Princeton University was a pioneer in developing the academic study of religion outside the context of theological seminaries and without formal ties to particular religious traditions. In 1946, Princeton founded the Department of Religion in the division of the humanities, and nine years later began a graduate program in religion.

The Department of Religion aims for undergraduate students to gain content knowledge with respect to religious traditions, practice, history, ethics and philosophy, across time periods and cultural settings. In addition, we intend for our students to develop an understanding of the history of the academic study of religion and its crucial methodologies and purview. Beyond the inherent value of these mutually constitutive sets of goals, we want the development of this content knowledge and facility with religious studies as a field to cultivate methodological tools that students will take with them into other parts of their academic lives and their eventual careers: an abiding intellectual curiosity; self-motivation and initiative in research; a habit of close reading and critical empathy in the assessment of both secondary and primary sources; facility with questions of race, gender and class; and the ability to make clear, cogent and successful arguments both in writing and in discussion.

The Department of Religion's graduate program offers broad coverage of materials and issues traditionally treated under such rubrics as history of religion, philosophy of religion, church history, Judaic studies, Buddhist studies, Western religious thought, and religious ethics. It also devotes much attention to subjects that do not fall neatly into any of the standard categories. It offers extensive resources to pursue thematic topics, and most members of the faculty are engaged in serious reflection on methodological and conceptual issues that are not unique to a special field. While the department encourages its graduate students to work out innovative programs of study and to make use of the full range of available resources, it also requires each student to demonstrate expertise within one of the fields of concentration: Asian religions, Islam, religion in the Americas, religions of Mediterranean antiquity, religion and philosophy, and religion, ethics and politics.