December 2005
1. Think of your comprehensive
exams as defining and demonstrating—to your committee members and also
to the academic world beyond Iowa—your main interests and competencies
in religious studies and in your more specific field.
2. Choose the themes around which your comprehensive exams will be organized. Your themes must be chosen or developed in consultation with your advisor. It is a good idea at this stage also to consult with other members of your comprehensive exam committee. Consider themes that reflect strong areas of interest and a good wide range of your academic training.
A. Major Themes: Obtain a copy of Major Themes in the Study of Modern Religious Thought. Choose four themes from among those on this list or develop alternative themes in consultation with your advisor and committee. The questions under each heading are intended to give definition to the theme. You may change the focus of an exam area by adding, deleting, or reframing some of the defining questions.
B. Concentration-Specific Recommendations: Check with your advisor about traditions within your area of specialization in Modern Religious Thought. Students specializing in theology typically focus one of their exams on the comparison of a major 19th century systematic thinker with a major 20th century systematic thinker on a particular topic. Students specializing in religious ethics typically focus one of their exams on an area of applied ethics, such as bioethics, sexual ethics, environmental ethics, the ethics of war, or the ethics of human rights.
C. Dissertation Area Theme: Develop your dissertation area as a fifth theme.
3. Working with your five themes as an outline, construct your Comprehensive Exam Bibliography. Under each theme, list the texts you will study in order to demonstrate your facility with that theme. Considerable reading and studying are required to determine what is worth including on your bibliography. As you read and study, you may find it necessary to re-frame one or more of your themes or the questions that define these themes.
With at least one of the themes, you are expected to cover some major figures in the history of theology or religious thought and ethics. With other themes, you may wish to focus on authors of a particular historical period or on contemporary authors. The ideal bibliography will exhibit appropriate breadth, depth, and balance of coverage; it will be workable and tailored to your interests and strengths.
4. Once your Comprehensive Exam Bibliography is approved by your advisor, submit it to each member of your comprehensive exam committee for comment. Make adjustments as needed. The Comprehensive Exam Bibliography must be approved by all committee members.
5. After your Comprehensive Exam Bibliography is approved, schedule 5 exam periods. Each exam is 3½ hours long (30 minutes of preparation and 3 hours of writing). Students typically take 2 exams per day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), which amounts to 2 ½ days of exams. Students typically space their exams out over a week or so. As you approach the time of your written exams, schedule a 2-hour oral exam period for about 10 days after your last written exam. This requires determining faculty availability.
6. The Written Exam: Your comprehensive exam will thus include five written portions. With respect to each theme that you have chosen, you will be given various questions from which to choose. This is a closed book exam.
7. The Oral Exam: You are required to defend your written exams at a two--hour oral exam. This is an opportunity for you to address the committee about aspects of your written exam that require correction or development. It is therefore expected that you will review your completed written exam carefully, along with relevant texts, as you prepare for the oral exam.
8. This structure is intended
to promote professional accountability, flexibility, relatively focused exam
study, and timely movement through the Ph.D. program. Students may propose
minor adjustments to the structure. Frequent and open communication with your
advisor and other members of your committee is encouraged.