and cultures, women who are menstruating or who just gave birth are not allowed to enter sacred sites, such as temples, or… Read more: Megan Bryson in ‘The Conversation:’ How women are reinterpreting the menstrual taboos in Chinese Buddhism
Upcoming Events
Podcasts
- A Poetics of Nature: Religious Naturalism, Multiplicities, and Affinities
- Partners in Sacred History: The Nonhuman Other in Early Islam
- The Atrocity of Hunger
- Interview with Melissa Wilcox on Queer Religiosities
- Spirit Guide: African Islam, Social Justice, and the Rub of Modernity
- Spirit Guide: Tracy Pintchman on the Goddess Without Boundaries
- Kline Interview with Adam Kotsko: What is Political Theology
- Interview with Marla Frederick on Religion, Race, and Education