Faculty of Arts

Department of Religion and Culture

Our program teaches students to think critically about how religion has shaped the way individuals understand themselves, their communities and the world around them. We explore historical and contemporary cultural, religious and spiritual traditions through the study of texts, material culture, performances and media. Students learn about the history and diversity of communities and study the ingenious ways we create new ways of living, maintain traditions or criticize past practices.

Our faculty and staff
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Multi-coloured sugar skull figurines stacked on top of one another.

Study with us

Courses in the Department of Religion and Culture can be divided into three categories: tradition-based, thematic and theoretical.

Tradition-based: Focus on a particular religious or cultural tradition. May be surveys of the variety and diversity of a religious or cultural tradition, an in-depth analysis of a community in a specific time and place or the philosophy of exemplary figures within a tradition.

Thematic: Focus on a theme shared by numerous religious traditions. May deal with death, ethics, evil, faith and reason, food, healing, myth, popular culture, sexuality, storytelling, violence or women.

Theoretical: Focus on methodological considerations and the study of religion, specific disciplinary developments or the history of the study of religion.

Events and news

  • After Multiculturalism: Faith and/as Ethnicity in Mennonite Writing in Canada

    Robert Zacharias, York University

    Wednesday, November 18, 2026
    2:30 p.m.
    409 Tier building
    Light refreshments will be served

    This presentation explores Mennonite writing as a case study in the impact of multiculturalism on Canadian literary studies. Tracing the contested establishment of Mennonite writing as an “ethnic” literature in the late twentieth century, it considers the field’s complicated position within what scholars have called the “after-multicultural era” of Canadian literature—and reflects on its possible futures in a time of resurgent nationalism.

    Robert Zacharias is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of English at York University in Toronto. His publications include Rewriting the Break Event: Mennonites and Migration in Canadian Literature (2013) and Reading Mennonite Writing: A Study in Minor Transnationalism (2022). His edited volumes include After Identity: Mennonite Writing in North America (2015) and In Search of a Mennonite Imagination: Key Texts in Mennonite Literary Criticism (2025).

    This event is supported by the UM Institute for the Humanities.

Department of Religion and Culture Newsletter

Stay up to date on program activities, events, opportunities and announcements.

Read the current issue

Read the Spring 2026 issue

 

Programs of study

Idol of Hindu deitie Ganesha on display with people in blue T-shirts surrounding it.

PhD in Religion

We consider applications in the research areas of our faculty, which currently include: religions of south and east Asia, especially Hinduism and Buddhism; Bible, formative Christianity, religions and cultures of Western antiquity; reformation and aspects of early modern/modern Christianity; Christianity, culture and society; Christian texts; Islam; Islamic texts; Judaism; methodology, hermeneutics and critical theory.

Student resources and opportunities

Writing tutor

The Department of Religion funds a writing tutor to work directly with religion students.

Availability:
Tuesday's 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday's 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Room 336 Fletcher Argue

Make an appointment with a tutor

Explore your career options in religion and culture

Studying religion and culture opens up a world of professional opportunities in fields including:

  • Education
  • Social work
  • Government
  • Foreign service
  • Communications
  • Publishing
  • Research

Get the information you need for academic planning and connect with experiences to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that employers are seeking.

View the Religion and Culture Career Compass

Websites about the study of religion and culture

Student awards and financial support

 

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Graduate students

Finding a graduate advisor

Before submitting your application to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for the Religion Joint Master's program or Religion PhD program, you will need to first find an academic advisor. To assist with this, potential students are encouraged to contact a Religion faculty member directly.

In an email, please let the potential advisor know the following:

  • your area(s) of study and research interest,
  • a bit about yourself, and how to best contact you,
  • a brief summary of your relevant education, community and/or work experiences,
  • a description of your proposed research topic.

Please note that tentative acceptance from an advisor does not guarantee admission into the program.

Past theses

Past Department of Religion theses can be found on MSpace.

View past these on MSpace

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Contact us

Department of Religion and Culture
328 Fletcher Argue Building
15 Chancellors Circle
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

religion@umanitoba.ca
204-474-9516
204-474-7601