Columbia & Rice (Programs in Gender in Antiquity)

[colormelovely]

Hi!

I'm looking for some advice/insight about Columbia's joint M.Phil-Ph.D and/or Rice's Ph.D in religion. I haven't seen any conversation on this forum about either programs. I'm applying this fall for various M.A.s and maybe some joint M.A.-Ph.Ds. I'm interested in gender, sexuality, and women in ancient Christianity/Near East. Both programs seem to be able to cater to my interests, and Rice's program is particularly appealing to me because of its emphasis on mysticism and Gnosticism. Since I'm an undergraduate, Rice probably isn't an option right now because there's no (funded) M.A., however, I'm interested to see if anyone has any thoughts on either program. Or, any thoughts in general about programs that could fit my interests.

Thanks

[sacklunch]

Briefly, most of the applicants in that subfield are going to have one to two M* degrees before applying to the MA/PhD at both Rice and Columbia. It's worth applying, I think, if the programs tend to take students straight from UG (as do many fields outside of religion). You might check Rice's academia.edu profiles (look for CV's): https://rice.academia.edu/Departments/Religious_Studies

 

It seems (not surprisingly) that everyone has 1 to 2 M* before beginning the MA/PhD at Rice (esp. in ancient related). Same for Columbia: https://columbia.academia.edu/Departments/Religion

 

In short, head over to one of the big name Divinity schools or a funded MA in religion. Also it goes without saying that that subfield requires a substantial amount of language work completed before beginning a doctoral program. 

 

cheers

[colormelovely]

Briefly, most of the applicants in that subfield are going to have one to two M* degrees before applying to the MA/PhD at both Rice and Columbia. It's worth applying, I think, if the programs tend to take students straight from UG (as do many fields outside of religion). You might check Rice's academia.edu profiles (look for CV's): https://rice.academia.edu/Departments/Religious_Studies

 

It seems (not surprisingly) that everyone has 1 to 2 M* before beginning the MA/PhD at Rice (esp. in ancient related). Same for Columbia: https://columbia.academia.edu/Departments/Religion

 

In short, head over to one of the big name Divinity schools or a funded MA in religion. Also it goes without saying that that subfield requires a substantial amount of language work completed before beginning a doctoral program. 

 

cheers

Thanks for reply! Can you give me an idea about the standard amount of language preparation that is expected for a beginning Ph.D student? (In ancient Mediterranean/Near Eastern religion). I've done (I think?) a decent amount of language prep. during my undergrad (Greek, Arabic, Latin) but no Hebrew--I've heard that at least two years is expected.

[sacklunch]

It depends on your specific interests. 'Ancient Med./Near Eastern religion' covers a ton of languages. I suppose the Christian realm may require less (maybe no) Hebrew, though again it depends on your interests (say you're interested in Jewish parallels, reception/appropriation of the HB in early Christianity, and so on). I think most of the competition is going to have 2-3 years + of two main languages, in your area that would maybe be Greek (not just koine!) and Latin. Though again your subfield may change all this and your previous study of Arabic may indicate an interest more toward the East, so Aramaic/Syriac may be very useful (though much less focused on before beginning a PhD it seems, largely due to advanced courses). Beyond the two advanced level ancient languages I think having one modern language down is important, too, German preferably (you already have some Arabic, so that's great!). Showing these languages in your writing sample is a great way to demonstrate competency. 

[AbrasaxEos]

Sacklunch has plenty of good advice.  Things have gotten more competitive than when I myself applied to programs a few years back, but I don't think that two M* degrees are totally necessary, especially if your language preparation coming out of undergrad is as decent as yours is.  I think that if you went for one M* degree at a strong div school (YDS, HDS, Chicago, etc.) that you would probably be fine when applying.  An added plus here is that profs in these programs will have a really good sense of what it takes to be competitive and will give you plenty of advice on how to do it, which will always trump anonymous commenters on internet message boards.

 

On programs - I would say to look for people you want to work with vs. specific programs.  If you can find someone to be your advisor, and have a few others that seem to be working in related areas, the program will probably work for you - even if it has a stodgy name like "The Divison of New Testament and Early Christian Studies."  When you say Ancient Christianity/Near East, this seems to cover a lot of possible ground, though I assume that you may have something like the Late Ancient period in mind vs. something spanning a couple thousand years.  The nice thing about a M* degree is that you can use it to narrow in particular places, texts, themes, etc. that really interest you.  You mention women & gender, and there is certainly plenty to do there, but you'll still need to decide if, say you are really into the construction of the female body in the monastic texts of Late Ancient Egypt, or whether the ecstatic women of the Phrygian plateaus really get you going.  A good M* program will give you lots of exposure to different texts, places, times, and thematic elements from which you can hone things down.  So, this would be the reason that a good M* program would help you out beyond just being a springboard to a PhD.  If you have interests in all things esoteric, 'magical', etc. PM me on here, as I can go into more detail on studying these things there.

 

On languages - these are important as many will note here, but I also caution that you should really only learn languages that you will have some practical use for.  Sure, it might be nice to be able to go and read the Sogdian version of Evagrius' Talking Back, especially because you would be one of about four people who can, but do you need to do so for your research?  This is another area in which a M* degree will help you out.  So yes, if you want to study the Late Ancient world, you will need Greek and Latin, which you at least have a start in, so keep those up.  Arabic is great if you want to read stuff that begins to appear closer to the 6th century and later.  Other than these, I suggest trying to figure out what the sources that most interest you are written in.  If you want to study the East, you'll probably need Aramaic and Syriac; for Egypt, Coptic (Arabic would be really helpful here too though!); if you love 2 Enoch, Old Church Slavonic, etc.  As mentioned above, it only helps your chances to have at least reading proficiency in one modern language, like German or French.  Some places, like HDS even have nice summer courses that you can do in these languages, which are super helpful in that you can just focus on getting pretty good at the language without three other courses to worry about.  

 

All in all, from what little I can glean from your posts it seems like you have a fine start and a good focus on your interests.  PM or ask more here and I am sure others can chime in further.

[ἠφανισμένος]

Given your interests, I would suggest looking at Minnesota's (funded) MA in Religions and Antiquity.