Minor: Art and Religion

How do people use art to express their belief?  What makes a work of art or a place 'religious'? What are the functions and uses of images, spaces and places in religious traditions around the world? What difference does it make if a religious artifact is encountered in the Rijksmuseum, St Peter’s Basilica, or a wayside shrine? These questions lie at the heart of the minor Art and Religion.

The closure of large numbers of churches, global migration, climate change, attacks on religious minorities, and destruction of religious sites and artifacts, has lent urgency to the question of the relationship between religion and art. Learning to understand, analyse, and communicate material and immaterial religious heritage has important economic, political, educational, and cultural implications.

The many and sometimes contradictory ways in which images, objects, spaces, and places are used in religion constitute a guiding focus of the minor. Attention to the ways in which people use art and spaces helps us to raise questions about a too-easy distinction between the religious and the secular. At the same time it helps us to identify similar (or contrasting) functions of art across religious traditions. In this way the minor will equip you to approach the study of religion and art in religious traditions and contexts well beyond the scope of the course itself.

After completing, this minor is also the perfect start for enrolment in the MA programme in Heritage and Religion for further specialisation. When you have completed the minor, you have direct access to this MA, without the need of completing a pre-master's programme first.

Courses and Study Scheme

The course 'Beyond Antiquity: Art and Architecture until 1750' is offered throughout the first Semester. If you choose the full 30 ECTS minor, the workload in block 2 is more than in block 2 (10 ECTS in block 1, and 20 ECTS in block 2). It is also possible to opt for a 15 ECTS programme.

Programme options

30 ECTS or 15 ECTS

Please note: select the correct academic year at the top of the page on the timetable website. And some courses may not be visible yet in the timetable.

More information and contact

If you have any questions about the minor, please contact Dr Andrew Irving, coordinator of the minor Art and Religion. And please visit the University of Groningen minor page for more information about the information events, registration procedure and frequently asked questions.

Are you a student from either another university or a university of applied sciences (hbo)?

Please contact the Study Advisor for more information.