Religious studies majors at Grinnell pursue diverse career paths. Over the past decade, graduates have developed successful careers in social services, writing and publishing, education, marketing, medicine, and research. A number of department alumni/ae have also pursued graduate degrees in religious studies at such schools as Harvard and Princeton, and are now active in the academy. One notable example is a well-respected Islamic scholar who has translated the most important Sufi mystical treatises into English. Others have become ministers or rabbis.

1997 graduates continue the department's long tradition of excellence and service in a culturally complex world. Two of them are teaching abroad, one in Turkey and one in Japan. Another is working with immigrant Chinese at a Catholic parish in New York City; still another has begun graduate training at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

The department of religious studies at Grinnell truly provides much more than simply an interesting focus of liberal arts study. It prepares students to participate in the world beyond Grinnell in exciting and productive ways. It offers the challenge and the opportunity to become critically sensitive and socially responsible citizens of the twenty-first century.