The Department of Religion offers undergraduate instruction for Religion majors and minors, and graduate instruction at the master’s and doctorate levels.  The undergraduate program (http://web.religion.ufl.edu/undergraduate.html) offers courses in Asian Religion,  Islam,  Jewish or Christian scriptures,  and the comparative study of Religions.  The graduate program  (http://web.religion.ufl.edu/graduate.html) prepares students for teaching and research in the subdisciplines of Religion in the Americas,  Religions of Asia,  and Religion and Nature.  With the recent appointments of new faculty in  Islam,  in Buddhism, and in Environmental Ethics, and with the presence at UF of a growing Asian Studies Program (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/asian/) as well as the acclaimed Center for Latin American Studies (http://www.latam.ufl.edu/) , the Dept. of Religion’s new Ph.D program is poised to achieve prominence in those three subdisciplines.

II Collection Description

The library's collection reflects the programs that have evolved over the years in the Department of Religion.  The early history of the department emphasized western religious traditions (Christianity and Judaism).  The collection of Christian materials includes primary source material in vernacular and translation and secondary sources emphasizing English but including other western languages as well.  Among its primary sources are Migne's Patrologiae Cursus Completus;  Fathers of the Church;  and the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina and Continuatio Mediaevalis.  During the 1960s and 1970s the department expanded into South Asian religions and the library built a collection of materials in Hinduism (e.g. Puranas and Vedic texts), Sikh and Jainism.  During the 1990s and within the last few years appointments have been made in Islam, East Asian Buddhism,  Religion in the Americas,  and Religion and Nature.  The collections have expanded accordingly.   A complete set of vernacular Chinese Buddhism scriptures (Tripitika) was acquired as well as the Pali Canon.   Within the last few years the library expanded its holdings in Islamic studies.   Recently the library expanded its holdings in Religion and the Environment.  With the new appointment in the Religion Dept. of a Theravada and South Asian Buddhism specialist, the library plans to expand its holdings of Pali texts and commentaries in translation.

The library has a large collection of Religion journals, Religion Reference materials, and Religion databases and CD ROMS.

Filling out the library's collection of Religion materials is the  outstanding Price Library of Judaica,  Latin American Collection,  Asian Studies Collection, Africana Collection, and the Rare Book Collection.

The Religion collection encompasses all historical periods, all formats, most western languages for secondary literature (main emphasis on English) and some vernacular primary source material in Greek, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Pali.

III Subjects Collected and Levels of Collecting

 Definitions of Collecting Levels*