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Religious beliefs and cultural norms form one of the most fundamental motivations in human life influencing, directly or indirectly, the vast majority of our thoughts and actions and people often express their deepest values in forms of religious symbolic behaviour. The Religion research cluster in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore focuses on the investigation and analysis of the roles of religion and culture in society as well as in the lives of individuals. This includes textual traditions (as well as ancient languages), art and artefacts, oral traditions, rituals, psychological factors, social movements, and religious personalities from different geographical areas and historical periods, both ancient and modern.

This cluster explores various religious traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in South East Asia in their cultural contexts, and the phenomenon of pluralism, syncretism and hybridization and the nature of religious experience and ritual in the diaspora. In the study of religion and culture, this cluster stands at the crossroads of history and philosophy, sociology and anthropology, linguistics and art as all these disciplines come into play in seeking an understanding of religion. While the primary emphasis is on Asian and Polynesian religious traditions, our cluster members are experts in Eastern, Western, and Pacific religions. Their specialties include textual study, historical development, mysticism, ritual, and contemporary fieldwork studies.

By engaging in the analysis of cross-cultural religious phenomena, the religion and multiculturalism cluster fosters an understanding and appreciation of people whose beliefs and practices are divergent and explores the pervasiveness of religious rituals and cultural norms across boundaries.

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Professor Lily Kong