Religious Studies Graduate Program Handbook, 2022-2023

In order that all graduate students have the opportunity to develop both depth and breadth in their courses of study, candidates for M.A. and Ph.D. degrees are normally required to choose one major area of study and one minor area of study from the above list of seven areas.The following descriptions should give students some understanding of the type if work sponsored in each of the departmental areas. ASIAN FIELD BuddhismResearch is sponsored in this area primarily in Buddhist canonical literature in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese' Modern and Contemporary Buddhism in Japan; Medieval Chinese Buddhism; Buddhist thought; doctrine and practice East Asian Buddhism.Course work comprehensive examinations include (in addition to the listed areas of research) Indian monasticism, Buddhist apocrypha, and Buddhist understanding of death and dying.Students taking comprehensive examinations in this area should also have a broad knowledge of the history Buddhist Studies in Europe, North America, and Asia.A variety of approaches and methodologies are encouraged (textual, literary, social historical, art, historical, sociological, anthropological).The Faculty members working in this area are Drs.Benn, Clarke, and Rowe. East Asian ReligionsResearch sponsored this area in a wide range of topics, including Taoist canonical literature; the construction of Shinto; Chinese science; alchemy and medicine; the New Religions of Japan; and the relationship of Buddhism with Indigenous East Asia; popular religion in East Asia as seen in literary works, etc. Course work comprehensive examinations include many of these same topics.In addition, students taking major comprehensive examinations should have a good general knowledge of East Asian history and culture, including knowledge of secular literature.A variety of approaches and methodologies is encouraged (textual, literary, social historical, sociological, anthropological).Faculty members working in this area are Drs.Benn, Clarke, and Rowe. JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN ANTIQUITY Early JudaismResearch is sponsored in this area primarily in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Philo and Hellenistic Judaism.Course work and comprehensive exams include (in addition to the listed areas of research) Hebrew Bible, the history of Second Temple Judaism, and Early Rabbinic Judaism.A variety of approaches and methodologies for the study of Early Judaism are introduced (textual, literary, social historical, feminist, philosophical/theological, etc.).Faculty members working in this area are Drs.Tervanotko, and Thiessen. Early ChristianityResearch is sponsored in this area primarily in the writings included in the New Testament, particularly the Synoptic gospels and the Johannine and Pauline literature, and in the early Greek Church Fathers.Course work and comprehensive examinations include the history of Christian beginnings (from Jesus to Constantine), the Jewish and Greco-Roman environment, and a diversity of approaches and methodologiesThe Faculty member working in this area is Dr. Thiessen. WESTERN FIELD Religion and PoliticsThis area studies accounts of the interrelations between religion, ethics, and politics from ancient Greece to the modern West.Areas of concentration include the following (1) the history of political philosophy; (2) analysis of literary expressions of an understanding of religion, ethics, and politics; (3) study of critical social and ethical theories with reference to the underlying theological and philosophical anthropologies.Students are expected to develop competence in the ancient Greek, medieval, early modern, and modern periods through suitable course work and, in the case of doctoral students, preparation for comprehensive examinations.Faculty members in this area are Drs.Hollander, Kroeker and Planinc. Religion and the social SciencesResearch in Religion and the Social Sciences is primarily concerned with the anthropology and sociology of religion.Students are expected to acquire a thorough knowledge of the historical development of these fields, as well as of contemporary theoretical approaches.Students majoring in the area have worked in three primary fields; North American religion, including fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and the new or occult religious movements; native religion and its interface with Christianity in African and North American contexts; and religion in twentieth century social thought, including Bertrand Russell studies.Area faculty have also contributed significantly to dissertations with social scientific emphasis in other areas of the department.Faculty working in the area are Drs.Amster, Rothenberg, Rowe, and Takim; faculty from other departments in the Social Sciences are drawn upon for supervisory purposes as well as course work. Western Religious ThoughtThis area covers philosophy of religion, theology, and ethics in classical and modern periods.Areas of specialization include patristic though, the interrelations between philosophy and religion, hermeneutical theory, secular challenges to religious thought, modern theology and ethics, both Christian and Jewish.Course work and comprehensive examinations include both historical-systematic studies of perennial theological and philosophical themes and specialized contemporary topics.

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