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Students in this concentration apply the resources of religious and theological traditions to the study of beauty – in its enrapturing power, in its perception as graceful manifestation of divine truth and goodness, and in its presentation as art. Students in this concentration investigate issues related to the aesthetic dimensions of faith, theology, religion, or ethics, or to the religious, theological, or ethical dimensions of aesthetics or art. They learn the methods of philosophical, fundamental, systematic, or moral theology for engaging in disciplined theological investigation,...

Students in this concentration study literature, literary theory, and religious studies, paying special attention to the intersections among these disciplines. Students are expected to demonstrate mastery of a literary genre or period (e.g. Romantic poetry, the modernist novel) and critical methodologies relevant for studying religion and literature. Resources are available for study in fields such as literary theory, philosophy and literature, poetics, the Bible and Western literature, literature and the environment, American literature, the novel, Yiddish literature, and translation studies...

Students in the Jain Studies concentration study Jain philosophy, ethics, and living streams of religious experience based on non-harming. Students will have the opportunity to explore Jain culture’s primary texts, doctrines, and their contemporary application. Research topics may include diaspora Jainism, sacred and commentarial literature, pilgrimage, ritual, material culture, monastic traditions, lived Jainism and cultural exchange, Jainism and ecology, and Jainism and the natural sciences. The Jain tradition will be studied in conversation with the other Dharma traditions (Hindu and...

Students in the Hindu Studies concentration focus on the history of Hindu thought traditions and their cultural expressions. Students study Hindu philosophy of religion expressed in art, aesthetic theories, iconography, and semiotics; liturgical and worship systems; devotional music, liturgical chants, and sacred sound. Multidisciplinary methods are used for research on the multifaceted lived experience of the Hindu world in its celebrations and sacraments; pilgrimage and praxis; contemplative psychology; and Yoga philosophy. Interrelationships among Hindu, Indian Buddhist, and Jain...

The Comparative Religion concentration encourages the joint study of different religious traditions by exploring their fundamental themes, beliefs, and concerns, their principal figures and texts, and their variety of rituals and practices. In a socio-cultural context characterized by an increasing degree of religious pluralism, students will acquire the methodological and conceptual tools to engage in comparative studies of two or more religions from a thematic, analytic, or constructive perspective. Particular emphasis will be given to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of religion...

A necessarily interdisciplinary and often cross-cultural field, the historical study of Buddhism at the GTU is well balanced with anthropological, cultural, and area studies perspectives. Students may choose to focus on one or more Buddhist traditions from the origin of the tradition to the present, studied in historical-cultural contexts, in Asia or the West. Faculty, many of whom are affiliated with the Institute of Buddhist Studies, have close working relationships with the Buddhist studies groups at both the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford, providing students ample...

Students in Anthropology of Religion study cultural contexts, beginning with conceptualizing “religion” itself as the product of Christian, European, and colonial genealogies in order to understand this concept’s impact on the world. Key theoretical areas of study include modernity, liberalism, secularism, and the reorganization and regulation of religious, social, and political life, space and time, and individual and community. Reading a variety of ethnographic works, students study approaches to scripture, belief, faith, and religious practice, subjectivity, and affect. Contemporary...

Students in this concentration engage in multidisciplinary study of Christian literature (both canonical and non-canonical). The focus in the New Testament concentration is threefold: 1) critical study of ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman texts and contexts (i.e., historical, religious, social) in the relevant ancient languages, 2) engagement with ancient and contemporary interpretations which emerge in the multidisciplinary discourses that shape research and teaching in biblical studies, and 3) creative and critical interpretation of these texts in view of various contemporary contexts and...

Students in this concentration work to develop competencies in the study of Hindu Sacred Texts and their interpretation.  This endeavor includes mastery of Sanskrit and relevant Indian regional languages to enable the rigorous study of the richly variegated categories of sacred texts including the Veda/Vedanta, Purana, Ithihasa, Darsana, Agama, Tantra, Yoga, and Bhakti foundational literature. The commentarial, exegetical, and hermeneutical traditions of the Hindu theological world are examined alongside the original sacred texts. The exploration of diverse classes of canonical texts includes...