Department of Religious Studies

Are you interested in religion and how it continues to shape our experience of the world?

Are you interested in how religion impacts politics, the environment, cultural values and social practices?

The Religious Studies program at Mount Allison involves the academic study of religion and the ongoing role it plays in shaping cultural experience, thought and practice, and human self-understanding. In short, religious studies considers how spiritualities bring the deepest and most basic questions of human existence to bear on our most significant contemporary challenges and achievements.

Profoundly interdisciplinary, the research and teaching in our department intersects with history, philosophy, environmental studies, critical theory, art and creative practice, community engaged learning and so much more in order to explore such areas as the following:

War and conflict
Gender and sexuality
Ecology and the climate crisis
Secular and post-secular phenomena
Material culture
Cultural traditions and practices
Philosophy and religious thought
Spiritual expression
Archival legacies and futures

Our Faculty are active and successful researchers and have been recognized with numerous teaching and educational leadership awards. The study of religion at Mount Allison involves some of the most innovative and engaging learning experiences available at the University.

Panel Description

With Dr. Darren Dochuk (Notre Dame, History), Dr. James Devine (Mount Allison, Politics and International Relations) and Dr. Gabriel Paxton (Mount Allison, Religious Studies).

In recent weeks, the U.S. and Israel have launched strikes on Iran, resulting in a war that has drawn in surrounding Gulf-states and allies of U.S.-Israel. As a follow up to Dr. James Devine’s talk, “Conflict in the Middle East” this roundtable/panel discussion will address broader historical and cultural implications underpinning this conflict. Namely, we will discuss the role that religion, nationalism/national identity, and resource politics, play in this geo-political development. Special attention will be given to the impact of crude-oil extraction in Iran and U.S. politics, the foreign policy of modern-day conservative evangelicals in the U.S., and the potential implications of a deepening conflict in the region.

Lecture Description

With the late 1970s energy crisis as its entry, prompted by the words of Wendell Berry describing the crisis as a "moral," not simply material, concern, this talk will explore the relationship between religion and energy in modern political culture. Centered on life in the American oil patch, it will also touch on developments in the Canadian west, linking a long history of God and black gold with the present.

Darren Dochuk is the Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Co-Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. His current research focuses on the intersections of religion, politics, energy, and environment in American as well as global contexts, themes central to his latest book, Anointed With Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America (Basic Books).

Coming up next Thursday March 12 East Coast Environmental Law will be at Mount Allison University in Sackville with EOS Energy, Divest MTA, and MLA Megan Mitton discussing the right to a healthy environment in New Brunswick. All youth are welcome to attend this engaging workshop to learn about:

⚖️ The role of law and public policy in addressing environmental issues
🌎 How organizations in New Brunswick are advocating for environmental protection
🏛️ How you can engage in government decision-making
📢 Practical tools to advocate for stronger environmental laws

Pizza will be served! Register on Eventbrite here: Youth Environmental Law Workshop - Sackville Tickets, Thursday, Mar 12 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm | Eventbrite

Public Lecture with Dr. Karen Langton

Join us for a public lecture on Tuesday afternoon with Dr. Karen Langton from Fairfield University. Biblical scholar Dr. Karan Langton creates a conversation that weaves together the connections between Vivienne Rowlett’s artistic recreation of 18-century woman’s pockets with the exultant and sometimes troubling themes and imagery found in the biblical psalms.

Textile Exegesis: Exploring connections between textiles and biblical texts
Tues., January 14th, 2025 at 2:30pm in Hart Hall 115.
All welcome.

Register for our Second Student Bus Trip of the Fall Term!

Would you like to join the Department of Religious Studies and MtA Spiritual Care on a free interfaith bus trip? Your next opportunity will be on Saturday, Nov 2nd. Join us on a trip to Moncton where we'll visit the Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Masjid Yusuf Islamic Mosque. A great opportunity to learn about different religions or share about your own faith.

All students welcome on this free bus trip to Moncton. Contact religion@mta.ca for details.

Departure from Mount Allison University at 10:00am on Saturday, November 2nd. Returning around 3:30pm. Preregistration is required.

The Camino Student Showcase

Join Dr. Andrew Wilson and his students to learn about their Camino de Santiago experiences. Hear amazing stories and
see creative presentations about
their walk through Spain. Contact awilson@mta.ca for more info.

RECEPTION
4 P M - 6 P M
Thursday, Sept. 12th
President’s Cottage

Religious Studies class helps design green roof on campus.

Work began earlier this academic year on a project that will blossom come spring into a little oasis on the roof of the Wallace McCain Student Centre. Mount Allison’s first green roof will feature a garden accessible off the main foyer. The project already served as an experiential learning opportunity for one Mount Allison class this fall. Barb Clayton, professor of religious studies, incorporated it into her third-year Religious Ethics and the Environment class.

Read the full article here.

Below: Students on a field trip to Haida Gwaii in 2019.