  
Images courtesy of Jeff Howe. |
Resources available to graduate students in the Boston College History Department make possible a variety of ways in which to concentrate on the History of Religion. In addition to History faculty who research and teach in areas of religion, other faculty resources include scholars in the departments of Theology, Philosophy, and Romance Languages.
While there is no defined program of studies established in the History of Religion, five possible concentrations of coursework might include the following:
1) Abrahamic Religions: from Antiquity to Late Modernity
TH-437: Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the Bible [Langer]
TH-452: Early Christian Spirituality and Asceticism [Kolbet]
TH-445: Mystical Poetry in the Islamic Humanities [Morris]
RL-689: Harmony and Dissonance: Christians, Jews, Muslims in Med. Spain [Carpenter]
TH-494: The Eucharist in High Medieval Theology [Coolman]
HS-401: The Reformation [Reinburg]
PL-762: Søren Kierkegaard [Rumble]
2) American Christianity: from Puritans to the Present
HS-531: History of American Religion [O’Toole]
HS-536: Women and Religion in America [Lyerly]
HS-555: Slavery, Race, and Abolition [Lyerly]
HS-513: The Transcendentalists’ New England [Quigley]
HS-532: American Catholic History [O’Toole]
HS-218: 20th-century Catholic Imaginations [Schloesser]
TH-665: Modernism and the Post-Vatican II Church [Dietrich / Kilcoyne]
3) Late Modern Transatlantic Catholicism: 1750 - Present
HS-532: American Catholic History [O’Toole]
TH-473: History of Modern Papacy [Kilcoyne]
TH-439: Transatlantic Catholicism Since 1750: Responses to Age [Kilcoyne]
HS-473: Catholicism Confronts Modernity, 1789-1989 [Schloesser]
HS-218: 20th-century Catholic Imaginations [Schloesser]
TH-495: Hitler, Pius XII and the Vatican II Church [Dietrich]
TH-665: Modernism and the Post-Vatican II Church [Dietrich / Kilcoyne]
4) Religion as Social Process and Historical Category
HS-628: Religion in Chinese Society [Nedostup]
HS-315: Islam in South Asia [Parthasarathi]
HS-219: Religion and Sexuality in European History [Reinburg]
RL-641: We Were There, Too: Minorities in Med/Ren Spain [Carpenter]
TH-300: Women in World Religions [Cornille]
TH-485: From Diatribe to Dialogue: Studies in Jewish-Christian Encounter [Langer]
TH-576: Pathways to God: Islamic Theologies in Context [Morris]
5) Global Late Modernity: Nation, Religion, and the Meaning of the "Modern"
HS-805: Nation, Religion, and the Meaning of the Modern [Nedostup]
HS-371: Turning Points in Jewish History [Langer]
HS-531: History of American Religion [O’Toole]
HS-473: Catholicism Confronts Modernity, 1789-1989 [Schloesser]
HS-314: Religion and Politics in 20th-century India [Parthasarathi]
TH-482: Hitler, the Churches, and the Holocaust [Dietrich]
TH-300: Religion and Globalization [Cornille]
A listing of Boston College faculty members and courses presently taught may be found here.
In addition to faculty resources on campus, Boston College students interested in the History of Religion also have available to them full cross-registration possibilities at participating members of the Boston Theological Institute. Member schools include Andover Newton Theological School, the School of Theology at Boston University, Episcopal Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology, Saint John’s Seminary, and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology (which will soon be re-affiliating with Boston College).
In addition to faculty, other resources available to students interested in the History of Religion include:
The Burns Rare Books Library: Of special interest are collections in British Catholic Authors, Liturgy and Life, and Jesuitana.