Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies - Religions of Asia

The Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students for careers in university and college teaching and for research in Religious Studies. All doctoral students are admitted into one of the Department's fields of specialization and must fulfill the specific requirements of that field. Students in all fields are encouraged to select courses in other departments or curricula and to pursue supporting studies in another department or another field within the Department of Religious Studies. Religions of Asia specializes in ethnographic and historical approaches to the study of the religions of Asia. Students in this field of specialization focus on Asian traditions in their social, cultural, and historical environments and contexts of exchange. Participants in this concentration use a variety of methodologies to explore specific questions and themes (including gender, diaspora, personhood and identity, place and pilgrimage, religion and the state, transnationalism/globalization, and the cultural and political dynamics of religious modernity) as these intersect, influence, and are influenced by past and present religious formations. Core faculty have particular expertise in the contemporary religious worlds of Japan and Nepal.

You will need to upload unofficial transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate work via the online application. Do not mail official copies of your transcripts to the Graduate School. Mailing transcripts will significantly delay the processing of your application. If offered admission, one paper official transcript for each university attended will be required at a later date. While many of our accepted applicants majored in religious studies as undergraduates, this is not a prerequisite. Careful attention is given to what courses applicants have taken and how well they have done in them. The average grade point average of both applicants and admitted students is about 3.7 on a 4-point scale. As a rule, the Graduate School does not admit students with an undergraduate GPA below 3.0. IELTS -7.0 , TOEFL IBT- 90.