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Dec 21, 2024
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2024-2025 Graduate Catalog
Religious Studies, Ph.D.
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Degree Requirements
The Ph.D. in religious studies requires the satisfactory completion of 48 credit hours of approved graduate coursework, distributed as follows:
Required Courses (12 Credit Hours)
Four courses of the core seminar in religious studies, each of which is taught during one of the four terms of the student’s two years of coursework:
Elective Courses (36 Credit Hours)
Twelve courses, primarily in the student’s intended field of study, may be of three different types:
- Regular courses in Southern Methodist University that are approved for graduate study in the student’s field.
- Directed study courses in which one or more students and a faculty member agree to meet a minimum of six times during the term to discuss the material under study. Students are required to submit substantial graded written work and the faculty member assigns an overall letter grade for the course.
- Independent study courses in which the student and a faculty member agree on a bibliography for study that the student pursues independently. Students are not required to submit written work and letter grades are not assigned; rather, these courses are pass/fail and require one meeting near the end of the semester to determine completion of the reading.
Reading Competence
Demonstrating, by examination, a reading competence in two approved languages, other than English, relevant to the student’s field of study. (For students in the fields of Hebrew Bible and New Testament, four languages are required. Examinations must be passed in both Biblical Hebrew and Greek, as well as in two additional languages.)
Comprehensive Field Examinations
Passing four comprehensive field examinations on the subjects designated for examination in the student’s field, each consisting of a six-hour written examination based on the bibliography agreed upon with the examiner.
Practice Teaching Requirement
Satisfactorily meeting the practice teaching requirement.
Dissertation Proposal
Securing the GPRS Steering Committee’s approval of a dissertation proposal endorsed by the student’s dissertation adviser, two other members of the SMU faculty and one reader from outside the University.
Doctoral Dissertation
Satisfactorily completing the doctoral dissertation. No more than 12 credit hours can be in dissertation courses. Students may enroll in the following course, which can be repeated for credit:
Oral Examination
Satisfactorily passing an oral examination covering the student’s entire course of study as well as the dissertation.
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