Religious Studies

Relation to the University Mission and Identity:
The Religious Studies Program is at the center of the mission and identity of Chaminade University as a Catholic and Marianist institution. The discipline by its very nature is involved in the application of faith and reason as faculty and students confront the phenomena of religious experience, particularly its reality within the Catholic and Christian traditions. The discipline invites the student to a continuing reflection on the historical content of its prophetic call to peace and justice, to love for the least among us and action on behalf of justice as constitutive of the proclamation of the gospel today.

Mission Statement:
The mission of the Religious Studies discipline is to foster an understanding of human responses to the sacred that invite personal and communal commitment to faith in action and spiritual growth.

Vision Statement:
The Religious Studies program offers the student an opportunity for in-depth reflection into the nature of religious experience, the communities which arise in response to it, and their actions. Grounded in Roman Catholic theology and Marianist educational philosophy, this reflection is ecumenical and conducted in the context of a multicultural, interfaith dialogue. Participating both in the search for truth characteristic of the university and in the teaching apostolate of the Catholic Church, the discipline strives to create learning communities that engage students with the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, particularly those parts of the tradition that elucidate the experience of the church in Asia and the Pacific, exploring the meaning of the faith and working for justice among those peoples and cultures.

Career Options and Graduate Education Paths of Graduates:
Most of the graduates of this program have entered the teaching profession in a variety of Church-related schools; others serve in parishes or temples, have entered seminary training in a variety of Christian traditions, or have gone on to graduate schools for further study in theology, religious studies, or pastoral ministries.

Discipline Teaching Goals:
1. We will promote faculty and student understanding of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition by engaging its historical achievements and articulations, its integration of faith and reason, and its application of values for the human person and for social transformation.
2. We will promote the integral growth and development of both faculty and students as moral and spiritual persons.
3. We will foster an understanding of the correlation and interaction between religions and cultures, particularly as lived by the peoples of the Hawaiian Islands and Pacific Rim.