Undergraduate profile
Lucy Wilson
Undergraduate
Lucy Wilson never planned on taking religious studies, but after taking first year paper Introduction to Hinduism and Buddhism she was “hooked” and decided to major in religious studies alongside her law degree, focussing on religion in Asia.
“What I really like about religious studies is that it is super multi-disciplinary. It is a blend of so many other disciplines like history, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, politics and law. I found this variety really refreshing.”
For Lucy, religious studies also opened up new areas and ways of doing things. “Religious studies helped me to look at the world from different perspectives and to question everything I thought was true.”
She particularly enjoyed learning about how different belief systems impacts people’s worldviews. “Learning about Hindu creation narratives and Buddhist concepts like no-self and dependent origination was pretty mind-blowing for me. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every single religious studies paper I have taken.”
She has also enjoyed delving into more niche topics towards the end of her degree. She recently took a paper on Zen Buddhism and another on Religion, Science and Magic. She said that “they were both so interesting it didn’t really feel like study.”
Her advice for first years considering studying religious studies is to just take a paper and see what happens. “It’s important to understand different world views and even if you don’t end up studying religious studies, the knowledge you gain is invaluable.”