Matthew Vega (Ph.D. Candidate) is a 2023 awardee for The Anthony C. Yu Doctoral Student Fellowship.

What’s next for you? 

My wife and I will be living in Mexico City for the next year so that I can wrap up my dissertation while continuing to improve my Spanish. We are bringing our dog, Socrates, so I hope he is nice to the other dogs while we are there. After I graduate, I hope to teach in a Religion, Theology, or Race and Ethnic Studies department. 

Why study religion?

I’ve studied religion since I was an undergraduate student. It is important to study because it is a foundational evaluative matrix humans use to judge and make meaning in the world, whether for not we consider ourselves “religious.” What we value and how we make sense of the world is profoundly shaped religious rubrics that were translated to us in secular, or nonreligious idioms. Studying religion has also given me the opportunity to study history, philosophy, language(s), the social sciences and ethics. But most importantly, studying religion has given me the opportunity to find out what matters most to my neighbor and why.  

What’s something unique or special about studying at the Divinity School?

The interdisciplinary nature of the Divinity School's intellectual atmosphere makes me feel much more at home here than I would be somewhere else. For the MA, for example, students are only required to take five courses: (a) a mandatory intro to religion course, (b) a modern research language, (c) a course in historical studies, (d) and a course in constructive studies [theology, ethics, philosophy of religion], and religion and the human sciences. Everything after that is free game, so I’ve taken a lot of courses outside the Divinity School (Poli Sci, Social Thought, Philosophy, English, etc.). However, you don’t have to leave Swift Hall to experience the breadth of methodological sophistication. Those interdisciplinary approaches can be found right here. The Divinity School is a wonderful place to study religion from a variety of approaches. Some are studying anthropology of religion; others theology; and still others are studying the history of religions. Even within theology, some are studying it to strengthen their preparation for vocational ministry while some are more interested in the claims and method theology makes. The bottom line is that you’ll find what you’re searching for in Swift Hall.