This degree is offered conjointly with the Département des sciences religieuses of the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses of the Université Laval. There are five areas of concentration: theories of religion, history of religions, contemporary religious phenomena, Judaic studies, and comparative religion and ethics. A student chooses to register in one of the three universities on the basis of the match between faculty expertise and the student’s specialization, and is subject to that university’s regulations. Each student is graduated by the university of their registration. The joint degree provides a context for collaboration between the three departments, with some exchange of faculty for teaching and direction. There are two required doctoral seminars one of which is common to students at all three universities in alternate years.
The doctoral program in Religion at Concordia places strong emphasis on a comparative approach. The comparative study of religion incorporates a number of different but related inquiries, including: examination of the inter-relations between religious beliefs and practices; analysis of religions as social and cultural phenomena and of cultures and societies insofar as they have been influenced by religious traditions; study of inter-relations between religions and human values; investigation of religious ethics; as well as analysis of social issues from the perspective of religious values. These studies are comparative insofar as particular expressions of religions and ethics are viewed as unique but historically situated realities which often can best be understood by making formal or informal comparisons with other comparable realities.
Although the requirements are fundamentally the same in all three universities, the remainder of this section applies only to students registered at Concordia.