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 tendentially radical readings and practices.

The doctoral program in Religion Studies at UCP aims to encourage the multidisciplinary and multiscopic study of religion and religions in a double direction: on the one hand, religion in its cultural mediations, and on the other, the religious dimensions of culture. This double axis, in a dynamic relationship, organizes the objectives and contents of the Curricular Units, privileging the terrain of multiple modernities, with particular attention to the persistence and metamorphosis of believing practices and representations.

The Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the UCP, with skills in the 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, brings students into contact with the various academic approaches to religious phenomena, allowing them to choose the one or two 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 appropriate context for multidisciplinary research of a high academic standard into religious phenomena. The aim is to promote an interdisciplinary approach to its complex manifestations, combining, above all, historical, sociological, philosophical, theological, psychological and literary 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 phenomena studied. This creates scientifically innovative potential, as the program does not focus solely on the methodology of analysis, but rather on the phenomenon itself.

Therefore, this course is proposed as a framework for the development of research skills in a diverse range of approaches and methodologies that allow religious phenomena to be treated as specific phenomena, within their diversity. It is thought that this multidisciplinary approach can help researchers from different areas to get a better approach to the subject of research and to exchange different perspectives.

Registration and Accreditation

DGES
Registration No. R/A-EF 1225/2011 on March 18, 2011

 

A3ES
Accreditation date: January 21, 2018