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The Department of Religion and Philosophy at High Point University offers students the opportunity to study versatile topics that are highly marketable to employers and graduate schools. The major in philosophy covers all traditional areas of philosophic inquiry and is built around three core history courses: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Modern Philosophy and Contemporary Philosophy. Students gain foundational experience in such courses as Ethics, Political Philosophy, Logic and Critical Thinking, allowing them to be well versed in all areas of philosophy and religion. Specifically, the courses in ethics address the impact of value-claims on the social, political and religious communities in Western society as well as the impact of those claims within the global community. The department emphasizes critical thinking throughout its courses and offers two logic courses. The Symbolic Logic course is especially popular with students preparing to take graduate entrance exams in a variety of disciplines.

The Department of Religion and Philosophy provides multiple opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in academic research beyond the classroom experience. The most academically successful students are encouraged to submit their original research for journal publication. Their research is also placed in scholarship competitions sponsored by their respective honor societies, the Phi Sigma Tau International Honor Society for Philosophy and the Theta Alpha Kappa International Honor Society for Religious Studies. Students particularly interested in biblical studies are encouraged to enter papers in a competition sponsored by the Society of Biblical Literature. Both religion and philosophy majors may be invited to seek the award of Departmental Honors and present Senior Seminar research to faculty.

Both the religion and philosophy majors offer service-learning courses that are based in ethics curriculum. These courses include: Social Ethics; Environmental Ethics; and Faith, Wholeness and Ethics. These courses work with the following local community partners:

• The American Friends Service Committee
• Helping Hands Emergency Food Pantry
• Macedonia Family Resource Center
• The Piedmont Environmental Center
• Ward Street Mission
• West End Ministries
• World Relief