Master of Arts in Religion

The comprehensive M.A.R. program consists of a study of the various theological disciplines, including biblical studies, systematic theology, liturgics, and historical Christianity, with electives drawn from courses which deal with Christianity in the larger context of culture. Students are encouraged to take relevant courses in other professional schools or departments of the University. 

Students declare their concentration at the time of application. Courses are taken principally from faculty in the Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music, who teach subjects ranging from introductions to Christian art and architecture and the history of sacred music to digital media, liturgy, and theology; and advanced seminars in religious iconography and writing workshops in poetry or fiction. Electives are taken elsewhere in the University, for instance in the Graduate School (the departments of English, Comparative Literature, Music, American Studies, and History of Art) or in the schools of Art and Architecture. Students are encouraged to attain reading proficiency in a second language relevant to their field of study.

M.A.R. students prepare themselves for a variety of careers: teaching, work in arts-related organizations, or other kinds of lay ministries. Many also go on for further doctoral work in music, art history, literature, or liturgical studies. 

Master’s degree students may pursue the broad-based Comprehensive M.A.R. in religion and the arts. Alternatively, they may be admitted to a concentration in one of the following:

The program offers a broad-ranging education in historical, theological, and pastoral aspects of liturgical studies and worship practice. Rich interdisciplinary electives supplement core courses, ensuring that students not only gain a broad understanding of worship and of approaches to its study but also encounter the diversity of liturgical patterns across Christian and other traditions. The faculty emphasizes connections with history as well as theology, contemporary liturgical practice, and the practice of sacred music and other art forms. This concentration prepares students for doctoral work and for ministerial vocations, lay or ordained, especially parish ministers and church musicians. 

The program in liturgical studies seeks to serve students who are preparing for doctoral work and those with ministerial vocations, lay or ordained, especially parish ministers and church musicians.

This concentration emphasizes the close reading of texts, an awareness of historical context, and a wide variety of interpretive approaches. What distinguishes it from other master’s programs in literature, however, is its focus on the religious dimension of literary works and the theological ramifications of their study—for communities as well as for individual readers. Students are helped to make connections between theological content and literary form (e.g., narrative, poetry, memoir, epistle, fragment, and song); to increase understanding of how the arts give voice to theological ideas; and to develop creative as well as critical writing skills in articulating theology. In addition to literary study, students take courses in Bible, theology, and history. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the ISM, moreover, literature is always brought into conversation with worship and the other arts. Graduates of the program may go on to doctoral work in a variety of disciplines. 

Graduates of the program typically go on to doctoral work, to college and secondary school teaching positions, or to publishing.

Sample Courses

  • Dante’s Journey to God
  • Religious Themes in Contemporary American Short Fiction
  • The Psalms in Scripture, Literature, and Music
  • The Religious Lyric in Britain
  • Genesis and its Afterlife
  • The Passion of Christ in Literature and the Visual Arts

This concentration aims to familiarize students with broad areas of sacred music and their theological, philosophical, and ritual contexts. The program is open to students wanting to focus on historical musicology, ethnomusicology, or the theological study of music. Students will work within the methodological and theoretical framework of their subdiscipline, but they are also expected to cross the boundaries into the other musicological disciplines. In addition, students are encouraged to consider music within an interdisciplinary network: visual arts, poetry, literature, etc. After graduation from the program, many students pursue doctoral degrees in music history or ethnomusicology, or they pursue theological studies with a particular focus on music and ritual. 

After graduation from the program many students pursue doctoral degrees in music history or ethnomusicology.

This concentration aims to provide students with a robust scholarly background in relations between religion and visual and material arts/cultures. It encourages interdisciplinary conversation across the various arts represented in the ISM curriculum (literature, music, liturgy, and ritual studies). The program invites students to take advantage of the abundant resources of Yale University in the visual arts and cultures of religion. After graduation from the program, many students pursue doctoral degrees in history of art or religious studies

After graduation from the program many student pursue doctoral degrees in departments of history of art or religious studies.

Faculty and Affiliates

  • Vasileios Marinis, program coordinator
  • Sally M. Promey
  • Felicity Harley
  • Örgü Dalgiç

Courses may include

  • Visual Fluencies: Material Arts and Western Visual Cultures of Religion
  • The Cult of Saints in Early Christianity and the Middle Ages
  • Religion and the Performance of Space
  • Christian Pilgrimage: Narratives, Materialities, Rituals
  • Visual Controversies: Religion and the Politics of Vision
  • Witnessing, Remembrance, Commemoration
  • Material Sensations

Campus resources include

The Institute for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (MAVCOR) mavcor.yale.edu, and the Yale collections and galleries.

Course Listing and Curriculum

More detailed information about the degree requirements is in the Yale Bulletin for the ISM.

Course of study and curriculum Courses taught by ISM faculty

Our Partners

ISM partners prepare students for careers in church music and other sacred music.

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