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Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies

Internationally Recognised Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies

As of AY 2014/15, CEU's Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies is registered with the New York State Education Department (NYSED). MA and PhD students successfully completing the program will be awarded a formal NYSED certificate.

 

CEU Master's Students and Religious Studies

Students pursing an Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies, as part of their MA studies in participating departments and units, engage in the study of religious phenomena from a historical point of view and from a variety of interdisciplinary approaches and cross-disciplinary perspectives. As CEU is located in a region that has been the crossroads of major religious, cultural, and political histories and lineages, this specialist field provides a unique experience and access to sources in three areas: in-depth engagement with religious thought and traditions, focusing especially, but not exclusively, on the three monotheistic religions, in a historically and conceptually grounded way, comparative study of their social, societal, institutional, cultural, intellectual, and political contexts and implications.

Students fulfilling the requirements will receive an Advanced Certificate in Relgious Studies.


Requirements

In order to receive a CEU Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies  together with the degree proper, the following requirements need to be fulfilled:

1. Admission to a participating CEU Department or Unit (see the full list here).

2*. 1YMA students must take two mandatory Religious Studies courses (4 credits) and obtain 6 further elective Religous Studies credits (from the approved annual list of Religious Studies courses). 
    2YMA students must take two mandatory Religious Studies courses (4 credits) over the two years of their studies and obtain 10 further elective Religious Studies credits over the course of both years (from the approved annual list of Religious Studies  courses). 

3. ACRS students must write their thesis on a religion-related topic.  The student’s first or the second supervisor should be a faculty member associated with Relgious Studies. Students must complete a religion-related applied policy project and/or thesis.

4. Participation in the Annual ACRS Student’s Thesis Writing Workshop. 

5. MA1Y students must pass the mandatory RELI 5004 - Lecture Series: Center for Religious Studies, a zero-credit course running over fall and spring terms. A pass is constituted of attendance to five or more CRS  lectures, special seminars, or workshops organized by the Center for Religious Studies throughout the academic year. 

MA2Y students must pass two years of the annual mandatory RELI 5004 - Lecture Series: Center for Religious Studies.

*While these requirements apply to students from most partner departments, department specific requirements may apply in your field of study. Please see below the list of participating units and contact the Center for Religious Studies Coordinator (religion@ceu.edu) to confirm the requirements for your department. 

To view the Religious Studies' current course listings, please go visit our course pages for Fall and Winter term.

 

CEU Doctoral Candidates and Religious Studies

All current PhD students of CEU's degree-giving departments may apply for CRS junior membership. Current PhD students who have not yet received an Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies (ACRS) at the MA level are eligible to enrol in the ACRS program at the PhD level and will in this case automatically receive CRS junior membership status. The ACRS is accredited by the New York State Board of Education on both levels. The following terms and conditions apply to junior members and ACRS students on the PhD level.

Conditions for Junior Membership:

  1. Available to students currently enrolled in a CEU doctoral program
  2. Thesis/Research theme should be religion-related
  3. Alongside your degree-giving departmental supervisor, selection of a CEU Religious Studies faculty member as an additional Religious Studies thesis supervisor.
  4. Participation in the RELI 5004: CRS Lecture Series course for the duration of your membership

Benefits:

  • Access to the CRS Student Travel Grant Fund. Please find details on our website (www.religion.ceu.edu/studentresearchgrants).
  • Opportunity to organise and participate in Religious Studies conferences, workshops, and lectures as well as extracurricular events such as excursions and tours, reading groups, and movie viewings.
  • Access to supervision and recommendation from CEU Religious Studies faculty members
  • Opportunities to find TA-ships with Religion-related courses at CEU

 

Requirements for Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies at the PhD level

In order to receive the Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies together with the doctoral degree, the following requirements need to be fulfilled.

  1. Admission to a Doctoral program at a CEU department and successful completion of all the departmental program requirements.
  2. Successful defense of a PhD thesis on a religion-related topic. The student’s first or second supervisor should be a faculty member of the CEU Center for Religious Studies approved by the head of the Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies (CRS Director).
  3. Successful completion of the Foundations I (2) and Foundations II (2) courses. Exemption to this requirement may be granted by the CRS Director on the basis of prior studies completed by the students. The basis of the exemption is the student’s ability to demonstrate the prior completion of courses with equivalent content at CEU or at another recognized higher education institution.*
  4. Successful completion of one course Topics in Religious Studies (2 credits), of one CEU Religious Studies PhD seminar (2 credits).
  5. Successful completion of the course Lecture Series: Center for Religious Studies during two years of the doctoral program. This course is a year-long zero-credit course that requires participation in lectures, special seminars, and workshops organized by the Center for Religious Studies.
  6. Draft submission of one religion-related chapter of the PhD thesis to the department by the end of the third year of the doctoral program.
  7. Teaching Assistantship in one religion-related course at CEU.

*PhD applicants would need to present specific equivalent courses and go through the CEU credit transfer procedure to gain the exemption from the ACRS Foundations courses, so as to assure it is on record what courses were accepted as equivalent.

Benefits:

  • Advanced Certificate accredited by the New York Board of Education
  • Access to the CRS Student Travel Grant Fund. Please find details on our website (www.religion.ceu.edu/studentresearchgrants).
  • Opportunity to organise and participate in Religious Studies conferences, workshops, and lectures as well as extracurricular events such as excursions and tours, reading groups, and movie viewings.
  • Access to supervision and recommendation from CEU Religious Studies faculty members
  • Opportunities to find TA-ships with Religion-related courses at CEU

 

CRS & ACRS Faculty in Charge

Jean-Louis Fabiani
Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Head, Advanced Certificate in Religious Studies
Director, Center for Religious Studies
Central European University

 

Coordination

Administratively, this program is coordinated by the Center for Religious Studies.

Prospective students can express their interest in this program by writing to the Center for Religious Studies Coordinator, Kamran Khurshid at religion@ceu.edu.

 

Associated Faculty 

The ACRS began as a cooperation between the Departments of History and Medieval Studies. The ACRS has since expanded to include students from ten CEU partner departments as well as offering courses from additional units, such as Legal Studies and Jewish Studies. 

To see a current list of participating faculty, please go to our Participating Departments, Programs and Faculty page. 

 

How to Start the Application Procedure

Students interested in pursuing Religious Studies at CEU have a choice of applying for a One-Year Masters Program, Two-Year Masters Program, or PhD from one of the degree-giving departments participating in the program.

Applications for the upcoming year are accepted through an on-line system until the end of January. 

For information on applying to CEU as an MA or PhD Student, visiting the CEU Admissions webpage.

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE

 

Application Deadlines

For the upcoming application deadlines, please click here.

Questions and inquiries

For more information on this academic program, please contact the Center for Religious Studies at religion@ceu.edu.