ALM Religion at Harvard University

Explore the history, texts, and functions of religion within different societies and cultures. The academic study of religion examines how and why religious ideas, practices, and institutions take shape within particular historical and cultural contexts. Scholars work with primary sources — texts, images, material artifacts, and lived practices — and engage a range of scholarly methods, including historical analysis, textual interpretation, ethnography, and critical theory. Credential: Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Extension Studies in the field of Religion.

Faculty: Harvard Extension School (Division of Continuing Education)  |  Duration: 12 courses (11 online) taken part-time  |  Study mode: online  |  Intake: Spring 2027  |  Location: Cambridge, MA, United States

What you will study

Example courses: World Religions; Enlightenment: Horizons of Human Potential and Flourishing; Compassion, Science, and the Contemplative Arts; Spiritual Lives of the Non-Religious; Psychology and Religion in Historical Context; Stackable Certificate.

Career pathways

Alumni work in a variety of fields, including law, finance, theology, IT, research, and higher education. They have gone on to do Ph.D.

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