Department of Religious Studies

Department of Religious Studies

The Department of Religious Studies offers Richmond students the opportunity to study a broad range of religions from an academic perspective.

Our faculty and staff reject racial bias, hate speech, religious intolerance, and all other expressions of bigotry. The academic study of religion promotes a community founded on the values of inclusivity, equity, and diversity.  Religious Studies courses help students understand the complex and sometimes volatile relations of difference, and we model substantive intellectual responses to it. 

Religious Studies and Science!

Reghan Ruf, '21, majored in biology and religious studies at the University of Richmond. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry at the University of Akron. Listen to her insights on how her studies in religious studies and biology have complemented each other.

Faculty Highlights

Dr. Rhiannon Graybill
Graybill Awarded

Rhiannon Graybill, Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein & Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, received the American Academy of Religion's 2022 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies for the book Texts after Terror: Rape Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible. The annual competition recognizes new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion. This year, 2022 and 2023 awards were announced simultaneously.

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Dr. Rhiannon Graybill
Graybill Published

Rhiannon Graybill, Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein & Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, published Lee Edelman and the Queer Study of Religion.

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Dr. Rhiannon Graybill
Graybill Published

Rhiannon Graybill, Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein & Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, published Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Yale University Press.

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Dr. Rhiannon Graybill
Graybill Published

Rhiannon Graybill, Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein & Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, published What Are They Saying about the Book of Jonah? Paulist Press, 2023.

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Scholarship Repository Readership

The University of Richmond's Scholarship Repository shares faculty publications with a world-wide audience. The map below shows where articles from religion faculty are being read around the globe.

Upcoming Courses

  • Leadership Ethics: Early China
  • Introduction to Hebrew Bible
  • Islam and Film
  • Introduction to New Testament
  • Varieties of Christian Ethics
  • Truth, Justice, and the American Way (Of Doing Philosophy)
  • Tolkien and the Medieval Imagination

Contact Us

Mailing address:
Department of Religious Studies
Weinstein Hall, Room 102
231 Richmond Way
University of Richmond, Virginia 23173

Phone: (804) 289-8325
Fax: (804) 287-6504

Chair: Mimi Hanoaka

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