Degrees Offered: Ph.D.; Th.D.
The area encourages interdisciplinary and comparative research. Students work closely with professors from both the GTU and UC Berkeley in any number of possible fields, with leading programs of study in the following areas: ancient and eastern Christianity, medieval Jewish-Christian relations, medieval Christianity, the Reformations broadly conceived, spirituality, Christian missions and American religious history especially colonial, church and state, Asian immigrant churches, religion in the American West and American Catholicism.

New: As of 2008 there is a new Ph.D. track in Jewish History and Culture. The two tracks (History of Christianity, Jewish History and Culture) are parallel in requirements and share at least one seminar.

Objectives
Students acquire a strong general competence, particularly for teaching, in the history of Christianity from late antiquity to the recent past, and will have particular strength, both for teaching and scholarly research, in a more narrowly defined research field as well as an outside field.

Language and Other Requirements
The student, in consultation with the academic advisor, prepares a plan for establishing language competency. The student is expected to show proficiency in two modern languages (other than his or her native language), one of which must be French or German. In addition, the student is expected to show proficiency in any other language(s) necessary for the planned concentration.

Diagnostic Interview
Early in the student’s first semester in the doctoral program a committee of Area faculty members is appointed by the Area Convener to conduct a diagnostic interview in order to assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses in history, theology, and languages. The committee will write a summary of its findings and make recommendations concerning a preliminary plan of study.

Before beginning the comprehensive examination process, the members of the student’s comprehensive exam committee, together with one member of the Diagnostic Interview Committee, will evaluate the student’s command of the recommended material. The student may not proceed with the comprehensive examination process until any serious deficiencies have been remedied.

Course Work
During their two years of residence, students are expected to participate in doctoral seminars at the GTU and UCB that help develop proficiency in the general field of the History of Christianity. The following four seminars at the 5000 level, offered on a two year cycle, are required to demonstrate competency in the History of Christianity.

• Early Christianity (to 800)
• Medieval Christianity (600-1400)
• Early Modern Christianity (1300-1650)
• Modern Christianity (since 1650)

Students are also required to take one 5000 level seminary in Historical Method and at least two topical seminars on the 5000 level such as: American Religious History, History of Missions and Missiology, Global Christianity, Orthodoxy, etc. These seminars will be selected in consultation with the student's advisor.

By the end of the first semester of residence, students will have completed the diagnostic interview and have a plan to demonstrate language competency.

Comprehensive Examinations
Normally by the beginning of the second year of residence, the student, in consultation with the Area convener and the academic advisor, will propose a three member comprehensive examinations committee.

In addition to a general competence in the History of Christianity demonstrated by work in seminars, students are expected to acquire competency in an area or period of specialization. This is demonstrated by a closed book, three-hour timed examination. The bibliography for this exam is drawn up by the student and approved by the comprehensive exam committee and the Area. The exam should normally be taken toward the end of the fifth or sixth semester of full-time study.

Each student also elects another field for which the competence is demonstrated by a paper (approximately 40 pages in length). This enables a student to pursue interests outside one's specialization (for example, church-state relations, ecumenism, education, missions, spirituality, etc.); the history of another religion (Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, etc.); or, another discipline (the sociology of religion, religious anthropology, systematic theology, etc.). This paper forms part of the dossier for the comprehensive examination committee.

History students finally undergo an oral examination by the comprehensive examination committee. This is a discussion of all fields treated in the previous three exams. The oral examination follows the written examination as soon as is practical within the semester that the written exams are taken.

Dissertation
After successfully completing the Comprehensive Examinations the student submits a dissertation proposal to the Area faculty and the Doctoral Council for approval. An oral defense is conducted upon completion of the dissertation.

Allied Field Requirements

• Area Bibliography Seminar, two semesters (HS 6000)
• Pass the general comprehensive in the History of Christianity;
• One advanced seminar in History;
• Have a History CDF member on the student's comprehensive exam committee.
  
  

JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE

Degree Offered: Ph.D.
The area encourages interdisciplinary and comparative research. Students work closely with professors from both the GTU and UC Berkeley in the field of late-antique, medieval and modern Jewish history and culture. Dissertations may focus on themes such as language, Biblical hermeneutics, translation, secularization, sexuality, cultural exchange, and Jewish-Christian interaction. Students may work within the discipline of history as well as literary, religious, or cultural studies.

Objectives
Students acquire a strong general competence, particularly for teaching, in the history of Judaism from late antiquity to the recent past, and will have particular strength, both for teaching and scholarly research, in a more narrowly defined primary period as well as an outside field. An outside field may be either another discipline (sociology of religion, religious anthropology, history of religion/religious studies, folklore, literature, queer studies); or a topic that involves issues or periods outside one’s specialization (for example, a topic in Jewish Studies, Christianity, Islam, etc.).

Language and Other Requirements
The student is expected to show proficiency in Hebrew from any period relevant to her/his research as well as one modern language (other than English). In addition, the student is expected to show proficiency in any other language(s) necessary for the planned concentration. The student must prepare a plan for establishing language competency in consultation with the academic advisor within the first year of study.

Diagnostic Interview
Early in the student’s first semester, a committee of Area faculty members is appointed by the Director of the CJS to conduct a diagnostic interview in order to assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses in Jewish history, Jewish culture, and languages. The committee will write a summary of its findings and make recommendations concerning a preliminary plan of study. Students should have completed the interview and established a plan to acquire language competency by the end of the first semester.

Before beginning the comprehensive examination process, the members of the student’s comprehensive exam committee, together with one member of the diagnostic interview committee, will evaluate the student’s command of the recommended material. The student may not proceed with the comprehensive examination process until any serious deficiencies have been remedied.

Course Work
During their two years of residence, students are expected to participate in six doctoral seminars (or upper MA level seminars upgraded to doctoral level) at the GTU and UCB that help develop proficiency in the general field of Jewish history and culture. Students must participate in one doctoral seminar on historical methodology, and courses must cover three out of the four following areas in Jewish History:

Historical Periods:              

1) Biblical (First and Second Temple period)

2) Late Antique (Hellenistic period to early Middle Ages)

3) Medieval and Early Modern

4) Modern

Comprehensive Examinations
The student, in consultation with the academic advisor, will propose a three member comprehensive examinations committee by the beginning of the third year of residence.

In addition to a general competence in Jewish history demonstrated by course work, students are expected to acquire competency in a period of specialization. This is demonstrated by a closed book, three-hour timed examination. The bibliography for this exam is compiled by the student, in consultation with academic advisor, and approved by the comprehensive exam committee. The exam should be taken no later than the fifth or sixth semester of full-time study.

Each student also elects either a second period of specialization or a second field for which the competence is demonstrated by either [1] a closed book, three-hour timed examination or [2] a research paper (maximally 40 pages in length).

Finally, history students undergo an oral examination by the comprehensive examination committee. This exam consists of a discussion of all fields treated in the previous two exams. The oral examination should take place in the same semester in which the written exams/papers are submitted.

Dissertation
After successfully completing the Comprehensive Examinations the student submits a dissertation proposal to the Area faculty and the Doctoral Council for approval. An oral defense is conducted upon completion of the dissertation.

CORE DOCTORAL FACULTY IN HISTORY

DEENA ARANOFF • GTU (Medieval Jewish Studies)
Jewish society and culture in the medieval and early modern European context; rabbinic literature; medieval patterns of Jewish thought; continuity and change in Jewish history.

THOMAS E. BUCKLEY, SJ • JSTB (American Religious History)
American religious history; U.S. Church-State relations; English Reformation; American Catholics and Vatican II; modern Christianity.

JOSEPH P. CHINNICI, OFM • FST (Church History)
History and theology of prayer in American Catholicism, 1945-1975; the history of contemplation in the Catholic community in the United States; popular religiosity: Europe and the United States; American Catholicism.

EUGENE LUDWIG, OFM Cap. • DSPT (History and Patristic Theology)
Cyril of Alexandria; Christian images; history of ancient philosophy; history of Christianity; Patristics.

JAMES A. NOEL • SFTS (American Religion)
American religion; Black Church studies; African diaspora.

CHRISTOPHER OCKER • SFTS (Late Medieval and Reformation History)
Christianity from late antiquity through the Reformation; Cities, Friars, beguines, Jews, and Judaism; biblical interpretation, schools and scholasticism; humanism and theologians; cultural continuities within conflicts; late Medieval and Early Modern Germany.

NAOMI SEIDMAN • GTU (Jewish Culture)
Translation theory and the Bible in translation; secular Jewish Culture; modern Jewish literature.

RANDI WALKER • PSR (American Religious History)
Religion in the North American West; religion, race and public policy; civil religions; global Christianity; women in Christianity and Women in  American Religion.

HOLGER ZELLENTIN • GTU (Rabbinics and Late Antique Judaism)
Rabbinics; Judaism in the Greco-Roman world; heresy and dissent in Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity.

CONSORTIAL FACULTY RESOURCES

MICHAEL B. AUNE • PLTS (Liturgical and Historical Studies)
Liturgy and theology; history of early twentieth century Protestant theology; history of Lutheranism in the United States.

JEFFREY M. BURNS • FST (American Church History)
U.S. Catholic history; social justice; mission and evangelization.

RONALD BURRUS • ABSW (Church History)
Augustine; North African Christianity; the Donatists; Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.

MARY ANN DONOVAN, SC • JSTB (Historical Theology and Spirituality)
Early Church; history of spirituality; ecumenism; Elizabeth Seton.

GEORGE E. GRIENER, SJ • JSTB (Historical and Systematic Theology)
18th and 19th century Roman Catholic theology; Karl Rahner’s theology; Christian theology of God; inculturation of theology in Asia.

ARTHUR HOLDER • GTU (Christian Spirituality)
Christian spirituality as academic discipline; Anglo-Saxon spirituality; Benedictine spirituality; Celtic spirituality; medieval Christian exegesis of the Song of Songs.

DANIEL JOSLYN-SIEMIATKOSKI • CDSP (Church History)
History of Jewish-Christian relations; medieval receptions of late antique Christianity; cult of saints; non-supersessionist Christian theologies; comparative theology using historical sources.

MARGARET McMANUS • ABSW (U.S. Religious History)
U.S. Women, religion, and reform.

DARLEEN PRYDS • FST (Christian Spirituality and Medieval History)
History of lay preaching; Christian mysticism; devotional practices.

WILLIAM J. SHORT, OFM • FST (Christian Spirituality)
Franciscan spirituality; Franciscan history; medieval spirituality; sixteenth century Spanish Franciscan mystics.

MARTHA ELLEN STORTZ • PLTS (Historical Theology and Ethics)
Christian practices; ethics and spirituality; Luther’s theology and ethics; vision and morality; power and leadership.

JANE STROHL • PLTS (Reformation History and Theology)
Luther’s theology; Lutheran confessional theology; ecumenism; women’s religious experience (late medieval/Reformation); implications of Reformation studies for contemporary pastoral practice.