The first semester is devoted to group teaching and serves to both broaden and deepen your knowledge of Religions as well as to prepare you for the research project.

In the second semester you will start writing your MA thesis.

The principal modes of learning during your master's are:

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Tutorials
• Self-study

We assess your progress through:

• Exams
• Peer feedback and assessment
• Essays and reports
• Oral presentations
• MA thesis

In this course, students are introduced to a range of contemporary tools for analysing religious narratives and discourses, religious thinking and belief, as well as religious traditions, identities, and fields. These tools are drawn from a wide range of humanistic and social-scientific disciplines, including literary studies, cognitive science, sociology, and history. The theoretical foundations of the analytical tools are discussed and students practice how to use these tools to analyse concrete empirical material.

At its heart, Religion on the Move is a study of how religion more generally has changed due to increasingly expanding global encounters. By combining research from religious studies, history, area studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science, this course shows that the complex processes of globalisation, modernisation, and migration have not only contributed to the movement and expansion of religions, but that religions have been crucial in constructing and confronting these processes. 

The module Thesis Seminar supports the thesis writing process. It consists of six sessions in which we discuss how to formulate a good research question, how to manage the work process, and how to structure the argument of the thesis. The module also includes an advanced library workshop.

The module Job Market Orientation offers students an overview of the job and career prospects of Religious Studies alumni and stimulates students to reflect on their own skills and ambitions. It consists of three class sessions and two job market workshops which include Religious Studies alumni. Students workshop ideas about their academic skills and virtues, professional trajectories, their C.V.s, their cover letters, their “elevator pitches,” their interview skills, their job offer negotiation skills, their reasoning for getting a PhD and their professional social media profiles while also sharing their job/internship search experiences with their colleagues.

This specialisation emphasizes religion in historical context, from the ancient world to the present, and with special attention to the development of religion across time. Examples of electives in this specialisation include:

• Society, Culture and Religion in Roman Asia Minor 
• Religion, Nationhood and Citizenship in Dutch History 
• Diaspora Communities in the Persian Period 
• Apocalypse Now!? End-Time Scenarios in Ancient, Jewish and Early Christian Literature and Beyond 

This specialisation emphasises religion in relation to politics, law, political-legal systems, international relations, and education. Examples of electives in this specialisation include:

• Rethinking Secularism in International Relations
• Radio Palestine/Israel: Voices in Conflict 
• Religion, Philosophy and Citizenship in Education
• The Politics of Destruction: Targeting World Heritage

This specialisation emphasizes religion in an area studies perspective, with special attention to the movement of ideas and peoples across places, spaces, and contexts. Examples of electives in this specialisation include:

• Pilgrimage and Holy Places
• Confucianism: Tradition and Modernity
• Culture and Society in the Medieval Muslim World 
• Asia’s Muslim Futures 
• Consciousness in Buddhism 
• Culture and Conquest: the Impact of the Mongols and their Descendants