PhD Program Suggestions - Theology/Philosophy of Science

[Colac]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm an MTS student at Vanderbilt interested in theology and the philosophy of science. A little more specifically, I'm especially interested in divine omnipotence, free will, divine persuasion, and the issues they raise for theodicy. I'm still working out a more specific interest statement while heeding the advice of my adviser and faculty to not get too specific. The advice I've been given from Vandy faculty is that my current interest statement isn't too specific but could use some further chronological refinement. To that extent, I'm interested in 19th century thinkers through current thinkers. For what faculty have told me at Vandy, they're often more willing to admit students with generalized interests than some other schools, with the hope that by the completion of the first year of coursework that the student will have finalized a more specific research area.

 

I'm presently working on a paper that will largely be a comparative study of divine omnipotence as it pertains to theodicy. I'll be looking at Jon Levenson, Vincent Brummer, and Schelling in the construction of my argument. It's almost guaranteed that this work will form the foundation of my thesis.

 

My reason for being here, I'm interested in programs that balance philosophy and theology. I don't want to go too far into either, though I'm certainly comfortable being in say a theology department that will allow me access to solid philosophy coursework and vice versa. I'm politically, theologically, and socially progressive so I want to stay away from evangelical schools that would dampen this - understanding that they too would limit career prospects.

 

I'm geographically open, even willing to go overseas if the program is that strong of a match.

 

UG GPA: 3.9

G GPA: 3.7 (presently)

GRE: 162/157/5

Personally: I do identify as a theist and attend Episcopalian services but my theological interests don't always line up with mainstream-progressive thought.

 

Adviser has suggested I keep Vanderbilt in mind but I'm wanting to consider other options, despite how much my adviser has said they'd love to supervise my development as a PhD student.

 

I originally entered as an M.Div student but after a series of theology courses and not being interested in ordination, I decided to swap to the MTS to save myself a year. So, while I'm still on track to graduate I have work to make up for when it comes to researching programs. So, I'm looking to cast a wide net and narrow it down from there.

[marXian]

Hey there. I think you're going to want to look into primarily theology and/or religious studies programs friendly to theology. Even in philosophy departments at Notre Dame or Fordham, for example, you're probably not going to be doing any theology at all (just phil. of religion/science.) Many RS and theology programs, on the other hand, are extremely interdisciplinary, and though you would be officially studying theology (or "religious thought") and would need to probably do at least one comp in theology (in an RS dept., more in a theology dept.), you would also be doing a lot of philosophy, with the opportunity to do a comp in philosophy of science. Based on your brief description though, I'm not really seeing how philosophy of science figures in. If you could say more about that, that could help narrow down the possibilities. 

 

A lot of the Catholic school theology departments would probably be a good fit since they're typically very strong in both theology and philosophy. I have a friend at Duquesne currently doing theological anthropology and phil. of science, and he loves it. So Notre Dame, Fordham, BC, etc. are probably worth looking in to. UChicago and PTS are other theology programs that would probably be of interest as well.

 

On the Religious Studies end of things, there are only a handful of schools that have a theology track, and of those, I think Yale and Northwestern are the only ones where you'd really feel free to do the sort of theology you're interested in. Historical projects are much more welcome, generally speaking, in these sorts of departments. At other places like Syracuse, Stanford, Brown, or UNC-Chapel Hill, you might be able to spin your project as something on philosophy of religion or "modern thought and religion," etc. In those cases, programs have tracks named "modern religious thought" or something similar that you'll want to be on the look out for as you research programs. I'm a student at Northwestern, so if you'd like some more info, feel free to send me a PM.

[Colac]

I'll certainly look into these programs marXian, thank you a lot. If questions come up about NW, I'll shoot you a PM.

 

Would your advice still hold for philosophy of religion? I took a seminar with Hodges (Vandy) last year and loved it but that's more or less the extent of official coursework dedicated to phil. or religion, though certainly I've read some in my theology courses, and Brummer and Schelling being the center of my research paper.

[marXian]

Are you asking if you'd be studying phil. of religion in a theology/RS program? If so, then yes definitely. In fact everyone in an RS program usually has to do some philosophy of religion as part of the foundation of the field (e.g. Kant, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, Marx, etc.) And if you're studying theology, you'll certainly be able to do some philosophy of religion especially if it's historical.

[xypathos]

I think he perhaps meant your program suggestions.

Edited September 24, 2014 by xypathos