University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of Religious Studies.

The Department of Religious Studies was founded as the Department of Religion in 1947. Arnold Nash was appointed its first chair and remained the sole member of the department until 1950, when Bernard H. Boyd was hired as the James Gray Professor of Biblical Literature. The department established a master of arts program in 1978. In 1984, the name of the department was changed to Department of Religious Studies, and, in 1985, a doctoral program was established. In 2000, the Department of Religious Studies assumed responsibility for the John Calvin McNair lectures, which focused on science and human values. In the 1970s, the department began to develop its curriculum in Judaic studies, and, in 2003, was instrumental in the creation of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies.