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The Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies include three disciplines that are often considered as the heart of a liberal arts education -- because these three majors focus on the most basic issues of life.
Classics: In classics courses, you can explore the foundations of western culture – starting from ancient Greece and Rome -- and you can study mythologies from around the world. In Philosophy courses, you can learn to examine critically fundamental questions pertaining to self, society, and the world and the moral questions that arise in relation to each. In Religious Studies courses, you can examine and compare the worldviews and ethical teachings of the world’s many religions, and you can study the wide-ranging impact of religion on human life.
Students who elect to major or minor in one or more of these three disciplines acquire skills of critical thinking and judgment that serve them well on any career path after college. These courses of study also help you establish a firm basis for lifelong quests for meaning and purpose. Each discipline within the department has developed a statement of its unique mission as related to the courses offered.
The mission of the Classics program is to enable students to study and appreciate the roots of the western cultural heritage and to draw on that knowledge and sensitivity to raise and reflect on critical issues of the twenty-first century. Classes are offered in the classical languages (Greek and Latin), in the literature of classical cultures in the orginal languages and in translation, as well as in comparative mythology.
Philosophy: Drawing upon diverse philosophical traditions, the Philosophy program aspires to educate students to achieve reflective, examined lives. Philosophy courses help you focus on fundamental questions pertaining to self, society, ethics, and reality. Students learn to assess diverse viewpoints relating to these issues. Through this process, you can learn to develop your own answers to such fundamental questions that are reflective, well supported, and generated with an appreciation of traditional philosophical thought.
Religious Studies: The mission of this program is to introduce students to the depth dimension of human existence known as “religion” and enable them to study critically this pervasive human phenomenon. In the academic field of religious studies there is broad consensus that religion entails that which humans perceive and respond to as ultimate. Courses on the world’s religions are integral to a liberal arts curriculum which takes seriously the challenge of helping students develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the unique characteristics and common concerns of the variety of human cultures.
The Religious Studies program enables Westminster students to understand the prominent religions of Western cultures (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) as well as classical non-Western religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism) and indigenous religions (such as Native American spiritual traditions) and the new religions that have emerged in the last two centuries (e.g., the Baha’i Faith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). | 
