RELST-PHD - Religious Studies (PhD)
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Program Overview
The PhD in Religious Studies signifies special knowledge of an interdisciplinary field of study and potential mastery of an area of specialization. The department’s faculty have established specific fields of study in which the department’s strengths and those of other Stanford departments cohere. They are: American Religions; Buddhist Studies; Islamic Studies; Jewish Texts and Traditions; Late Antiquity; Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy; and South Asian Religions. Each of these areas of specialization follows a shared structure of study.
Admissions Information
Information on how to apply for graduate study at Stanford is available on the university’s Graduate Admissions website. Application information specific to Religious Studies can be found here.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Each student completes three years (nine quarters) of full-time study, or the equivalent, in graduate work beyond the BA degree and a minimum of 135 units of graduate coursework (excluding the dissertation).
The 135 units of graduate coursework must include the following:
One of these seminars is offered every year. Both seminars must be completed prior to candidacy.
Students should do course work with at least five different faculty members of the department during their first two years in the program.
And:
Two courses in an area outside the student’s field.
The remainder of the coursework is individually designed in consultation with the student’s advisor.
Typically during the third year, under the supervision of their advisors, students prepare a paper suitable for submission to an academic journal in their field. The paper is read and approved by at least two faculty members in the department. Students are encouraged to register for course Paper in the Field while working on the paper.
To qualify for writing a dissertation, the student must pass comprehensive written and oral examinations in their chosen field(s) and area(s) of specialization, typically during the first quarter of their fourth year. The qualifying examination is usually conducted by a committee of at least three Academic Council members of the department, one of whom is the advisor. One faculty member may be from outside the department with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
Teaching is core to the academic and professional training of doctoral students in our program. All students are required to complete at least one teaching internship under the supervision of faculty members. Typically, students complete more than the required number of teaching quarters as part of their professional training and financial support.
At the end of each academic year, the department's faculty recommend second-year students for candidacy on the basis of all relevant information, and especially on the student's candidacy dossier. This includes the approved declaration of an area of specialization, certification for one foreign language, and two substantial papers written for courses during the previous two years. Students are required to take course Theories and Methods, course Theories and Methods, and course Teaching Religious Studies prior to candidacy (see Program Requirements section for further details).
In the Department of Religious Studies, the oral exam is a defense of the completed draft of the dissertation. Students consult with their dissertation advisor and reading committee members on the timing of the defense.
The dissertation contributes to the humanistic study of religion and is written under the direction of the candidate's dissertation advisor and at least two other members of the Academic Council.
-Dissertation Proposal: Candidates submit their dissertation proposal in consultation with their advisors. It is read and approved by the three members of the dissertation committee.
Students are required to demonstrate reading knowledge of at least two modern foreign languages. The languages chosen, in consultation with their primary advisor, should be those in which there is a significant body of scholarship in the student's field. Certification of one of the required languages is completed prior to advancement to candidacy; remaining language requirements are completed prior to the qualifying examinations.