Areas of Study

Northwestern offers several areas of concentration in Religion:

American Religions
Buddhism
Contemporary Religions
Islam
Judaism
Medieval Christianity
Religion, Ethics and Public Life
Theology and Religious Reflections

Each area of study is interdisciplinary, involving work with Northwestern faculty specialists outside the Department as well as within it. This flexibility allows students and advisers to craft flexible programs of study deeply grounded in religious studies methods but also informed by methods in history, the social sciences, literary studies, art history, developmental psychology, or another discipline. All students take courses outside the department, most choose at least one dissertation adviser from another department, and many students take one qualifying examination in another discipline.

In addition, we encourage applicants to strengthen interdisciplinary connections thematically by exploring the programs, seminars, and additional fellowships available to Religion PhD students through The Graduate School’s new Interdisciplinary Cluster Initiative.

TGS currently sponsors clusters in the following areas:

African Studies
Asian Studies
Classical Traditions
Comparative and Historical Social Science
Critical Studies in Theatre and Performance
Critical Theory
Gender Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Medieval Studies
Rhetoric and Public Culture
Russian, East European and Jewish Studies