Religion and Literature

[NickPD]

I recently applied to both Chicago and Harvard Divinity to study religion and literature. I am completing an MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia and am hoping to broaden my understanding between critical theory and religion before moving on to the PhD. Has anyone gone through the Lit and Religion track at Harvard or Chicago? Any advise? What kind of funding do they give? Any help would be great. Like most one here, I am a bit nervous and hope to make it into one of the these schools.

[the general]

I'm currently a master's student at Chicago and have taken a few R&L classes. There are not a ton of classes offered, so you'll also want to take classes outside the Div School (some are cross-listed in the English department anyway). I don't know too much about funding for AMRS students in particular, but the majority of MA students receive 50% funding - I'm sure a lucky few get more than that. I love studying R&L and I hope to incorporate it into PhD work in the future!

[Nytusse]

I'm finishing my MTS at Harvard this semester, and I would have to second the comment about Religion and Literature courses not offering a heck of a lot of classes.

What is really nice about Harvard's program, though, is that the requirements are quite minimal; you only need six courses in your concentration, and it is even possible to use cross-registered courses from other departments to get credit for those. For example, I am "transitioning" into History, and I have been able to take other graduate courses outside the Divinity School.

My funding was extremely good, but like everywhere else, the Div school has cut funding somewhat, I believe. The lowest I have ever personally heard of is a half-tuition grant, but there are those with full tuition and a stipend. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions....I'm waiting on applications anyways!

[NickPD]

Thanks for the responses. It helps to know that there is funding for Masters students. I will also keep in mind that both programs do not offer many courses on the R and L track. I suppose the good thing is that there is still very interesting scholarship happening in the other areas of study, like ethics.

"The General": What are the grad requirements of the MTS? Are you writing a thesis? How are your prospects for moving into another program from Harvard Div?

Thanks again.

[classicsgirl]

I recently applied to both Chicago and Harvard Divinity to study religion and literature. I am completing an MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia and am hoping to broaden my understanding between critical theory and religion before moving on to the PhD. Has anyone gone through the Lit and Religion track at Harvard or Chicago? Any advise? What kind of funding do they give? Any help would be great. Like most one here, I am a bit nervous and hope to make it into one of the these schools.

Hi, I did an MA at Chicago, and they usually give about 50% funding to their master's students. That's ALL sub-fields, so if you get in, you should get about 50%. The year I entered, the cost was nearly $40,000. I did some coursework in RLit, and there wasn't too much theory involved (take that with a grain of salt though, I'm not an RLit person). Might I also advise the following: If you get into the AMRS program and are considering PHD work, you might want to try to transfer into the AM program. It's a two year program, but you'll be able to do more RLIT work because you have so many intro sections to do in the first year. Depending on the type of theory you want to integrate (critical race, feminist, postcolonial), you might find Harvard a better fit.

I hope that helps a bit.

[NickPD]

Yes, your answer definitely helps. Thanks for clarifying. It definitely seems that there are different things going on in both programs. Chicago has seemed to be a better fit, but really it depends on what courses will be offered during the coming year. I suppose the benefit with Chicago is that it is connected directly with the university, at least moreso than Harvard, so I could take classes in Social Thought or whatever in order to get the courses in critical theory that I want. Did you ever take classes outside of the dept. during the AM?