Theology

Students are not assigned a specific advisor upon admission and are encouraged, especially during their first few years of residence, to work with as many faculty members as possible, both within the theology teaching area and outside it. Students in their first two years should  review their plans for course work and exam preparation with the ADGS for theology at the beginning of each semester. Students will work more closely with particular faculty as they approach their qualifying exams, and will choose a specific advisor or advisors as their dissertation director. The teaching group also holds a year-end meeting with every student to review progress during the past year and expectations for the next. 

Students admitted to the Ph.D. program are expected to possess or quickly acquire a proficiency in two scholarly languages, normally German and French, one before the end of the first year, the other before the beginning of the third. There are no additional requirements for the Theology program.

Students are required to take twelve courses, and this is normally done during the first two years of study; half of those courses must have been offered by theology area faculty. A minimum quality requirement, set by the Graduate School, must be met: a student must earn a grade of Honors in two graduate courses by the end of the second year of study. Students are required to take the proseminar in Religious Studies on theories and methods in their first or second year. Each fall, students in their first two years of study are also required to enroll in the Doctoral Seminar in Theology. Members of the teaching team participate in the seminar, and students in later years of the program are strongly encouraged to attend, if in residence. Topics include recent research by teaching group members, developments in contemporary theology, and studies of major historical theological figures.

Overview

The three qualifying examinations in Theology must be completed before admission to candidacy. They are generally taken sequentially rather than all at once, but must be completed by the end of the third year of residence. If at all possible, students are encouraged to take their first examination by the end of their second year of residence. Each exam is written in a single day, as directed by the exam adviser, with an oral follow-up with all members of the exam committee. 

Preparation for the qualifying examinations normally involves a combination of course work and independent study and takes place alongside regular classes as well as teaching duties. At a minimum the student should strive for a level of knowledge and expertise such as would be required to construct and teach a course on the subject. While the examinations are not primarily intended to test the student’s ability as a research scholar in the way course work, research papers, and the dissertation do, the student should nevertheless be familiar with the state of secondary scholarship on the figures and topics covered in each examination. Passage of the qualifying exams is one requirement demanded of all students seeking the PhD., but it is not the only requirement. Nor is it the most important; the dissertation is. Therefore, the exams should be kept within their proper proportions, and the following guidelines are designed to help with this.

The qualifying examinations in Theology allow the student to exhibit control of a range of literature, thinkers, and problems in three different areas:

For the qualifying examination in modern theology, the student selects three traditional theological loci or topics (e.g., doctrine of God, Christology, ecclesiology, doctrine of revelation, etc.) and formulates two questions for each locus. There is a required bibliography for this examination, which includes theologians from the seventeenth century until today, but, in consultation with the faculty leader of the examination and the other faculty examiners, the student may revise this standard bibliography in keeping with the particular loci chosen. Different thinkers can be included under different loci, but students are advised to cover at least one or two major figures across all three loci.

The qualifying examination in premodern theology usually follows the same pattern as the examination in modern theology, except that the list of theologians to be discussed is drawn from periods before the seventeenth century. Three general time periods are covered — patristic, medieval, and reformation/Catholic reformation — with a required bibliography for each.

The third qualifying examination is in extra-theological discourses and methods and may cover philosophy of religion, history of philosophy, critical and social theory, gender studies, or the history of religious thought in a tradition other than Christianity. As with the examinations in modern theology and the history of Christian thought, three topics are selected and two questions formulated for each topic. Except for the general expectation of breadth, there is no specific historical restriction limiting the range of thinkers whose views may be canvassed, and no set bibliography.

Procedures

The following steps for preparing a qualifying examination should be completed the semester before an examination is to be taken:

1. The student asks an appropriate faculty member to lead the examination committee.
2. In consultation with this committee leader, the student identifies two other faculty members to sit on the committee. They usually must be members of the theology teaching team but others may be included with permission of the committee leader. If a total of three appropriate faculty members cannot serve on the committee, a committee of two is permitted.
3. The student and committee members decide on a date for the examination.
4. The student proposes examination topics and questions for possible revision by the committee leader, and works with him or her to set the bibliography to be covered in the examination.
5. After making revisions to themes and readings, the student circulates the examination for comment from other committee members.
6. Based on committee members’ comments, the student makes final revisions to the examination.
7. The committee leader approves the examination and the student distributes its final form to the committee members.

On the agreed-upon day of the written examination, the exam committee leader emails the student one question from each of the topic areas of the exam, and the answers to these questions constitute the written examination. The student has eight hours to respond to the questions and email the completed examination to the entire committee. An oral examination, in which the student is permitted to defend and expand upon those written answers, should be scheduled within three weeks of the written examination. A written examination is not passed until the oral examination has been successfully completed.

The dissertation proposal takes the form of an approximately 15-20 page prospectus of the dissertation, to be discussed by all members of the dissertation committee during a dissertation colloquium. The main aim of the prospectus is to demonstrate that the dissertation will be both feasible and a contribution to scholarship. The prospectus should include several sections (including problem to be addressed, thesis, argument, method of approach, and contribution to scholarship), and should be followed by an annotated chapter outline and bibliography. Drafting of the dissertation prospectus must proceed in very close consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to be the advisor of the dissertation, but in other respects follows the general procedures for the drafting of an examination: that is, in consultation with one’s advisor, one chooses one’s dissertation committee the semester before the colloquium is to be held; the members of the committee provide feedback on the prospectus after one’s advisor initially approves it; and it is revised accordingly prior to the colloquium. 

The dissertation colloquium takes place no later than the end of the summer prior to the start of the fourth year. The purpose of the dissertation colloquium is to assess the scope, structure, significance and feasibility of the dissertation prospectus. Members of one’s dissertation committee are usually expected to provide feedback on the dissertation as it is being written, and possibly to serve as the official readers of the dissertation when completed. After approval of the prospectus by the members of the dissertation committee at the colloquium, the student drafts a two-page, single-spaced summary of the prospectus to be submitted, via Heather Roberts, to the entire graduate faculty in Religious Studies and, if no one objects, to the Dean of the Graduate School. Upon approval by the Dean of the Graduate School, the student is admitted to candidacy for the PhD. Students must be admitted to candidacy by the beginning of the fourth year of study. Within three to six months after advancement to candidacy, the student will present a draft of a dissertation chapter to a colloquium consisting of members of the teaching group and other doctoral students in theology.

Students normally begin writing their dissertation in the fourth year and aim to finish by the end of the sixth. The completed dissertation must be evaluated in writing by three readers and approved by the departmental faculty.