AGingeryGinger

McGill has an accelerated track in theology for those with a religion/history degree and if you had a thesis and it was on a similar topic. I'm sure the history department does something similar as well.

I looked into divinity schools but couldn't justify going and not having any form of financial stipend. The only mdiv i know that offers a form of stipend is wake forest, emory, and harvard, and those schools offer roughly $5,000-7,000/year. If you are going to work with a church, then its fine they might be able to support you, but its rather hard to justify the cost of a divinity school when a combined ma/phd or an ma in a related field might offer actual funding. Best of luck!

I ended up applying to several schools in various ranks, considering i was applying to both theology and history programs: Theology: McGill, Fordham, Southern Methodist University History: Vanderbilt, Baylor, U of Illinois - Chicago (UC didn't have a professor in my field), Purdue, U of Cincinnati. I came to this list after many long hours that ended up not looking at school names but just trying to find people in my field. Admittedly, the English Reformation is not as popular as it once was. Some schools, which had excellent programs, such as U of Miami, requested I not apply there due to their lack of academia job placement in the last several years. So it boiled down to a lot of factors, mainly which schools offered funding (which is why i considered, but didn't apply to, Claremont Graduate) and the desert combing search to find people in my field.

Hi! I am currently trying to figure out what programs I generally want to apply to, and what programs I could apply to. My focus is on the English Reformation. Ultimately, I am trying to figure out how many applications are too much. In History, I am currently applying to: Wisconsin - Madison, Baylor, Purdue, U Illinois Chicago, and Vanderbilt In Theology - Fordham, SMU, and McGill. I am admittedly "shotgunning" my applications. I talked with my current MA advisor and also had a phone interview with a professor at U of Miami, and they both agreed that getting into a PhD program in the English Reformation is very competitive and there are very few places that accept them. I am just not sure if I am applying to too many places. My main concern is that due to the limited number of places to study a PhD in the English Reformation, I wanted to apply to a bunch in order to have a shot at getting into one of them. I looked into U of Miami and the professor said that they just weren't putting out PhD's with academic jobs. I also looked into CGU, but they've been unable to provide full funding for their students for the past 3 years. Is my paranoia in applying to PhD programs justified? or Should i try to cut a few from my list? Thanks!

Hello! Although I made a similar post to the Religion forum, I was curious if anyone on the History forum knew of any PhD programs in the US that specialize in the English Reformation? I focus on the role of the state and popular religious devotion throughout the 16th. c. So far, my list is: Vanderbilt - Paul Lim, Peter Lake Fordham - J. Patrick Hornbeck Wisconsin Madison - Johann Sommerville UC Berkeley - Ethan Shagan U of Colorado - Paul Hammer SUNY Buffalo - Clare Schen Although I have looked into Linda Pollock at Tulane and Beth Barr at Baylor, both professors are outside my speciality. Thanks!

Program of interest: PhD Religion, Historical Theology Schools you have looked at: Columbia, Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Fordham Number one worry about applying: GRE scores and lack of English Reformation historians in the United States.

Thank you all for your comments! I had actually note considered Johann Sommerville, and I was unsure about David Whitford at Baylor given his broad area of study. However both are excellent recommendations and I am adding them on to my people to contact .

Although I did see Paul Lim on his faculty page is accepting grad students, while Peter Lake's page does not have anything.

Do they only take one doctoral student at a time?

Hello! I am looking to apply to PhD programs in Religion or History, but preferably religion if the university offers a religion program. I am trying to find potential supervisors for a Phd focusing on the English Reformation. My research broadly focuses on the English Reformation and the intermixing between the role of the state and populace in the matters of religion. I also do a lot with the Book of Common Prayer and the transformation of liturgy. Unless an extraordinary circumstance happens, PhDs outside of the US offer very limited and very hard to obtain funding. So for that reason I am trying to stay within the US. The professors and universities i have at the moment are: Peter Lake - Vanderbilt J Patrick Hornbeck - Fordham Ethan Shagan - UC Berkeley People I am unsure about due to vague biographies on the university website. Linda Pollock - Tulane. Focuses on religion but a greater emphasis on family. Lee Palmer Windel - Wisconsin- Madison Euan Cameron - Columbia Thank you for your help and suggestions!

Phd Programs in Historical theology. Applying to Vanderbilt, Fordham, Columbia, UC Berkeley. My current dilemma is finding professors in the United States that teach at a university accepting PhD students studying the English Reformation. I didn't realize how few and far between the pool of professors in the US is until i had to start looking at professors and programs.

Thank you for your help. And sorry for the mess of a post that that was. In short, I applied to 4 MDiv's and 1 MA (history), the MA gave me the best offer, but I still want to do the MDiv down the road just at the moment my financial situation doesn't permit it. I was unsure if denying the offer of MDiv only to apply two years later would result in rejection due to previously turning down the offer. i was told by a professor at my undergrad institution that if I turned down the MDiv offer I would never get the opportunity or same again. thank you!

So my family is in a current financial bind. I am from Ohio, and applied to several grad schools in places such as Alabama and Georiga. i applied to a masters in history in Cincinnati, and the rest of the schools were MDiv program. UC (Cinci school) offered a full ride and stipend, while the rest at best offered a full ride. although I would like to attend the other institutions, given my family's financial situation it would be impossible to attend the schools for the MDiv, but given the stipend with the MA it would be affordable to do. would it be possible to take the MA, then when I finish it reapply to those same schools with the hope that they will give me a same or better offer than before? One school I was given the highest offer, a full ride, just at the moment it wouldn't be financially practical. But if I do the MA I would be able to save money and then do the MDiv after. my main concern is that I'm talking with a professor and they're concerned those schools will take it as a slight against them and not accept me or give me a lower offer if I reject the offer for their MDiv, do the MA, then reapply with an MA and better financial situation. thank you for your help!

Thank you, I couldn't have wished for a better or more comprehensive list of schools and people to study. After exhaustively searching other schools such as Emory or Duke, none really have 16th century England as an emphasis. So looking at Toronto and McGill with Torrance Kirby I was beyond pleasantly surprised how fitting their area of studies were to mine. thank you so much! This helped immensely.

I was curious if anyone knew of any strong Anglican PhD programs here in the US. by Anglican, I specifically mean an emphasis on 16th century England with the development of Anglican theology. The list that I have come up with is as follows: Yale Vanderbilt Emory Duke U of Chicago McGill (Canada, but added because of Matthew Milner) i know there are a plethora of MDiv programs such as Beeson, Trinity school for ministry, nashotah house, etc. yet it seems that the Anglican PhD other than in the UK is quite lacking and only in "top tier" institutions. I was curious if anyone knew of other programs with a similar area of study. My concern for further studies is twofold: the scarcity of programs in that field here in the US, and secondly, due to the scarcity a very low acceptance rate. while Oxford and Cambridge would be a dream to study at. I want to keep options somewhat realistic (although I will still apply there). thanks!

Thank you all greatly for your help and comments, they have been extremely insightful and quite helpful. it is true that many schools are a department by department basis. Depending upon the school, an MDiv is encouraged, such as Vanderbilt. Yet there are other schools where an MA is the preferred option. having the MA in history will allow me transition into a PhD in religion rather easily, or failing that a good MA in religion. So it is good to hear having the MA in history will be beneficial to either an MA/MDiv in religion or straight to a PhD program. So in two years time when I apply, applying to both competitive MA programs (like Indiana Univeristy) as well as PhD programs (such as northwestern, or Vanderbilt) will allow me to greatly strengthen my applications and work. For I am either accepted into a good MA religion program (which already having an MA helps) then onto a PhD, or transitioning straight into a religion PhD. Either way it seems like a win. Thank you all!

Hello all, First of all I just wanted to say thank you for all the help and support you have provided. In looking at my current school options, the best bet I have for schooling right now is attending a Master's in History. This is not to say that the MDiv programs were not good, merely that the funding for the masters program in History (includes full tuition and $12k/year graduate assistantship) is financially the best option I have. The assistantship with stipend has been a major deal maker. However, the question I have is this, how feasible is it to go from an MA in History to a Religion PhD? The school in which I will most likely do my History MA has a very good track rate of placing students in PhD programs at Northwestern University. Citing Northwestern as an example. They have a combined MA/PhD in religion. I will currently have a BA in History and Religion and an MA in History. would making the jump to religion afterwards be feasible? I know there are places such as Harvard and Yale that do an MPhil along the way. My field would be in history of christianity, and I've been told by several professors that having the MA as a groundwork would serve greatly as a background when pursuing a religion phd. I was just unsure how feasible that jump is. Thanks!

Same here. I'm in the process of beginning postulancy right now, so whenever I get done with schooling I still have the priesthood. Although my end goal is academia as well as priesthood. I'm in the same boat as you, preferably priesthood and academia if all works out.

What is the area of study you applied to?

Thank you for sharing all that! My biggest concern is that being at a secular university I don't truly have anyone that's remotely in the same boat of wanting to study theology as well as history. Just out of curiosity, what is your PhD in? I've known that people with two masters (i.e. In your case) blending theology and literature makes for not only a great candidate, but very unique topics due to the blend of masters degrees. I'm hoping that a similar case could be made for my eventual studies. My end goal is to study the history of Christianity with an emphasis on early Anglican theology. There is a professor at UC that I'm dying to work with who studies the development of reformation thought and heresy from the late medieval to early modern periods. So hopefully the blend of an MA in history having the historical background and an MDiv would give a great edge when applying to history of Christianity programs at say U of Chicago, Marquette, Boston college, Yale, Harvard etc. the issue of practicality is another major topic. I'd be hard pressed to find another school offering a full tuition scholarship and assistantship. Using that as a springboard for a good MDiv in theology such as beeson, Princeton theological, Yale, Vanderbilt, etc. would make the history MA invaluable. Thank you again for your help, it's certainly setting my mind at ease about the chaos of graduate admissions.

It's been about a month, and thankfully I do have news to report in... which made the situation slightly more complicated than it would have. As a pure backup plan I applied to the University of Cincinnati's Master's in History program. They have a very strong reformation studies program (one of my esteemed professors I have studied under did her Master's there in the exact area of study). Well in good news, I was offered a full tuition scholarship and graduate assistantship. It would be quite hard to top that offer, with places like Beeson at most only offering a scholarship that would cover about 90% tuition. The UC would provide full tuition and teaching experience/ a job in the field for two years. While I still have full intentions of pursuing an MDiv and PhD in Historical Theology, unless Emory (the only other top tier school I applied to) offers a full tuition remission and stipend, it would be honestly rather hard to beat what UC is offering. My dilemma now is whether or not to take the offer of an MA in History (again, full tuition scholarship as well as guranteed assistantship for two years) and then use the MA as a springboard to get better funding for an MDiv at places such as Yale or University of Chicago. Furthermore the time at UC could allow me to further flesh out my area of study. Being rather young (I graduate in May and will just have turned 21 for about 2 weeks) there really isn't much of a constraint on time. It seems that the offer at UC is too good to pass up and would certainly serve as a booster to the application to any top tier program with an MDiv in historical theology two years down the road. Tough decisions.

My goal is twofold: one being ordination within the REC/ACNA and then secondly academics, with the eventual hope of working in an ACNA or REC seminary. My dilemma is that I am constrained to the Bishop's choice of schools, mainly RE seminary, Trinity School for Ministry, and Beeson. My foremost concern is ordination and then doing academics from there. With the recent ongoings with Canterbury and TEC, I had wanted to apply to Yale. However for the sake of having a job within my denomination I needed to play it safe when regarding seminaries the ACNA deems kosher. However, I did apply to Emory because they are not technically a seminary and moreso a divinity school, As say compared to Berkley at Yale. It's a technicality, but a technicality that the ACNA can work with. With the MDiv program there I had to have the Bishop's recommendation for the Episcopal Studies program in writing, and I do. So right now my main options are Trinity School for Ministry and Emory for the MDiv. Thankfully, and this is where I am leaning, Trinity School for Ministry has a rather unusually outstanding faculty, especially when it comes to Anglicanism (being an Anglican seminary this makes sense). So pursuing historical theology in Anglicanism (16th century England is what I want to study) I feel that could give me a decent advantage with both seminary and future doctoral studies. Then hopefully moving from TSM or Emory to say Emory or Vanderbilt for doctoral studies in Historical Theology could be good as well. Although I would personally give my left arm to study in England. Studying Anglicanism in the country of Anglicanism would be a dream, and many of the TSM faculty are Americans who studied there, however incurring egregious amounts of debt for a priest/seminary vocation doesn't seem like the best thing to do right now.

Thank you. That was my main concern was how much the historiography and archival work was involved. Even looking at professors and people with Doctorates in that field, it had always greatly confused me how they just had an MDiv or MTS. I hadn't seen anyone in that field with an MA in History so it was why I was confused on the matter. That answer greatly helps, so it would be best to stick with the MDiv then. Thank you!

As someone doing doctoral studies, although I don't know your exact field specifically, for Historical Theology right now I'm considering doing an MA in History, an MDiv, and then Doctoral Studies. I feel that the MA in History would give me a great advantage in the field, especially when applying to Doctoral Programs at say University of Chicago or Emory than with just an MDiv. Would you recommend doing an MA in History and then an MDiv or just to do an MDiv?

My hope would be to pursue a PhD in Historical Theology with the emphasis on the Reformation period. So thankfully because its "British Studies" Latin would be the only extra language I would need to pick up (besides the modern French and German). Thankfully, the Greek and Hebrew learned during the MDiv will go a long way due to many of the writers (ie. Erasmus to name a popular one) were fond of using Greek in their writings.