Notre Dame Early Christian Studies vs. MTS

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I'm finishing up undergraduate degrees in History and Classical Studies and I would really like to go to Notre Dame for a master's degree. I'm considering two programs- the MA in Early Christian Studies (through the Classics dept.) and the Master of Theological Studies (MTS), in which case I would choose their 'history of Christianity' option.</p>

<p>Both programs require both Latin and Greek and modern "research" languages (French and German), but I feel like the Early Christian Studies program has more rigorous ancient language requirements, which I suppose is appropriate for a Classics program. I'm not dead-set on going to a PhD program, so I would like to be able to market myself as a potential high school teacher of history, Latin, or (if I were at a private school) religion/theology- even though I've been doing quite a bit of undergraduate work on the history of Christianity, I'm starting to become more and more interested in the history of the big, world religions in general....</p>

<p>So, what program should I go for if I want to have rigorous training in ancient languages and the history of religion(s) but I'm not dead-set on going onto a PhD? And does anyone know of similar MA-level programs I should consider? What about Divinity schools?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading!</p>

2

<p>Harvard Divinity School was pretty great (I got my MTS there). They also allow you to cross-register at BC and in Harvard’s Arts and Sciences programs (as well as a number of other places), which lets you get really strong letters from historians and classicists as well as religion scholars, if you like.</p>

<p>I have a friend who does early Christianity (patristics mostly) who had a wonderful experience at BC, and who I think was at least partly funded.</p>