History of the Department

The Department for the Study of Religions of the University of Ghana is the oldest in the country, and one of the oldest in Africa. It started as the Department of Divinity in 1948 as one of the original units of the Faculty of Arts of the then University College of the Gold Coast. Its current name was adopted in 1962 to reflect the secular and multi-religious character of the country. The change of name was also to reflect the orientation of the Department as a sub-unit of a public secular university committed to the academic rather than confessional approach to the study of religion.

The Department is dedicated to the promotion of the scientific study of religions but also continues with the promotion of high-quality theological education for a just, peaceful and humane society. The academic training provided by the Department is intended to equip students to understand and interpret the world and society, and to enable them respond creatively to the challenges presented by the multicultural local and global environments. There is also a serious academic engagement with African Indigenous Religions and Cultures with the aim of making a distinctive African, and for that matter Ghanaian, contribution to religious and theological studies.h the aim of making a distinctive African, and for that matter Ghanaian, contribution to religious and theological studies.