The Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students for careers in university and college teaching and for research in Religious Studies. All doctoral students are admitted into one of the Department's fields of specialization and must fulfill the specific requirements of that field. Students in all fields are encouraged to select courses in other departments or curricula and to pursue supporting studies in another department or another field within the Department of Religious Studies. Ancient Mediterranean Religions focuses on ancient forms of religious expression, from Mesopotamia to Rome, encompassing the geographic regions and time periods out of which Judaism and Christianity first emerged. Faculty pursue a variety of critical approaches, including text criticism, linguistic and literary analysis, philosophy, history, and archaeology, in order to examine diversity, interaction, and development in the religious cultures of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean.