Department Of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy

Three major disciplines in one Department

The Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy represents the union in 1983 of two original departments of the old University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, namely Divinity and Classics.

Three major disciplines, each with its own identity and content, complement one another and provide unique opportunities for inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural studies. The Department is the largest in the faculty of Arts. It provides a full range of undergraduate and post-graduate programmes as well as a Diploma in Religious Studies through its Associate and Affiliate Colleges.

Religious Studies is concerned with religion as a phenomenon, the sociology, psychology and philosophy of religion. Although it looks at all the major religions of the world, it concentrates on the three main religions in Zimbabwe, i.e. African Traditional Religion, Christianity and Islam. Within the compass of Christianity come Biblical Studies (both Old and New Testament), Christian History and Thought, Christian Theology and African Theology. Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek form part of the Religious Studies programme.

Classics offers Classical Greek, Latin and Classical Studies as separate subjects. The latter introduces students to the life, literature (in English translation), thought, history and culture of the Greco-Roman world in which Christianity grew, and from which much modern Western culture is derived.

Philosophy is concerned with the major questions of the nature and meaning of being and knowledge, various answers that have been proposed for these questions, and the logical processes that must underpin all serious thought. Classical, Mediaeval, and contemporary Western philosophy, African philosophy and Applied Ethics are all covered.

The Department offers courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level in all sections. At present it has undergraduate students in Religious Studies, in Philosophy, and 69 in Classical Studies. There are 24 MA, 4 M. Phil and 15 D.Phil. students.