Comparative Religion

[religiousphilosophy]

Hi guys, I'll be attending a reputable divinity school for an MDiv this fall, and my goal is to streamline the degree in preparation for a PhD in Comparative Religion for Christianity and Buddhism. I am seeking ordination from a Protestant denomination which is why I applied for the MDiv. I am rather new to the field of religious studies as I don't have much formal academic experience in this area, but I do have a host of personal experiences and independent research that seems to make Comparative Religion the right choice for me. I have three main questions (I've done a fair bit of googling already and I would like some opinions from members on this board):

1. How feasible is it to jump from an MDiv focusing mainly on the Christian tradition to a PhD in Comparative Religion (Christianity and Buddhism)?

2. What programs in America are engaging in this field, and are there programs that specifically compare Christianity with Theravada Buddhism?

3. Is it possible to do Comparative Religion in three religions (Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam)?

Thanks in advance!

[menge]

I can't speak to much to PhD programs, and I think the "comparative" project is waning, at least as it has been traditionally understood as an approach to religious studies. The only ones I know of are Washington U. and maybe Georgetown.

My dept. at WMU is technically still a "comparative religion" dept. Though the comparative approach doesn't define the methodology of the department (it leans anthropological/ethnographic), you certainly could do such a project there. You can do three traditions - it just makes for a much bigger and more ambitious project. I have a professor who was doing fieldwork and had 3 proposed sites. She got to one and realized she would never be able to finish the project adding 2 more, so she cut the additional two.  But if you have a very specific topic/subject that you are going to compare across traditions, scope becomes a smaller issue. 

 

[AEscalante1]

6 hours ago, religiousphilosophy said:

Hi guys, I'll be attending a reputable divinity school for an MDiv this fall, and my goal is to streamline the degree in preparation for a PhD in Comparative Religion for Christianity and Buddhism. I am seeking ordination from a Protestant denomination which is why I applied for the MDiv. I am rather new to the field of religious studies as I don't have much formal academic experience in this area, but I do have a host of personal experiences and independent research that seems to make Comparative Religion the right choice for me. I have three main questions (I've done a fair bit of googling already and I would like some opinions from members on this board):

1. How feasible is it to jump from an MDiv focusing mainly on the Christian tradition to a PhD in Comparative Religion (Christianity and Buddhism)?

2. What programs in America are engaging in this field, and are there programs that specifically compare Christianity with Theravada Buddhism?

3. Is it possible to do Comparative Religion in three religions (Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam)?

Thanks in advance!

I do not do comparative religion, per se; but my current Master's institution is certainly firmly planted in this field, so I have some, general knowledge. If you'd like more information you can PM me and we can chat. Of course, things to consider (which I am sure you have heard a thousand times): 1) why a PhD?, 2) will a PhD support/hinder your ministerial aspirations, and 3) given 1 and 2, does religious studies make the best fit for you? (could you do a theology degree instead?). I ask these questions mainly to get to #3 (and also because they are important things for you to consider). If you're going to be ministry focused, a theology degree would be just as beneficial to you as a religious studies degree--especially as theology is still finding its way through comparative theology.

1. Quite easy. Don't think of this as a "jump." Your MDiv is presumably preparing you for your PhD--and make it do that. NB: this means, as you said, streamlining your degree. Graduate studies is really what you make of it--work hard and network.

2.  Harvard and Union off the top of my head. Francis Clooney, Diana Eck, and John Thatamanil. Clooney and Thatamanil both have a Hindu-centered research focus, but enough research in Asian religion to support a project like yours. Assuming you are full-time, you will have 3 years to find the best fit(s), too. I would begin by reaching out to your current faculty and seeing where they might be able to point you.

3. Yes. NB: Your potential committee and faculty must be able to sign off on your project and support it. See 1 and 2.

[GusterT]

You should check out Georgetown's Theology PhD.  https://theology.georgetown.edu/graduate 

I'm a PhD student there, and the department specializes in religious pluralism, comparative work, and cross-disciplinary studies. A number of students in the program have seminary backgrounds, and there are a few who do Buddhism and Christianity. PM me if you have any questions about the program.

[marXian]

You're likely not going to find people at any of the big name schools who are going to be interested in a "straightforward" comparative project--especially one comparing Christianity to anything. 

That's not to say a project like that is completely outside the realm of possibility but here are a few things you need to get abreast of as soon as possible:

1) The history of the academic study of religion (especially in the beginning at the turn of the 20th century) is fraught with instances of lots of well-meaning Christians trying to understand other religions "objectively" but just end up inscribing Christian categories onto them. An emphasis on "interiority" or interior, ineffable experience is an example of that. The heyday of comparative projects (~1940-70) is a period that a great many contemporary scholars of religion would like to pave over and forget about and its main figures (esp. Mircea Eliade) are used as foils to symbolize all that is wrong with religious studies. You're going to need to show an awareness of this history and explain why what you're doing is different in your SOP. So if you're not familiar with this history, you'd be wise to start familiarizing yourself with it now.

2) People who study Buddhism or Islam in RS departments typically know Chinese, Japanese, or Tibetan, etc. (for Buddhism), Arabic (or other languages depending on the region for Islam) and, depending on the time period they're studying, they know the classical/medieval versions of those languages. So, for example, if you wanted to compare Zen Buddhism with some period of Christianity and you didn't know any Japanese, no one would take your engagement with Zen Buddhism seriously, and instead, they'd probably see you as part of the above problem (a Christian understanding Buddhism through Christian categories.)

3) I say these things to either help steer you in the right preparatory direction for RS programs or toward a theology program/theology track where this kind of thing seems to be more common. Lots of people with MDivs go into religious studies departments. But your success is going to depend largely on your expectations of what is feasible and what's not. 

I would add Iowa to the above suggestions. I met a student from there a few years ago doing comparative theology (Catholic theology and Buddhism). 

[Ms. V]

I personally believe that doing any kind of 'comparative' study requires a thorough knowledge of the cases involved. regarding 'religion', that would make it more cautious since covering such a vast field necessitates contextualization which means studying many disciplines (like sociology, culture, economic situations...) of the target society at once. so one shouldn't be fantasizing about taking more than 2 religions under study as it might take even a life time covering a single discipline, let alone accomplishing a well organized academic comparative survey. remember what your personal mission is!

[AbrasaxEos]

While you may not need to do a deep dive into the critical reception of comparative projects at this very juncture, you may want to think carefully about what it is you want to compare, and to what ends.  The answers to these questions are in many ways the things that have received criticism, moreso than the enterprise itself.  While you probably won't find anyone chomping at the bit to replicate Eliade (everyone's favorite comparative whipping boy), there are a number of interesting projects out there that might fall under the rubric of 'comparison,' none so influential as J.Z. Smith.  Not that this approach hasn't received its own fair share of critical attention, but it is not quite so roundly condemned, in that most will at least acknowledge that it comes from a deeply reflective, studiously theorized, methodology.  Furthermore, it likely does not look like a traditional comparative project, wherein something is chosen from column 'a' (historically Christianity), with a reasonable doppelganger sought for in column 'b', and a subsequent 'like/not like' list drawn up. 

Since you don't have a ton of religious studies experience, your soon-to-begin MDiv will hopefully be excellent preparation in this area, and will allow you to read some of this work, along with the history that @marXian mentions.  If it is a reasonably reputable place as you mention, I'm fairly certain that any of your professors should be able to steer you in the right directions if you mention and interest in comparison.