The faculty of the Department of Religious Studies offer a graduate program leading to the M.A. degree in Religious Studies. This program is designed to serve three main purposes. It offers intensive training in research methods and in select special fields for students who seek to qualify for doctoral programs at leading universities. It serves as specialized training for those who plan to teach religious studies subject matters in colleges and high schools or who wish to bring cultural and cross-cultural analytical tools to professions such as business, social work, government, and journalism. It allows qualified persons in nonacademic occupations the opportunity to acquire competence in the study of religions, broadly defined, and in areas of special interest.

Course offerings and faculty appointments reflect the commitment of the department to a balance of Western and Asian, historical and conceptual, methodological, and subject-oriented areas of study. This programmatic diversity is maintained in a context of scholarly collegiality involving both faculty and graduate students.

MASTER OF ARTS

See “Master’s Degrees” for information on the M.A. degree.

The graduate program leading to the M.A. degree provides two options: (1) a thesis option and (2) a portfolio option. While admission requirements and procedures are identical for both options, requirements for degree completion vary as indicated.

Admission. In order to be eligible for admission to the graduate program in Religious Studies, an applicant must meet Graduate College requirements (see “Master’s Degrees” ) and the following requirements:

1. The student must submit test scores from the Graduate Record Exam (older returning students may petition the department to have this requirement waived).
2. The student must have completed the equivalent of 15 hours of undergraduate work in the study of religions, including advanced courses in both Western and Asian or other non-Western religions. Students without the necessary background in religious studies may remove deficiencies by taking additional specified courses (which may or may not count toward the fulfillment of degree requirements) at the beginning of their program of study.
3. The student must request three academic letters of reference to be sent to the graduate coordinator of the department.
4. The student must submit an essay of approximately 1,000 words outlining the academic background, career goals, and specific area of interest in religious studies in relation to fields offered by the faculty.

Complete applications are due by February 1. Students will receive notification from the department by April 1. Graduate assistantship awards are also announced on or about April 1. Late applications and applications for spring semester are reviewed on an individual basis.

Graduate Program Requirements

Thesis Option. This option is recommended for students intending to seek admission to a doctoral program upon completion of the M.A. degree or planning to teach in the discipline at community colleges. For the thesis option the student must satisfy the following requirements:

1. reading knowledge of French, German, or another language relevant to the proposed thesis topic is normally required. At the discretion of the student’s supervisory committee, the requirement may be waived for students who either are not planning to enter a doctoral program or are planning to pursue doctoral work that does not require proficiency in foreign languages;
2. 24 hours of course work, including six hours in methods and theory (REL 501, 502); three hours of research in the field of the thesis topic (REL 592); and six hours of graduate seminar (REL 591), offered each semester on varying topics within the academic study of religion;
3. a thesis that earns six semester hours of Thesis 599 credit; and
4. an oral defense of the thesis.

Portfolio Option. This option is recommended for students intending to augment their primary area of expertise and professional training in fields such as journalism, law, teaching K–12, counseling, social work, the ministry, and others. For the portfolio option, the student must satisfy the following requirements:

1. reading knowledge of a foreign language relevant to the proposed area of concentration. At the discretion of the student’s supervisory committee, the requirement may be waived;
2. 30 hours of course work, including six hours in methods and theory (REL 501, 502); six hours of graduate seminar (REL 591); four courses in a major area of concentration; and two courses in a minor area;
3. a portfolio consisting of three papers: one on theory and method, one on the student’s minor area of study, and one on the major area of study. Although portfolio papers may germinate from ideas generated in graduate seminars, they will be of publishable quality and make substantive contributions to the scholarship of the field. Credit towards completing the portfolio may be earned as part of the required credit hours outlined in (2); and
4. an oral defense of the portfolio.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Areas of recent and current faculty research include the following: American folk religion, American civil religion, and American spirituality (Wentz); African American religions (Moore); Islam (Woodward); medieval and folk Hinduism (Feldhaus); popular religion and culture in Japan from medieval times to the present (Foard); Rabbinic Judaism and religion and ethics (Gereboff); North and South Native American religions, including issues in cross-cultural contact (Morrison, Swanson); Russian and East European religions (Clay); modern religious thought and religion and the public/private boundary (Cady); religion and gender (Fessenden); the religions of Southeast Asia, including issues of modernization (Schober, Woodward).

Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.

1998–99 Graduate Catalog Table of Contents

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