American Religions
General Description Coursework Doctoral Exams Special Resources Faculty	UNC and Duke University collaborate closely in the field of American religion. Our students have access to resources at both institutions.  Read more . . .

General Description:

The field of Religion in North America emphasizes the multiplicity of religious traditions in the United States, and explores the links between religion and other aspects of American culture from the precolonial era to the present. Special features of the program at UNC include its close affiliations with related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and the freedom it allows in the selection of sources and methods for the study of American religion.

Coursework:

The following courses are required:

• RELI 740 - Approaches to the Study of American Religions
  (normally required at the M.A. level)
  
  
• RELI 744 - Readings in American Religion to 1865  -AND-
  RELI 745 - Readings in American Religion since 1865
  (strongly suggested to be taken at the M.A. level)
  
  
• At least two more courses within the field at the graduate level

In some instances additional courses may be required by the student's advisor and the Graduate Studies Committee in order to help the student prepare for qualifying exams or for the proposed dissertation topic.

Doctoral Exams:

Following completion of coursework, students will take four written exams. They are, with respect to the United States (or, in some instances, the United States and other parts of North America):

1. General history of American religion: The first exam entails a survey of knowledge consistent with that found in standard textbooks such as those by Ahlstrom, Albanese, or Williams.
   
   
2. The relation among society, culture, and religion in a particular period, geographical area, or sphere of activity: The second exam calls for both comprehensive and detailed knowledge of a given period (such as the colonial era), or geographical area (such as the South), or sphere of activity (such as church and state). The precise topic is to be specified at least two months in advance by the student, following consultation with his or her advisor.
   
   
3. The methods and historiography of the profession: The third exam focuses upon the general historiography of the field, as well as ways that scholars in other disciplines, such as sociology, and in heretofore marginalized subfields like African-American and Roman Catholic history, have sought to reconstruct its boundaries.
   
   
4. An outside field: The content of the fourth exam is to be determined by arrangement between the student and his or her advisor and the Graduate Studies Committee. Normally that determination should take place a year in advance of the exam so that the student might select appropriate faculty and courses outside the Department. Examples include the religious history of Renaissance/Reformation Europe, or a major non-Western religion, New Testament, or the sociology of religion. The aim of the fourth exam is to demonstrate ability to teach an introductory college course in a related, but essentially different period or discipline or body of texts.

Upon completion of the written exams, the student will take an oral exam primarily based on issues raised in the written exams. A candidate's dissertation proposal should be submitted and approved (by means of an oral examination) no later than the end of the following semester.

Special Resources:

Opportunities for the study of American religion here and at other institutions in central North Carolina are particularly strong.

Scholars in other Departments or programs at UNC such as Afro-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, English, Folklore, History, Latin American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology, regularly offer courses and participate in graduate examinations in the field.

There is a large and well-developed program in American religious history at nearby Duke University. Students at both institutions routinely enroll in each other's graduate courses and participate in a series of jointly sponsored colloquia each semester. Read more about the collaboration between the two universities in the study of American religion.

The Southern Historical Collection, the North Carolina Historical Collection, and the folklore and ethnomusicology collections at UNC attract researchers from all parts of the nation. Specialized resources such as the Wesleyan collection at Duke, the Primitive Baptist collection at Elon College, the Friends collection at Guilford College, and the Southern Baptist collections at Wake Forest and at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, are easily accessible.

Faculty:

Yaakov S. Ariel Professor Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1986
129 Saunders Hall (919) 962-3930 yariel@email.unc.edu	Biographical profile  Curriculum vitae
Speciality field: American Religions
Research interests: Evangelicals and Jews; Jewish renewal; Jewish new religious movements; Christianity and Israel

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp Associate Professor Ph.D., Yale University, 1990
128 Saunders Hall (919) 962-3927 maffly@email.unc.edu	Curriculum vitae
Speciality field: American Religions
Research interests: African-American religion; ethnicity, race, and religion; religious and cultural history of the American West

Thomas A. Tweed Professor and Chair Ph.D., Stanford University, 1989
125C Saunders Hall (919) 962-3934 tatweed@email.unc.edu	Biographical profile  Curriculum vitae
Speciality field: American Religions; Religion and Culture; Religions of Asia
Research interests: Asian religions in America; Roman Catholicism in America; historical and ethnographic approaches to the study of American religion; religion and immigration; religion, space, and place