Hello everyone not sure if I'm asking the right subreddit but I am currently a student at Cal State San Bernardino who is majoring in History. I am really interested lately in the history of christianity and have been thinking about pursuing it in grad school. Would getting my masters in early christian studies be a good place to learn that?
We have a number of contributors who study this field, so it is the right subreddit, but do X-post this to /r/AcademicBiblical as well!
Heya!
Early Christian Studies is a neat program for a masters in history of Christianity if your focus in on ancient and late antique! Most ECS programs combine theology/religious studies classes and classics classes, which themselves are history and literature.
Some other options would be a master's in historical theology or a master's in history with a focus on late antiquity.
ECS might require you to have Latin and/or Greek already. And you'll need it for any kind of work in early Christianity, anyways, so if you don't already know one of them, now's the time to start.
With a master's degree, the name of the school is less important than how much funding you get.
I, personally, am a fan of getting a master's degree first in all cases. It helps you see if grad school/history (or theology) is the right direction for you before you commit to a PhD. In religious studies or theology, you pretty much need a master's for consideration by PhD programs. In history, you can get into a PhD program straight from undergrad if you are well enough prepared; I still think the MA or MTS time is incredibly valuable as long as it is financially workable.