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Research Supervision in Religious Studies

Religious Studies offers supervision on the following areas of research interest at postgraduate level, amongst others:

East Asian Religions: History, Culture, Doctrine

(Lukas Pokorny)

Supervision can be offered in all areas linked to East Asian religious traditions. These include Buddhism, Daoism, Shamanism, Shinto and Confucianism in East Asia (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Mongolia and Vietnam) and beyond. Current staff research interests focus on Neo-Confucianism and Comparative Studies.

Gnosticism: Ancient and Modern

(Robert Segal)

Supervision is offered in Gnosticism taken as an ancient, long dead religion and in Gnosticism as also a modern, even perennial world view.

Islamic Sources

(Zohar Hadromi-Allouche)

Supervision is offered in the study of primary Islamic sources: Qur'an and Tafsir (commentary), Hadith (Prophetic tradition), Sira (Prophetic biography), and related genres.

New Religious Movements: History, Culture, Doctrine

(Lukas Pokorny)

Supervision is offered for those who desire to investigate the doctrinal, historical but also social setting of new religious movements (NRM) employing both philological and anthropological/sociological methods. Present staff research interests comprise soteriological and axiological discourses in East Asian NRM, the millenarian dimension of NRM (East and West) and the impact of fantasy and science fiction literature on NRM.

Non-Religion: Histories/Herstories, Cultures, Identifications

(Anja Finger)

Supervision is offered on all forms of non-religion, such as atheism, agnosticism, secularism, and specific humanisms and Marxisms. Current staff research interests include how sex/gender plays out in their historical as well as contemporary manifestations, how non-religion is not only a cognitive stance but shaping whole ways of life, and how social contexts delimit the range of non-religious identifications of both others and selves.

Queering Religion/s: Trans Stories, Cultures, Theories

(Anja Finger)

Supervision is offered to those who want to explore the critical function of Religious Studies through a critique of heteronormativity. Both theoretical and empirical projects are welcome. Currently, I am particularly interested in extending this perspective to phenomena of non-religion (s. above).

Theories of Religion, Theories of Myth, and Theories of Ritual

(Robert Segal)

Supervision is offered in the areas of theories of religion, theories of myth, and theories of ritual from the humanities and the social sciences.

Universal Themes in Islam

(Zohar Hadromi-Allouche)

Supervision is offered in the study of such themes as Islam and ambivalence, Islamic demonology, literary paradigms in Islamic sources and interfaith/ intercultural parallels, e.g., stories of the prophets genre, transcultural literature.

Religious Studies Studentships available for 2013/2014

• Authority and Texts: Concepts and Use
• Comparative Statecraft and Constitutional Thought
• Peace, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice

Making an application

Applicants must submit the following supporting documents alongside their application form:

• Copies of degree certificates from their previous academic studies
• Academic transcripts - The transcript, which lists all of the classes taken and marks gained, must be requested by the student and sent to us. You should therefore get in touch with the University where you gained your degree, and they will tell you what you need to do and will arrange to produce and send us the transcript.
• Two academic references; either submitted online with your application form, scanned and sent to dhp-pgs@abdn.ac.uk by your referees or please provide the details of the referees on the application form. Applicants may also send the reference letter, in a signed sealed envelope, directly to the school at the address below.
• Your research proposal

If you have any queries about making your application, please contact the Postgraduate Secretary

Postgraduate Applications Secretary
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
50/52 College Bounds
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3DS
Scotland, UK
Email dhp-pgs@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1224 272890
Fax: +44 (0)1224 273750

International students should note that there is an application deadline at the end of June, so that visa applications can be completed in time for Autumn arrival; EU students may apply later.

This page was last modified on: Monday, 28-Jan-2013 09:53:31 GMT

School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
King's College · University of Aberdeen · Aberdeen AB24 3UB
Tel: +44 (0) 1224-272366 · Fax: +44 (0) 1224-273750