Section of Religious Sciences
Bringing together more than 60 scholars, the Section of Religious Sciences studies religions from interdisciplinary perspectives. Their research is united by their common object of study: practices, discourses and attitudes that involve a relationship with instances or powers conceived as transcendent or supernatural. These phenomena, which implement the structure of human thought and action, are considered in themselves, but also from the point of view of their inscription in the political, economic, material, intellectual and linguistic life of societies.
Faculty research ranges from antiquity to the contemporary world and takes into account all cultural areas. The Section brings together a wide range of disciplines: anthropology, art and archaeology, law, history, philosophy, sociology. The singularity of this Section—unique in Europe for the extent and multiplicity of the fields studied—ensures its international scientific influence and gives it an important place in the networks of study and observation of religions.
In accordance with the statutes of the EPHE and in liaison with its central bodies, the Section of Religious Sciences has a governance system that involves all of its teaching staff in its scientific life. Its Assembly is chaired by an elected dean, assisted by a section bureau. Its Scientific Commission brings together twenty elected members.
The research seminars led by the faculty of the Section of Religious Sciences fully adopt the teaching methods specific to the EPHE. Focused on religions, they cover it entirely by offering a vast and coherent program. They are also part of the EPHE-PSL Master's programs, and offer a very high level of training to candidates for the Doctoral Diploma of ED 472.
In addition, the Diploma and Post-Doctorate of the Section of Religious Sciences allow researchers, of any age, to devote themselves to original research, under the supervision of a qualified faculty.
Since the nineteenth century, the Section of Religious Sciences has published a Yearbook (129 issues in 2022). Previous issues are available in open access on Persée, and more recent issues are on OpenEdition, as well as a collection in partnership with the publisher Brepols (194 volumes in 2022). The library collections of the Section of Religious Sciences, rich in several thousand works, are now available in open access on Gallica and integrated into the Huma Library of the Campus Condorcet. The library's conservation and exploitation are undertaken in partnership with several EPHE research centers, including the Gabriel Millet Center, the Center for Mongolian and Siberian Studies, and the Wladimir Golénischeff Center (integrated into AOROC, UMR 8546, since 2019). The Henry and Stella Corbin collection has also been transferred to the archives of the Humathèque.
