Requirements | Scholarships | Mentoring | Curriculum

Residential and Hybrid Studies | Community

PhD in Intercultural Studies

School of Intercultural Studies

The Doctor of Philosophy in Intercultural Studies (PhD ICS) degree represents the highest academic credential in the study of Christian mission. It is offered through Fuller’s Center for Missiological Research (CMR), a world-renowned institution for missiology, intercultural studies, and world Christianity. The PhD ICS program at Fuller provides exceptional candidates with the opportunity to design, develop, and complete a customized research plan in consultation with faculty advisors through a tutorial-driven process that integrates a wide range of academic disciplines. PhD ICS graduates make an original contribution to missiology and are well-trained scholars prepared to teach at the university and seminary level.

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Cutting-edge

Annual Missiology Lectures

Cohorts

8–12 new students per year

Diversity

of people and content

Study with faculty like these:

Kirsteen Kim

PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AND WORLD CHRISTIANITY AND ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR THE CENTER FOR MISSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Johnny Ramírez-Johnson

PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, PROFESOR DEL CENTRO LATINO

Ryan K. Bolger

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CHURCH IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE

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Requirements

To be considered for a PhD in Intercultural Studies, applicants will have achieved a master’s degree and have completed graduate-level coursework of a theological nature that includes some missiology.

Application is through an online form, including transcripts and references, together with a statement of the proposed area of research for the dissertation. The PhD program starts for new students in the fall quarter (late September).

Admissions Requirements

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"Fuller School of Intercultural Studies and its PhD program provided me with the time and space to mature both as an individual committed to God’s mission and as a scholar dedicated to equip God’s people for his purpose in and for the world. Fuller’s missionally experienced faculty along with the global student body continue to be a blessing in my life and teaching at Fuller."
– Eun Ah Cho, Assistant Professor of Intercultural Leadership, Fuller Theological Seminary (PhD ICS ’13)

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Scholarships

Merit-based scholarships are available to eligible incoming PhD Intercultural Studies students each year on the basis of an outstanding application. Upon application each student is automatically considered for a King and Crowell Fellowship, which covers over 90 percent of the cost of tuition for up to three years of the program. Incoming PhD Intercultural Studies students are also eligible for the Charles E. Fuller Annual Scholarship, which is awarded based on financial need and covers up to 15 percent of the cost of tuition. In addition, special scholarships have been established to provide financial aid to returning students at Fuller.

Tuition Costs and Financial Aid

Mentoring

At the time of admission each student is assigned to a mentor whose expertise is relevant to the student’s main research interest. This mentor becomes the primary consultant who helps the student determine the feasibility and scholarly credibility of their project. Further, students work with other scholars in tutorials and courses, and are required to invite one or two additional professors to serve on their advisory committee. While a student’s mentor must be a Fuller faculty member, the PhD ICS program is flexible enough to allow students to work with any appropriately trained scholars on various aspects of their research.

In addition to providing mentorship by a faculty advisor, CMR promotes academic relationships between cohorts through a semistructured mentoring program connecting first-year students with those already in the program.

Faculty Mentors

Jose Abraham
Specialities: Islamic studies, history and anthropology of religion, the sociology of modernity, Christian theology of religions, and interreligious relations

Ryan Bolger
Specialities: Faith and technology, emerging church, missional church, church growth, contemporary culture, contextualization, local theology, Jesus and mission

Enoch Kim
Specialties: Intercultural communication, urban mission and ministry, research methodology, inter-ethnic dynamics

Kirsteen Kim
Specialities: Theology of mission, missiology, pneumatology, world Christianity, ecclesiology, Asian Christianities, Korean studies, intercultural studies, study of religions, globalization, development studies

Roberta King
Specialities: Communication studies, ethnomusicology, qualitative research in intercultural studies, African Christianity

Doug McConnell
Specialities: Interfaith dialogue, leadership and missiological integration in a global context, children at risk

Diane Obenchain
Specialities: Religious studies; the religious traditions of China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia; the Ru(Confucian) tradition; globalization; world Christianity and mission

Johnny Ramírez-Johnson
Specialities: Practical theology research methods applied to mission studies, mission with sex workers, Latino church in the USA, race relations, cultural identity, approaches to diversity in the postmodern world

Dave Scott
Specialities: Mission with children at risk, cognitive anthropology, cognitive research methods, child participation and human rights for children, motivation and retention among children and youth workers, theology of children

Amos Yong
Specialities: Global Pentecostalism, political theology, disability and mission, interfaith encounter, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, Asian American Christianity

Residential and Hybrid Study

The PhD in Intercultural Studies program is designed to be completed in 4–5 years. Students complete the first year of the program studying together as a cohort. This first year may be completed in residential study on campus or through hybrid study primarily from a distance. Hybrid coursework requires a minimum of two visits to campus during the first year of the program, one week in the Fall term and a second week in the Spring term. After that, students customize their own program including tutorials, courses, library research, and in most cases, fieldwork. Optional hybrid courses may be available to those who desire additional on-campus study after the first year, but these are not required. Regular colloquia, as well as other academic and vocational activities, are arranged through the Center for Missiological Research. The student’s program may also include formally assigned teaching, research, or instructional training assistantships at Fuller.

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Curriculum

The curriculum of the PhD in Intercultural Studies is comprised of three first-year seminars, six tutorials, three methods classes, four comprehensive exams and a dissertation of around 75,000 words (64 units total). Each of these components is customizable to meet the specific research interests of the students under the guidance of their faculty mentor and guidance committee. With relatively little classroom-based instruction in this program, a much higher premium is placed on rigorous faculty-supervised academic reading and writing.

Through a carefully designed process, students will develop their own research project. Core areas in which current students and mentors focus include the following: anthropology, Bible and mission, children at risk, history of world Christianity, international development, Islamic studies, leadership, migration studies, mission theology, missional church, church and society. However, research topics will vary depending on student preference and faculty expertise.

Upon completion of the program, PhD ICS students should be able to:

Provide a clear, original contribution to missiological theory and knowledge
Make a practical contribution to the mission of the church
Demonstrate critical and constructive capacity in one or more principal disciplines that contribute to missiology]
Demonstrate the ability to do effective and critical research in intercultural studies
Demonstrate the ability to think critically and constructively about missiology as a discipline

In addition, Fuller’s PhD in Intercultural Studies program will provide opportunity for:

Supervised graduate-level teaching experience
Significant engagement in activities of the CMR community of scholars
Attention to integrating spiritual formation and academic life

The first-year seminar-style courses––Advanced Missiological Research I and II, and Missiology as a Discipline––enable students to create a distinctive research proposal that is methodologically viable, undergirded with a strong theological and historical foundation, and aware of current missiological literature and issues. Through taking these seminars in cohort and participating in the activities of the Center for Missiological Research, students become members of its lively and diverse research community and benefit from critical peer and faculty interaction.

The purpose of the three methods courses is to learn about and refine data collection and analysis methodologies within the academic disciplines most relevant to the student’s interest. The six tutorials represent the bulk of the coursework in the PhD in Intercultural Studies. The first tutorial, the Initial Literature Review, is completed in the first year of the program. Each tutorial provides a supervised opportunity for a student to conduct research that will contribute to the final dissertation.

Students are helped toward successful completion of an original research project in several stages. The Initial Research Proposal Evaluation is held at the end of the first year. The research proposal is then further refined for the Research Proposal Defense. Next, students take their comprehensive exams before beginning the dissertation writing process. The completed dissertation is then subjected to a rigorous review by the student’s advisory committee and an outside reader as a final check on the quality of their work.

PhD ICS Process

PhD ICS First Year

PhD ICS Portfolio

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Community

Students admitted to the PhD in Intercultural Studies join a cohort of PhD and ThM students learning together in a diverse community of scholars. This collegiality is lived in important ways through the Center for Missiological Research (CMR), which is made up of PhD and ThM students in all years of the program (totaling more than 50), plus faculty, and visiting scholars through the Global Research Institute. As befits missiology, PhD ICS students come from all continents, and students and faculty share intercultural and transnational research interests. The CMR administers the PhD program, connects students together across different year groups through an informal mentoring program, and arranges shared activities for all members of CMR. The center’s activities include regular academic colloquia, informal fellowship, spiritual formation events, and special lectures, such as the annual Missiology Lectures.

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