Religious Studies at Yale offers a curriculum of challenging course work that approaches the history of human thought and practice while focusing on specific geographical, cultural, and philosophical areas of scholarly interest. Many disciplines suggest that they press students to think critically. The study of religion pursues critical thought in the context of social and intellectual formations that have consisted of revolutionary engagement, sectarian creativity, and significant acts of violence. It is impossible to study religion without a consciousness of this history: the history of dissent, rebellion, radicalism, and imperialism that inquiry into religion plumbs.