The Department of Religion and Philosophy has a strong tradition of research. 

The Religion Department has received two affiliate grants with the Harvard Pluralism Project. Under the first grant, students are researching "gender, food, and meaning" in western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. In the summer of 2003, the department received a second grant to study the development of the first women's Zen community in the United States (in nearby western North Carolina).

Several students have been recipients of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU) grants. Recent research topics have included:

• the Holocaust;
• Russian Orthodox icons;
• snake handling;
• the relationship between secularization and the cinema;
• rate of death in childbirth for women in the time of Jesus;
• the architecture of cities from the New Testament;
• the life of saint Francesca Romana through an intensive study of artwork depicting her life.

Researchers have the opportunity to present their findings at the annual conference of the South Carolina Academy of Religion and at the symposium conducted by the SCICU.  Recently, papers have also been presented at the Southeastern American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.