NT Studies at U Chicago

[chai]

Hi, I'm curious if anyone knows what happened to U Chicago's "New Testament and Early Christian Literature" PhD program. All I can figure out from web research is that this program recently existed under U Chicago's Humanities division (it still pops up in a google search), but does not seem to be running anymore. Currently it seems that the main option for studying the New Testament at U Chicago is to go through the Biblical Studies area of the Divinity School's Religion PhD program.

Can anyone provide more information about this? Is it true that the NT-specific program was cut, and if so, why? Does this indicate that resources for NT study at U Chicago have diminished over time? Also, can anyone speak to the quality of the Biblical Studies PhD program area at U Chicago Divinity? Thanks so much!

[LateAntique]

Hi Chai,

The NT and Early Christian Lit program was absorbed by the Div school's program awhile back. David Martinez, who headed up the NT and Early Christian Lit, is still there. Depending upon your interests, Chicago could be a great place to study the NT and Early Christianity. Margaret Mitchell is great, David Martinez is a papyrologist/paleographer, Hans-Josef Klauck is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, etc.

Also, the Divinity school at Chicago is not like Duke's or Emory's Div schools - there is no separate religion department at Chicago, so the "Div" school is really the religion program. Your classes will not be taught from a confessional standpoint - your professor may or may not be a Christian (whereas if you attended Duke Divinity, it's guaranteed your prof is a 'believer' of some stripe).

Hope that helps.

[BultFrau]

Hi Chai,

LateAntique is right - the program is now simply part of the Divinity School. I did my MA there and I honestly belief that it is one of the best places in the world to study NT & Early Christian Lit. Klauck is perhaps not as well known as some others here in the States but he is a god in Europe and Margaret Mitchell is simply brilliant. Hans-Dieter Betz is also still around, of course. There are lots of great opportunities if you are interested in Graeco-Roman backgrounds through the Classics department and if you are interested in Jewish/Rabbinic sources, Michael Fishbane is among the very best Jewish scholars of this generation. In my view, the only real downside to Chicago's PhD program is that it is extremely rigorous and takes forever.