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The research Master's programme in Religious Studies comprises two years (120 EC). Each year is divided into two semesters, running from September until January and from February until June. A semester is divided into two study periods.

Curriculum

The programme consists of compulsory courses, electives, tutorials, study abroad or a research internship, and a thesis. 

Year 1

Compulsory courses familiarize students with theories and methods in the study of religion. Electives and tutorials help students to specialize and pursue their research interests.

Year 2

The first semester will be devoted to your stay at a university abroad, to a research internship, or to electives/tutorials. The second semester is reserved for writing the Master’s thesis. In this text, you will contribute your own independent research to a debate in the field of religious studies. To help prepare your thesis, you will also participate in a Thesis Lab. Examples of recent thesis titles:

• “Afghan Women Are Being Their Own Heroes”: Radio and Women’s Education in Afghanistan under Taliban Rule (Fleur Schekman, 2024)
• An “Archeology of the Present”: On Religion, Negotiations of Belonging, and the Indigenous Surinamese Collection of the National Museum of World Cultures (Isabelle Best, 2023)
• Siege Saints, ‘Chad’ Martyrs and Holy Warriors: On the Veneration of Violent Right-Wing Extremists on 4chan (Mara Luna van Dijk, 2022)

Below, you can find an overview of courses from the current academic year of this Master's. Please note: The course offer is reviewed yearly. This overview is therefore subject to change.

Thesis awards

Students who pursue a degree in Religious Studies are intrinsically motivated and this shows in their study results. Our graduates are regularly awarded prizes for writing excellent theses.

• Wytze J. Dijkstra won the 2024 Cornelius Tiele MA Thesis Award of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion. The title of his thesis is 
• Veerle Dijkstra won the 2022 Thesis Award of the Faculty of Humanities with her thesis Going Digital: Corona as a Lens onto the Dynamics of Religious Mediation in Four Christian Church Communities in The Netherlands.
• Wouter Kock was awarded the 2022 Jan Brouwer Thesis Award of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities with his thesis Loss in Translation: The Heritagization of Catholic Monasteries.
• Rashmi Shetty won the 2021 Thesis Award of the Faculty of Humanities with her thesis Digitally Mediated Neo-Hindutva Affective Economies and Publics.
• Chunrong Zhao won the 2020 Cornelis Tiele MA Thesis Award of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion. The title of his thesis is Overcoming Essentialism: A Transcultural Approach to Gandhāran Buddhist Material Culture.

Educational methods

• lecture (10%)
• seminar (50%)
• research colloquia (10%)
• independent study (30%)
• research internship/study abroad (optional)

Internship at Museum Catharijneconvent

RMA student Gert Naberman did an internship at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. He organised a workshop day with the Network for Religious Heritage and he worked on the inventory of the Christian collection of the 'Museum van Wereldculturen'. 

Examination methods

• research papers
• written assignments
• oral presentations
• Master’s thesis