What language?

[benedicite]

I finished undergrad a year ago and hope to apply this coming season for fall 2013 history/classics programs focusing on late antique religion, particularly early christianity

For the time being, I'm planning on taking some language classes. I have already taken 8 semesters of Latin, 5 semesters of Classical Greek, and 4 semesters of French. I'm thinking about a few options: taking more French, taking beginning German, or taking beginning Arabic.

I'd appreciate any advice/comments/questions. Thanks!

[cicero63]

Most definitely take as much German as possible. As someone familiar with late antique and early christian scholarship, you will run into German scholarship all of the time - and it is usually quite dense, academic German. Graduate programs appear to look most favourably upon a practical knowledge of academic German - so focus on taking "German Reading" courses. Arabic would obviously very useful - and it may give you an edge when applying to some of the best Graduate programs.

[hanbran]

If you could, I would recommend taking Syriac, especially if you're interested in Eastern Christianity. If not, then I agree that German would be a wise investment, though I suppose that I agree even if you do have access to Syriac. Personally, I dislike German. It isn't particularly difficult, but it's grammatically rigid and not particularly fun for composition nach meiner Meinung.

[sacklunch]

I was also going to recommend Syriac. To complement your studies you may also look at Hebrew/Aramaic. You might be required to take it as some point, since many of the Patristics deal with Hebrew/Aramaic sources (Jerome, ect).

Also check to see if your uni has a summer German reading course. This should give you the ability to translate (scholarly) texts with a lexicon.

cheers