宗教研究系提供有关人类经验的宗教方面的培训，涉及世界各地以及不同时期的各种传统和文化。该系强调宗教研究的跨文化比较和多学科方法。我们的研究生课程旨在为学生提供对古典和现代宗教理论的理解，发展和进行严格而重要的研究的语言和方法技能，以及对特定地区和/或宗教元素的深入专业教育或传统。该系采用人文和社会科学方法来研究宗教，并强调对相关语言进行高级学习的重要性。教职员工在研究中采用了多种方法，并从广泛的理论角度进行了借鉴。
The Department of Religious Studies is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the world's leading centers for the analytic study of religion and is renowned for its cross-cultural and multidisciplinary approach to the study of religions. The department offers training in the religious dimensions of the human experience in diverse cultures and traditions around the world and through the course of history. We embrace both humanistic and scientific approaches to the study of religions and emphasize the importance of advanced study of relevant languages. Our faculty members employ a diverse array of methods in their research and draw from a broad range of theoretical perspectives. Indeed, a rigorous multidisciplinary and analytic approach to the study of religions, often involving comparative perspectives across traditions, has been one of the enduring hallmarks of UCSB's Department of Religious Studies since its founding more than fifty years ago, in contrast with our peer institutions whose programs have been founded on a seminary model rooted in ministry.