• Description of the Graduate Program in Religion, including Areas of Study, Program Statement, Financial Awards
• Requirements for the M.A.
• Requirements for the Ph.D.
• Degree Guidelines
• Recent Dissertations
• Future Professoriate Project
• Graduate Application

Description of the Graduate Program in Religion

The graduate program in religion at Syracuse University was founded in 1958. Distinctive to the program are emphases on the interrelation of religion and culture, on methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of religion, and on religious dimensions of such domains as literature, art, history, psychology, and philosophy. Students are encouraged to investigate both the religious dimensions of secular culture (for example, film and art) and traditional religions as cultural phenomena.

Religion is explored in a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary context, and critical and imaginative thinking about religion as an expression of the human condition is emphasized, along with the methodological strategies involved in undertaking such study. Recognizing that "religion" can be defined in many different ways, the program understands the category "religion" itself as an intellectually problematic and provocative concept, rather than simply as a descriptive historical, institutional, or phenomenological label.

The program emphasizes not only the interdependence of religion and culture but also the insights from comparative study of the phenomena, experiences, and theories of religion. Since "western" religion does not exhaust the parameters of the concept "religion," students are required to develop expertise in the history, literature, and practice of at least one "non-western" religion.

Special emphases of the program include the relation between theology, philosophy, and contemporary critical theory; religion, psychology, and ethics; feminist theory and theology; religion and aesthetics in historical and contemporary manifestations; religion, ritual, and material culture; as well as discrete historical phenomena and movements in a variety of religious periods and traditions (Judaic, Graeco-Roman, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American).

Overall, the program requires students to develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena of religion from the perspective of cross-cultural, historical, and interdisciplinary methods. Further, students are expected to develop an ability to conceptualize, analyze, and organize discrete bodies of material both in terms of a breadth of vision regarding the scope of the study of religion and also in terms of areas of disciplined and focused expertise.

For further information on our program please contact our Graduate Secretary, Jackie Borowve, or, Director of Graduate Studies, James W. Watts, Dept. of Religion, Room 501 Hall of Languages, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244-1170. Phone: (315) 443-3861.

Program Statement

Graduate Study in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University is distinctive in its focus on the category “religion” as an intellectually provocative and problematic concept rather than simply as a descriptive, institutional, or phenomenological label.  The Department embraces the following two premises as fundamental to its educational program:  1) in a postmodern and global age, any study of religion must be interdisciplinary, and 2) credible studies of religion must investigate the material, textual, historical, and cultural dimensions of religions as well as the theories used to produce and analyze them.

 The Graduate Program offers incoming students an opportunity to forge a unique, creative, and rigorous program of study.  It emphasizes the comparative and theoretical study of religion in its various traditions and forms, and keeps the hermeneutical task always to the fore. The program fosters interdisciplinary approaches, offering training in traditional and contemporary theories and methods in conjunction with substantive investigations of diverse religious traditions and topics. (See "Areas of Study" below.)

The current faculty in the Department of Religion engage in teaching and research in the following interrelated areas, areas whose interrelation represents the Department’s long-standing emphasis on innovative and interdisciplinary inquiry.  Like the faculty, graduate students will engage at least two of these areas as they pursue their research.

Theories of Religion

Focus on how the category of religion has been theorized as well as on methodologies in the study of religion; includes continental philosophy and theology of religion; the anthropology, sociology, and psychology of religion; history of religions; ethics; issues of globalization

Histories of Religion

 Focus on historical, cross-cultural, and comparative studies of religion, with an emphasis on interrelations among religion, culture, and society;  includes traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and indigenous religions, and their development in geographical areas such as South Asia, Europe, the ancient Near East, the Roman Empire, and the Americas.

 Arts and Aesthetics of Religion

 Focus on the artistic, literary, performative, and media-related expressions of religion; includes the study of scriptures, literature and literary theory, rhetoric, architecture, sacred space and time, material culture, and various media of popular culture such as music, folklore, film, journalism, and virtual technologies.

Areas of Study
Students are required to gain competence in multiple historical periods, religious cultures, as well as approaches to studying religion.  We encourage students to make imaginative use of all available resources in the creation of their own distinctive programs of study.  Each student must 1) develop expertise in a particular subject area, and 2) cross or transcend traditional boundaries of a discipline and sub-field in innovative ways.  By training scholars to think across traditional academic boundaries, the program at Syracuse prepares students for exciting research and teaching opportunities in religion.  Currently the department can support the following areas of study for students.

Financial Awards

Three types of financial awards are made:

1. University Fellowships: Tuition (30 credits) plus stipend for each year of award

2. Scholarships: Tuition only 

3. Graduate Assistantships: Scholarship (24 credits) plus stipend with 20 hours per week of service to the department