PhD in Study of Religion - Classics and Classical Receptions in Davis United States | University of California Davis

The Ph.D. program in Religious Studies is structured as a six-year curriculum. Participants develop expertise in the textual traditions of specific faiths while examining their connections to modern thematic and regional topics such as ethics, human rights, modernity, science, secularism, visual culture, media, technology, language, rhetoric, performance, embodiment, and theoretical approaches. Graduates acquire both qualitative and quantitative research competencies for academic careers in religious scholarship. Our program provides dual training: traditional textual analysis within specific religious traditions alongside theoretical frameworks to situate these traditions within contemporary regional contexts. The program features specialized research concentrations in three areas: North American religious practices, ancient Mediterranean faiths, and Asian religious traditions. Students also pursue a secondary regional focus for comparative analysis. Academic work is organized around thematic specializations including Ethics and Human Rights, Modernity and Secularism, Media and Visual Culture, Language and Performance Studies, Embodied Practices, and Theoretical Approaches. This framework enables students to produce innovative scholarship that advances the field's academic and public discourse.

The Classics and Classical Receptions specialization investigates Greco-Roman civilizations and their enduring cultural influence. This concentration benefits scholars whose research intersects with ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, and culture, providing methodological training in classical studies and reception theory. (previously titled Classics and the Classical Tradition)