Academic Programs

The Religion and Public Health Collaborative strives to create and support dialogue and learning across by maximizing Emory’s unique institutional strengths in the fields of religion and public health. The RPHC offers varied opportunities for current students interested in pursuing studies of religion and public health, including courses, a dual-degree program in partnership between the Candler School of Theology and the Rollins School of Public Health, and a certificate program.

The dual degree and the certificate programs provide an opportunity for the interdisciplinary study at the intersection of religion and public health. Perspectives from theology and religion are brought into dialogue with those from an array of disciplines in the health sciences and the social sciences, particularly those in nursing and public health, to assist students in developing theories and practices about personal, communal, institutional, and social dimensions of health. An interdisciplinary perspective will provide students with resources to analyze 1) the way in which faith, understood as constituted by a set of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, may contribute to the promotion or inhibition of health of persons and communities from various religious and spiritual traditions, and 2) the way in which religion, health, and their respective structures impact persons, communities and larger systems and influence public policy and institutional practices.

Students will be strongly encouraged to use the wider resources of the university in the course of their studies. This program will be inclusive and respective of the religious and faith traditions of all students and the cultural contexts of their professional practices.