Religion and Global Futures

Are you looking for a program that will help you to understand important issues concerning our shared futures? The Religion and Global Futures program at University of Bayreuth equips you with the skills to engage with these matters in an international and supportive learning environment.

The Religion and Global Futures program at University of Bayreuth will equip you with knowledge that enable you to understand contemporary and emerging forms of religion, both from a global perspective and in relation to questions of global futures. You will receive support in cultivating research and critical thinking skills.

These skills are essential for understanding some of the most prominent global issues of our time concerning our shared futures. The program explores how religion is implicated in issues of climate change, resource scarcity, pandemics, social discrimination and inequality, international conflict and terrorism, neo-imperialism, poverty, (ethno )nationalism, migration and social cohesion.

In addition to drawing on valuable insights and skills offered by the Study of Religion, the program also allows you to develop interdisciplinary knowledge by engaging with other fields of research at University of Bayreuth, including sustainability, political science, economic history, global nutrition and public health, anthropology, sociology, Islamic studies, and African studies.

Our program is informed by innovative research in the Study of Religion and adjacent fields which foregrounds dynamics of plurality and relationality. You will not only have opportunities to develop basic knowledge of specific religious traditions and geographic regions, but also to examine translocal movements, encounters, and interdependencies between different religious groups and traditions.

Career prospects

The Religion and Global Futures programe at University of Bayreuth will equip you with specialised knowledge and transferrable skills that are attractive to a wide range of employers in various professional sectors. Examples include:

• Transnational institutions in sectors that have a distinctively global focus (e.g., international development, diplomacy and international relations, global security and intelligence, international media)

• Societies or institutions that engage with religiously diverse clients and communities (e.g., charities and NGOs, marketing and public relations, market research, leisure and travel, civil service and public sector, social advocacy and political lobbying, health and social care, teaching and education)

• Companies and organisations that generate output which is directly concerned with religious matters (e.g., public policy, media and journalism, security and intelligence, culture and heritage)

Modules include:

• Study of Religion and Global Futures

• Practical Tools for Studying Religion

• Rethinking Religion and Globality

• Religion from different angles

• Post/De-colonial Approaches in the Study of Religion

• Rethinking Religion and Planetary Transformations

• Thematic Fields