<p>Hi,
As well as the Chinese History major I am also very interested in Biblical Studies. Has anyone gone through this major? Is it a good major? How are the job opps? Does going to a Christian college help with this major? </p>
<p>Thankyou.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It’s going to be hard to learn Mandarin AND Greek and Hebrew, and preferably Latin and German, too. You are probably going to have to choose early on between these two language-dependent concentrations.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know, but I certainly imagine there is a wide, wide spectrum of “Biblical Studies” programs, and that those words (and the career paths they imply) may mean radically different things at, for example, Columbia, Yeshiva, Georgetown, Catholic, Baylor, or Bob Jones, not to mention any of the various types of theological seminaries.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In some universities, there are departments of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations that might answer your interests.</p>
<p>On the west coast, for Biblical Studies look at U of San Diego, a Catholic college. I might also recommend Seattle University, but SU is not particularly strong overall.</p>
<p>Biblical studies is a tough, competitive field, and in the mainstream academy there are a variety of approaches from old-fashioned textual critics (who read the Bible kind of like a literary scholar might) to those who work like archeologists and even sociologists. I wonder if, with your major in Chinese, you might be more interested in the broader field of religious studies, which obviously includes biblical studies. If you decide that you want a career in biblical scholarship, you’ll have to specialize in grad school anyway.</p>
<p>JHS and marite have good advice. In some places, all Biblical Studies means is that one reads the Bible (in English) and memorizes it as, basically, fact. There may be a dollop of theology thrown in, but it would generally avoid an theology that isn’t fundamentalist.</p>
<p>In other places, one would study the text in the context of the time, learning about antecedent texts, putting the history parts in the context of other history at the time, and the like. </p>
<p>So, the first thing to ask yourself is, “What sort of biblical studies program do I want?” Only then can you begin to select from the options.</p>
<p>And marite is dead on. If you are not a fundamentalist, Near Eastern Studies may suit you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s largely what I did in college. One of my most satisfying previous jobs was adjunct instruction in Biblical Hebrew, with Mandarin as the language of instruction, for a theological seminary in Taiwan. My undergraduate major was Chinese language. By now, through a mixture of formal college courses and self-study, I’ve done most of the reading and writing enough to get a master’s degree at a certain noteworthy state university in Near Eastern studies.</p>
<p>I believe many of you misunderstood what I was saying. I do not want to major in both Chinese History and Biblical Studies. I want one or the other, but i was curious what my job opps were in Biblical Studies, and what colleges were good for this. I am currently looking at a few christian colleges (Montreat, Washington Bible, and Roanoke). Are there any recomendations or does it even matter if the college is a christian college?
I believe someone also asked if i was interested in just memorizing the bible as fact in this major. I would say no to that i want to learn it the context of history and application as well and also on the literal and literary terms as well.</p>
<p>A religion major, which will be easier to find than Biblical Studies, is as flexible as any other liberal arts degree. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/career/Majors/philoreligion.htm[/url]”>http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/career/Majors/philoreligion.htm</a></p>
<p><a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs;
<p><a href=“College of Arts and Science | Miami University”>College of Arts and Science | Miami University;
<p>Graduates from Duke’s religion department:
[ul][<em>]35% are professionals of various kinds – city managers, bankers, engineers, journalists, etc.
[</em>]19% are in a variety of ministerial professions – clergy, directors of religious education, etc.
[<em>]18% are medical professionals – doctors, dentists, or other health professionals
[</em>]14% are educators – teachers, college professors
[li]8% are in legal professions – attorneys, judges </p>[/li]
<p>[li]6% are in other fields[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>
No, it doesn’t really matter. In fact, it might be better to go somewhere that offers a range of religion classes and doesn’t overly promote one view. A college with a divinity school might be worth looking for, if possible.</p>
<p>Why specifically a college with a divinity school as well? How does that differe from a christian college that doesn’t offer divinity school as well?</p>
<p>lukeaf:</p>
<p>Look, a specifically Christian college is very likely to have its own slant to religious/biblical studies. In other words, a whole lot of them will have already decided the answer and will bend the data to fit. That’s fine for students who want to go somewhere that the truth is already known and all that remains is to tidy up the loose ends.</p>
<p>Lukeaf,
If you are considering a Biblical Studies major at a Christian institution (or any other major, for that matter), you should read the school’s mission statement and also look for a “Statement of Faith” or similarly titled statement. If the core beliefs expressed there are something you can accept, then it probably is a good fit…if not, then you may want to keep looking.</p>