Religious Studies Ph.D. with Cognitive Science emphasis

[chris87]

Hello! I am interested in doing graduate research in religious studies and other related fields (social psychology, socio-cultural anthropology, cognitive science, continental philosophy). I have found University of California Santa Barbara's program to be quite intriguing because you can work towards a Ph.D. in religious studies with an emphasis in cognitive science. Has anyone heard or experienced anything concerning UCSB's program?

Also, does anyone know of any similar graduate programs at other universities? Perhaps in other departments (sociology, anthropology, psychology)? Thanks!

[coffeekid]

Check out Duquesne University's Psychology Ph.D.. I'm not exactly sure what sort of end game you are thinking (teaching/research, applied psychology, counseling?), but Duquesne's program practices psychology as a "Human Science", which draws heavily not only on humanistic and existential approaches to psychopathology, but also straight up continental philosophy (especially post-Heideggerian hermeneutics). It's a catholic university (technically) and has a very reputable philosophy department with a heavy emphasis on 19th - 20th century german and french thought. Realistically, you could do some "religious studies" there, but it would be more along the lines of theological anthropology/psychology.

Only draw back for some is that it is explicitly a clinical program. I know that people have gone through there and taught, but they are leery of accepting people with no interest in the clinical aspect of the program.

Not sure if this would be up your ally, but at least check out their page... it's pretty unique.

[jacib]

Hello! I am interested in doing graduate research in religious studies and other related fields (social psychology, socio-cultural anthropology, cognitive science, continental philosophy). I have found University of California Santa Barbara's program to be quite intriguing because you can work towards a Ph.D. in religious studies with an emphasis in cognitive science. Has anyone heard or experienced anything concerning UCSB's program?

Also, does anyone know of any similar graduate programs at other universities? Perhaps in other departments (sociology, anthropology, psychology)? Thanks!

Vanderbilt has Religion, Psychology and Culture. Make sure you also check out places that do "Religion and Culture", "Religion and Modernity", "Sociology and Anthropology of Religion" (though that last one might be too far out, depending on your exact interests). Duke, Toronto, Chicago, BU all might have programs appropriate for you, depending on your exact interests.

To be honest though, I applied to Religious Studies programs and Sociology programs and I ended up in a Sociology program. For me, it has definitely been the right choice simply for the wealth of methods I'm learning, though the fact that Sociology has a better job market than Religion doesn't hurt. I have to do a lot more lit review on my own, but hey, can't have everything. Seriously, at most religion programs I applied to, even though all my undergraduate work was in Religion, I only felt comfortable at a handful (I didn't apply to Vanderbilt because they didn't have the area studies resources I needed, but those other four plus UCSB were the only ones where I felt I might even marginally fit in). In fairness: I should note I had to cross a lot of otherwise fine schools off my list because I wanted to study a modern Islamic society that doesn't speak Arabic so I didn't want to learn Arabic. A lot of schools essentially said, "Your project sounds interesting, but we have no one for you." If you have a good project, you'll hear that a lot and you should hear that a lot because really, the only way to find the right schools is to email every department where you could possible even maybe fit in with.

Edited October 12, 2010 by jacib