Thank you for supporting the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University! We are raising funds to sponsor workshops and events for Augsburg students to help them seek answers to their questions of purpose and meaning.
We are excited to announce the joining of the departments of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University! As a joint department, we offer three majors: 1) Religion, 2) Theology and Public Leadership, and 3) Philosophy. We also serve students by offering general education courses housed in our department as well as by offering minors in religion, youth studies, and philosophy.
We are committed to helping students think about core aspects of the Augsburg Mission - what it means to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders - in part, through rich discussions of vocation, lively engagement with theological and philosophical ideas and thinkers, and nuanced analyses of ethics and ethical frameworks.
We also embrace the Augsburg commitment to living out and teaching the faith and values of the Lutheran church which, for us, means acknowledging the limits of our own knowledge (that is, approaching our studies with epistemological humility), understanding freedom as freedom for others, and engaging in interfaith work, teaching interreligious competency, and caring for creation. It means that we are committed to racial equity and justice. We even wrote a Statement of Commitment to Anti-Racist Education and Work.
Our faculty hold national and international leadership positions in a variety of organizations, write both for academic and public audiences, and produce educational resources for the academy and the church. Our majors and minors go on to seminary, law school, medical school, library school, business school, and more; they hold pastoral and staff positions in churches, non-profits, publishing, and more. They even write amazing books! (like our alumnus, Chris Stedman, who is acting as our spokesperson this year - and teaching for us, too!)
Please help us continue our work, to reach more students, to recruit more majors and minors, to send them out in the world ready to lead and serve. We imagine workshops, colloquia, journal clubs, discussions of public theology and ethical dilemmas. We imagine department sponsored conferences with students involved at every level. We want to help students integrate their questions of purpose and meaning into their lives, in and out of the classroom, and in conversation with other disciplines. Your support will help us create meaningful opportunities for this work.
Thank you!