Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions (EMWAR) is a multidisciplinary program that enables students to develop research expertise and teaching competence in the traditional fields of Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism, New Testament, Ancient Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism OR in cross-field areas of specialization such as Scriptures and their Interpretation in Antiquity, West Asian Religions of the Sasanian and early Islamic era, Christianity and Judaism in the Hellenistic East, and more.  Through a combination of primary and secondary areas of concentration, this flexible program enables historical, literary, and comparative study of the religious texts, traditions, material culture, and cultural formations of the Mediterranean and West Asian world and their interactions from the Hellenistic period (3rd c BCE) to the early Islamic period (10th c CE). A Language Concentration Track (LCT) allows students to develop an even more specialized degree of philological and linguistic expertise.

We welcome your application to EMWAR. In the application process, the GSAS form will request that the applicant denote a “subfield”; because of EMWAR’s interdisciplinarity, applicants may choose “no subfield.” The statement of purpose should mention which modules (see below) the applicant is likely to pursue, even if these may shift as applicants enter the program and engage in coursework.

The program in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions prepares students for a wide range of future professions both inside and outside the academy. Students are trained to teach in a variety of contexts, serving as Teaching Fellows in undergraduate courses at Yale College and Masters level courses at the Yale Divinity School.  Many take advantage of the pedagogical training available through Yale’s Center for Teaching and Learning, earning a Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (a comprehensive training program in effective college teaching).  Upon graduation, students are prepared for research and teaching careers in major research universities, liberal arts colleges, Divinity Schools and seminaries, as well as for careers outside the academy (e.g., in museums, libraries, archives, publishing, public service, and more). As the landscape of higher education rapidly changes, the RLST department is invested in helping students imagine professional success in career realms beyond traditional tenure-track positions.

The program in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions reflects the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the study of religion in antiquity, up to the early medieval period. The program draws on an array of fields that illuminate the multiple interconnected religions in Mediterranean antiquity, including history and literature, language and linguistics, material culture and geography, and political, philosophical, and legal texts, beliefs, and practices.

Students gain facility in traditional and contemporary interpretive methods, including historical-critical, socio-cultural, theological, literary, and rhetorical approaches to ancient texts. Students are also exposed to a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions and culture, including critical race theory; women, gender and sexuality studies; disability studies; and more. Students in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions may also choose to participate in Archaia (Yale Program for the Study of Ancient and Premodern Cultures and Societies), a collaborative para-curricular forum that brings together scholars in the Humanities, Social Sciences, the Yale Divinity School, and the Yale Law School for lectures, colloquia, lunchtime presentations, and other special programing.

At the heart of the program lies a modular system of course work.  All students must take 14 courses consisting of RLST 510 (Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, required of all students) and 13 additional courses divided into three modules.

Module A = primary area of concentration (7 courses)

Module B = secondary area of concentration (3 courses)

Module C = multi-purpose electives (3 courses)

Because strong disciplinary training lies at the foundation of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary work, all students are expected to choose one primary area of concentration (Module A, 7 courses) and one secondary area of concentration in a different religious or cultural tradition (Module B, 3 courses).  A further 3 courses (Module C) are electives. Students are encouraged to consider the following possible uses of Module C: 

• to develop greater depth in one of the student’s existing areas of concentration, whether primary or secondary;
• to develop greater breadth through the addition of another area of secondary concentration;
• to develop expertise in a methodological approach, cultural area, historical period, or body of literature contributing to the dissertation project. These courses may be drawn from other departments and programs such as Classics, WGSS, Anthropology, Art History, etc.;
• to develop teaching competencies in outside the student’s areas of concentration (e.g., medieval Scriptural interpretation; modern Jewish thought; non-western Christianities, etc.);
• to acquire additional languages (see Language Concentration Track below).

At Yale, students regularly interact with the world’s leading experts in the religions of the early Mediterranean and West Asian region. Yale’s faculty and programs offer a collective chronological and geographical breadth,  as well as areas of deep specialization, to support and expand students’ areas of inquiry. Yale is also among the small number of North American Universities that provide advanced instruction in the many languages required for advanced research in Mediterranean and West Asian religions including Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Coptic, Middle Persian, and Arabic.

Applicants must follow the standard procedure for applying to Yale Graduate School.  Applicants must select the “Department of Religious Studies” and the “Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions” subfield.  Applicants will have an opportunity to indicate their likely primary and secondary areas of concentration.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact faculty in areas of common interest to discuss the program in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions, to determine how the program can best support their research goals, and/or to set-up an in-person visit or interview by telephone or Skype.

Students admitted to the program in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions will typically have earned a Masters degree related to at least one of their proposed areas of concentration and will have a solid foundation in one or more ancient/late ancient languages and one or more modern languages.

Admission decisions are based on a student’s statement of research interest, writing sample, letters of reference, transcript, preparatory course work, and prior language study (students should include in their application a list of all ancient and modern languages acquired, with years of study).

To foster both strong disciplinary focus and a facility with interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research, students choose one primary area of concentration (Module A, seven courses) and one secondary area of concentration in a different religious tradition (Module B, three courses).  A further three courses (Module C) are electives. Students may wish to use Module C:

• to develop greater depth in one of the student’s existing areas of concentration, whether primary or secondary;
• to develop greater breadth through the addition of another area of secondary concentration;
• to develop expertise in a methodological approach, cultural area, historical period, or body of literature contributing to the dissertation project. These courses may be drawn from other departments and programs such as Classics; WGSS; Anthropology; Art History, etc.;
• to develop teaching competencies outside of the student’s areas of concentration, (e.g., medieval Scriptural interpretation; modern Jewish thought; non-western Christianity).
• to acquire additional languages (see Language Concentration Track below).

Areas of Primary OR Secondary Concentration (Module A or B)

• Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism
• Rabbinic Judaism
• New Testament
• Early Christianity (to 4th c CE)
• Christianity in Late Antiquity (post-4th c CE)
• Scriptures and their Interpretation in Antiquity
• Christianity and Judaism in the Hellenistic East
• West Asian Religions of the Sasanian and early Islamic era

Areas of Secondary Concentration only (Module B only)

• Hebrew Bible (for Primary Concentration see the Hebrew Bible subfield)
• Late antique material culture
• Greek and/or Roman Philosophy, Religion, and/or Literature
• Greek and/or Roman History, archaeology, visual and/or material culture
• Roman Law
• Hellenistic Jewish Literature
• Early Christian and Jewish art and material culture
• Sasanian Religion and Law
• Quranic Studies
• Pre-Islamic Arabia and Early Islam
• Early Medieval Islam and Arabic Christianity

The ADGS or DGS will consider proposals for customized areas of concentration developed by students in consultation with relevant faculty. Students must provide an intellectual rationale for the proposed area of concentration as well as a plan for coursework. 

The standard language requirements for advancement to candidacy (by the end of the 7th semester) are two modern research languages (normally French and German although students may request substitution by another research language as appropriate) and at least two ancient/late ancient languages at the advanced level.  Depending on research needs, some students may be advised to take a third language at the intermediate level. These include a selection of the following: Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Middle Persian, Coptic, and Arabic. Successful applicants usually demonstrate proficiency in two such languages at the time of entering the program. 

Students who wish to pursue the Language Concentration Track will need to demonstrate proficiency in a total of four late ancient languages – two at the advanced level and two at the intermediate level – prior to advancing to candidacy (by the end of the 7th semester). Students who do not meet the Language Concentration requirements at the time of matriculation but who wish to pursue the Language Concentration Track should plan to devote Module C to advanced language study to meet the Language Concentration Track requirements.

Students are required to take fourteen courses, which can include language courses and must include RLST 510 (a required doctoral proseminar in the study of religion). Students must earn a grade of Honors in two graduate courses, a requirement set by the Graduate School.  The normal load is four courses per semester, though students have until the end of the fifth semester to complete the required fourteen courses.

Courses and seminars will be designated as counting towards specific areas of concentration. Students who wish to take a qualifying exam in conjunction with a seminar should notify the instructor of the seminar. With the instructor’s permission, the student will sit for a qualifying examination at the end of the semester or submit a substantial (20-25 pp) paper as required by the faculty member(s) teaching the seminar.  The examination or paper fulfills the requirement of the qualifying exam.

NOTE: While some students may use a seminar to fulfill the qualifying exam requirement in their primary AOC, others may use the same seminar to fulfill the qualifying exam requirement in their secondary AOC.

Many seminars will carry a designation for more than one area of concentration.  For example, a single seminar might count towards (i) Christianity and Judaism in the Hellenistic East and (ii) Scriptures and their Interpretation in Antiquity; or (i) Rabbinic Judaism and (ii) West Asian Religions of the Sasanian and early Islamic era; or (i) Scriptures and their Interpretation in Antiquity and (ii) Quranic Studies; or (i) New Testament and (ii) Hellenistic Jewish Literature. Multiple designations ensure a collaborative mix of students in each seminar.  Some seminars will include an optional language intensive hour for students who wish to pursue more advanced textual study in the context of the seminar.

Students will take seven courses in their primary area of concentration (in addition to the departmentally-required RLST 510).  They will take three courses in a secondary area of concentration in a different religious tradition. A further three courses are elective. These courses might be used:

• to develop greater depth in one of the student’s existing areas of concentration, whether primary (for a total of ten courses) or secondary (for a total of six courses);
• to develop greater breadth through the addition of another area of secondary concentration;
• to develop expertise in a methodological approach, cultural area, historical period, or body of literature contributing to the dissertation project. These courses may be drawn from other departments and programs such as Classics; WGSS; Anthropology; Art History, etc.;
• to develop teaching competencies outside the student’s areas of concentration (e.g., medieval Scriptural interpretation; modern Jewish thought; non-western Christianity); OR
• to acquire additional languages (see Language Concentration Track below).

Language courses and electives are determined in consultation with the faculty affiliated with a given area of concentration. Each student will have a minimum of two faculty advisors (one for the primary area of concentration and one for the secondary area of concentration) and are encouraged to review their plans for course work and exam preparation with all relevant faculty and with the ADGS for the Program in Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions.  The dissertation advisor is determined at the time of the Dissertation Colloquium.

Doctoral examinations, also known as qualifying exams, candidacy exams, or comprehensive exams, are typically used to ensure that PhD students demonstrate the requisite breadth and depth of knowledge expected of scholars in their field. In practical terms, they serve several purposes. First, they allow students to broaden their intellectual horizons–to study areas and subfields that will be relevant to their research and teaching, but which may need further bolstering. Second, they allow students to deepen areas of study that are necessary for their dissertation. Third, they help students to develop scholarship and pedagogical resources that will aid them moving forward.

1. Basics

• Every student must complete four candidacy exams, representing different topics or subfields within their area.
• Exams must be completed (along with all coursework, language requirements, and the dissertation proposal) no later than the beginning of the eighth semester. Normally exams are completed before the dissertation proposal is finalized and accepted; therefore Year 3 is the standard time frame for exam preparation, scheduling, and submission.
• Formal evaluation of each exam (final submission of written materials and the oral exam) must occur during regular academic terms (between the start of classes and the end of the exam period). No formal evaluation of exam materials should occur during the summer or winter breaks.

2. Committees

• Each exam will be assessed by a committee of at least two faculty members. The members of the committee may vary from exam to exam. 
• Committees should be determined in consultation with a student’s advisor, who will typically also serve on most if not all of the exam committees.

3. Topics and formats: Two exams should focus on subjects within a student’s primary area of concentration; one should focus on an aspect of their secondary area of concentration; and one should focus on the immediate background to their dissertation topic. There are four different formats for completing exam requirements. Typically students will complete one of each, though changes to this structure may be made in consultation with the advisor and ADGS.

   1. Publishable research essay + oral (Primary): The student develops a research interest and presents it as a substantial article suitable for submission to a scholarly journal (roughly 8,000-10,000 words). The article topic may grow out of a seminar paper for a course or represent new research.
   2. Take-home essay exam + oral (Primary): The student develops and learns a bibliography of 25–50 items (including primary and secondary texts), in consultation with their advisor/committee. When they are ready, their committee gives them a set of questions to which they must respond, typically in a series of essays, within an agreed-upon time, typically 48 hours.
   3. Annotated Syllabus + oral (Secondary): The student develops a bibliography in consultation with faculty members of 25–50 items (including primary and secondary texts), focusing on the most important contributions to a given field. Then, they use this bibliography to create a syllabus for a survey-style undergraduate course on that topic. The syllabus should be accompanied by annotations and/or a written reflection explaining the rationale for the course structure, assignments, and readings.
   4. Literature review essay + annotated bibliography + oral (Dissertation Topic): The student develops and learns a bibliography of 25–50 items, including relevant primary texts, in consultation with their advisor/committee. They submit a 20–25 page review essay that provides a critical overview of the history and trajectories of the field in question. 
4. Timeline

• The exams are meant to be completed sequentially (not all at once) over the course of the first three years of study, though students may find themselves working on material for more than one exam at any given time. 
• While the bulk of a student’s work on their exams will likely happen during the 3^rd year (5^th and 6^thsemesters), they may begin (or even complete) one or more exams while they are still in coursework (semesters 1–4). 
• Any exam that is closely tied to a course must have a product that is clearly distinguished from the course requirements. Examples include seminar papers that have been thoroughly revised, bibliographies that have been substantially expanded, or other written products additional to the course requirements, in addition to the required oral exam.
• Across the examinations, engagement with sources in their original languages and with scholarship that exceeds Anglophone scholarship is expected.

After completing all course work, language requirements, and qualifying exams, each student prepares a dissertation prospectus. The prospectus itself ordinarily should include a statement of the precise nature of the topic, its significance, its relationship to previous work, the method and sources to be employed in the dissertation, a chapter outline, and select bibliography. The prospectus (typically 15–20 pages including bibliography) is reviewed by an ad hoc faculty committee with expertise in the dissertation topic. Shortly after submission of the prospectus to the committee, a dissertation colloquium is held. The colloquium is a cooperative, collegial enterprise, the goal of which is to facilitate the success of the dissertation project. The scope, significance, and feasibility of the topic is discussed, the student receives constructive feedback, and (barring complication) the prospectus is approved. After approval by the committee, the student submits a two-page summary of the prospectus to the entire graduate faculty in Religious Studies and thence (if none object) to the Dean of the Graduate School. The student is then admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. The dissertation colloquium committee will continue to provide support and feedback throughout the dissertation writing process.

Students begin writing their dissertation in the fourth year. A single faculty member typically advises the dissertation project, although co-advisor arrangements are also possible. The completed dissertation is judged by a panel of no fewer than three readers, two of whom must be Yale faculty, selected near the time of the dissertation’s completion.  There is no oral defense.

1. All incoming students and students in coursework will normally be assigned two EMWAR-specific advising contacts: the ADGS and an additional faculty member who works in an area close to the student’s area of interest and can advise on course selection and other subdiscipline-specific matters. 
2. Students in coursework are encouraged to build relationships with additional faculty beyond their advisors and to meet regularly with multiple faculty in their areas of interest.
3. Each student will have an annual year-end advising meeting with the ADGS, their field-specific advisor, and normally one additional faculty member.
4. By the end of coursework, students should identify one faculty member who agrees to serve as the student’s primary advisor, as well as 2-3 additional faculty members whom the student anticipates will be involved on exam and dissertation committees (the “team”). The advisor may be the faculty member assigned to the student from their entry into the program, or someone else. Students should plan to meet with their advisor (+ additional team members, as seems suitable), at minimum, at the start and end of every semester.
5. Normally, the advising relationship set up at the end of coursework will continue through exams and dissertation. At the completion of exams, however, the ADGS (or the DGS, as necessary) will conduct a formal check to make sure that the student, advisor, and other members of the team are happy to continue with that configuration.
6. If at any time either the student or the advisor feels the relationship is not working out, the ADGS and, if necessary, the DGS should be consulted.

• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Greek, Latin, Coptic papyri; ancient manuscripts)
•  Yale University Art Gallery (inscriptions, coins, wall paintings, objects, graffiti)
•  Yale Peabody Museum (Mesopotamian and Egyptian materials and archive)
•  Digital Humanities Lab
• Archaia (including the Archaia certificate program)
• The weekly Greco-Roman Lunch colloquium
• Ancient Judaism Workshop series
• The Late Antique Reading Group (LARG)
• Yale Weekly Medieval Lunch series
• Women in Ancient Studies Forum (WASF)
• Yale Workshop in Ancient Societies (History Department)
• Annual Classics/Divinity-School/Judaic Studies lecture
• Ancient Judaism Regional Seminar for graduate students in Ancient Judaism and contiguous fields
• Funding opportunities (from Judaic Studies and Archaia) for summer language study, research travel, and archaeological travel
• Ongoing archaeological excavations and surveys of Christian monastic sites in Egypt
• Yale in Egypt (onsite archival work and manuscript study)
• Religious Studies Professionalization Committee