About

In configuration of Loma Linda University as a health-science university, the role of religion as integrative in each of the programs of the University is mandated and regularly affirmed by the University administration and Board. The School of Religion was established to provide teaching, research, and service in the area of religion for all the schools of the University.

Mission Statement

To continue the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ by integrating Adventist faith with the world’s changing need.

Objectives

The School of Religion is committed to the following five tasks as informed by the teachings and practice of the Seventh-day Adventist heritage and mission.

• To promote Christian wholeness and faith development for faculty and students in their personal and professional lives and witness
• To provide a religion curriculum with the following emphases:
  1. Theological studies (biblical/theological, historical, and missions)
  2. Ethical studies (personal, professional, and social)
  3. Relational studies (personal and professional)
• To provide graduate education in health sciences and religion reflecting the above listed areas of study
• To foster and support research in the foundational, ethical, and relational disciplines
• To serve the University, the church, and the larger world community by personal involvement in fostering deeper spirituality, theological integrity and social justice.

History

The study of religion has been a central feature of Loma Linda University since its beginning with the School of Nursing in 1905, and with what eventually became the School of Medicine in 1909. Between 1918 and 1962, when the university functioned on two campuses—at Loma Linda and at Los Angeles—pastors and chaplains in the area assisted the religion faculty.

When the university consolidated all of its activities on the Loma Linda campus in 1962, a Division of Religion was created. Some time later, when what was then La Sierra College in nearby Riverside became a part of Loma Linda University, a School of Religion was formed that served students on both campuses.

After 1990, when the two campuses became independent of each other again, teaching at Loma Linda was administered by a Faculty of Religion. This is when the Centers for Christian Bioethics and Spiritual Life and Wholeness began, and when the religion faculty launched its three M.A. programs.

A School of Religion, which takes its place beside the university's other seven schools, now coordinates teaching, research and service in religion on the Loma Linda campus and its satellites around the world. Through these various configurations, the study of religion has always been in the vanguard of Loma Linda University's effort "To Make Man Whole."