There is no denying the growing impact that religion has in contemporary, so-called "post-secular" societies, both within established religious groups and in more diffuse areas of personal and social experience. The critical study of these phenomena is therefore increasingly important, among other reasons to overcome tendentiously radical readings and practices.

UCP's Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, with skills in this area developed over decades, proposes a 3rd Cycle study program or PhD in Religious Studies, focused on the high quality of the research carried out.

The curricular part, taught in the first year, puts students in touch with the various academic approaches to religious phenomena, allowing them to choose the one or ones that best suit their academic profile and can be developed in the dissertation. Teaching tends to be tutorial-based, suited to the students' availability and concentrated in January and June, to allow students from a wide range of backgrounds, including international students, to attend.

This PhD program in Religion Studies is the only one in Portugal and has partnerships with several similar programs in Brazil and Europe, which allows exchanges of students and teachers, namely through co-tutoring.

For more information, contact the coordinator: jduque@ucp.pt

Objectives

To provide all interested people with the right context for multidisciplinary research into the religious phenomenon. The aim is to promote an interdisciplinary approach to this complex phenomenon, combining, above all, historical, philosophical, theological, sociological, psychological, literary and political-pedagogical perspectives.

Of course, since this is research in different scientific fields, it will have to be carried out using a variety of methods. The point of unity in this diversity of approaches is provided by the religious phenomenon itself;
It has scientifically innovative potential, in that it does not focus on the methodology of analysis, but rather on the phenomenon itself. And since the complexity of the religious phenomenon does not allow for a unilateral approach, it is considered that the best way to deal with it is precisely through multidisciplinary research.

As such, this course is proposed as a framework for developing research skills, in a diverse range of approaches and methodologies, which make it possible to treat the religious phenomenon as a unitary phenomenon, within its complexity. It is considered that this plural approach can help researchers from different areas to get a more appropriate approach to the object of investigation.