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The Master of Arts in Women’s & Gender Studies in Religion introduces students to women’s issues across religious traditions and a wide variety of feminist scholarship in this richly expanding field.

The MA in Women’s & Gender Studies in Religion is designed to introduce students to the field of feminist scholarship in religion. Our program addresses a vital need for more scholars whose training addresses gender and identity and how different religious traditions approach sexuality and spirituality. As is true of other CGU programs, the program gives you the flexibility to design your own course of study in line with core courses that will introduce you to important methodologies in these fields. You will study and build close working relationships with expert faculty-scholars, learning side by side with doctoral students as you prepare to become a teacher, enter a doctoral program, or consider careers outside academia.

Program Highlights

Program at a Glance

UNITS
40 units

ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME*
2 years

*Program completion times may vary depending on course registration, units transferred, and time to complete other degree requirements.

COURSES BEGIN
Fall | Spring

DEPARTMENT
Religion

DEGREE AWARDED
MA in Women’s & Gender Studies in Religion

Featured Courses

REL 304
Introduction to Women’s Studies in Religion

Explores the rapidly expanding field of Women’s Studies in Religion from a multi-cultural and multi-religious perspective.

REL 363
Major Interpreters in the Study of Religion

Analyzes methodological issues in the study of religion through a reading of classic theories of religion (e.g., Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Freud, and Otto), as well as notable examples of contemporary theory and interpretation.

REL 457
Body, Gender & Sexuality in Early Christianity

Surveys recent feminist thinkers on gender systems and constructions of the body to explore early Christian literature on asceticism, martyrdom and theologies of sexuality.

REL 362
Theories of Religion

Takes an in-depth survey of the major theories of religion as they are portrayed through some of their influential interpreters in the post-Enlightenment West.

REL 416HC
Religion in America: 1865-present

Explores some of the most important and innovative recent scholarly work examining the significance and shape of religion in the modern United States.

REL 407
Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion

Explores ancient Mesopotamian religion and, in the process, unpacks many modern notions of what constitutes religion by looking at texts, religious structures, references to religious officials, and other artifacts.

Additional Program Requirements

MA Unit Requirements

MA students in Religion with a Women and Gender Studies in Religion (WGSR) concentration must complete 40 units and include the following courses:

Research Tools Requirement

Thesis and oral defense

Faculty & Research

Interdisciplinary Concentrations

As a student in the School of Arts & Humanities, you have the option of completing one of five interdisciplinary concentrations.

American Studies

The American Studies concentration takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of United States culture, society, civilization, and identity through the curricular lenses of history, literature, critical theory, and more.

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Early Modern Studies

The Early Modern Studies concentration undertakes interdisciplinary examination of history, culture, politics, and society within the transitional and transformative period that stretched between Medieval and modern societies, marked especially by the advent of print, Christian confessional war, and the rise of the modern state.

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Hemispheric & Transnational Studies

A comparative analysis of culture in the Americas, the concentration in Hemispheric & Transnational Studies explores how scholarship on the Atlantic, borderlands, and diaspora have reshaped U.S. American Studies, Caribbean Studies, and Latin American Studies, emphasizing the topics of empire, race, religion, and revolution.

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Media Studies

Situated at the bustling intersection of cultural studies, new media, critical theory, and popular culture, the burgeoning field of Media Studies examines the creative and critical practices of media consumers, producers, artists, and scholars, focusing on questions of representation, power, technology, politics, and economy.

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Museum Studies

The Museum Studies concentration investigates the history and political role of museums in society, the interpretation and display of a wide variety of cultural productions, and topics of special concern to museums as cultural organizations, using a multidisciplinary, practice-based approach to understand the historical development of this evolving field.

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These concentrations are available for students pursuing the following degree programs:

Request information about the Women’s & Gender Studies in Religion program

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Gigi Audoma

Director of Recruitment for the School of Arts & Humanities
T: 909-607-0441
E: geraldine.audoma@cgu.edu