A new combined five-year B.A. and M.A. program — Religion, Politics and Global Society — is accepting applications from interested fourth year students, who can complete the Master material in three semesters.
The multidisciplinary master’s program, part of the Religious Studies Department, will prepare students to analyze and propose solutions to conflicts created, affected or prolonged by religion-related violence.
The single current track — the program hopes to have two in the future — is called “Religion, Conflict, and Peace.” Students complete 30 hours of coursework in a variety of disciplines in hopes of delving deeper into how religion permeates global society.
Professor Peter Ochs, director of Religious Studies graduate programs in “Scripture, Interpretation and Practice,” is spearheading the project with Jerry White, former deputy assistant secretary of state and a current University professor.
Luke Kreider, a graduate student in the Religious Studies department, has also aided in the program’s creation.
The program will be flexible due to the reality of the societal problem, Ochs said. The program differs from other programs of a similar nature due to its application-based curriculum, he said.
“We want to train people to make a difference,” he said. “It’s flexible because the problem needs insights from different areas.”
Students will work toward presenting a final capstone project which analyzes an ongoing conflict or situation where religion seems to be a potential player.
The M.A. involves two sets of questions — the way religion intersects with violence and the way that religion is used to resolve and transform conflict. With religion-related violence growing as a global issue, Kreider said he believes the M.A. can be widely applicable to multiple different jobs, including those in the government, service and religious fields.
The M.A. program stems from Ochs’ involvement in Global Covenant for Religions, a non-profit that is currently striving to prevent and reduce religion-related violence around the world.
GCR is a low-budget thinking and decision tank which hopes to collaborate with existing institutions to research and make models in order to solve specific religious conflicts.
As a leading research institution, founders Ochs and White hope students will actively participate in formulating solutions and research for the newly formed non-profit.
“We’re able to feel encouraged not only because of the global vision of this project but also because of this college’s arts and sciences vision,” Ochs said.
Part of the work within the M.A. program is to generate a nucleus of new research that can benefit not only the world but also contribute to GCR’s future development, Ochs said.
Applications for fourth-year students are due Dec. 15.
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