Student Research
Research and reflection are vital to life at CSTM, as they allow us to integrate what we learn in the classroom into our everyday experiences while enhancing broader scholarly conversations. As a CSTM student, you can work directly with our expert faculty and conduct your own research through self-directed study.
Research Assistant Mentorship Program
"You will find openness and camaraderie."
Each year, a small group of students is selected as research assistants to work with individual faculty members for ten hours per week. All research assistants are also part of the Research Assistant Mentorship Program, which includes additional library training around academic research as well as monthly symposia for the whole cohort with a rotating faculty supervisor, at which the faculty member will discuss their approach to research and the best practices they use in their work.
Student Voices
Conferences
Every year, CSTM students participate in and lead events such as the Lumen et Vita Spring Conference and Accessing the Divine Conference, co-sponsored by the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium.
Sample Conferences
Scripture in the Christian Life: A Source of Inspiration and Conversation
The Christian faith is, and has been, bound to Scripture in some form since the earliest communities of believers. The Scriptural texts are sources of healing and solidarity, but also points of contention and controversy. Through Scripture communities are formed, shaped, and sustained; There is no doubt that the Christian faith is perpetually shaped by the Hebrew Bible, the books called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha, and the New Testament.
This conference welcomes paper proposals from the following disciplines and accompanying subdisciplines: Biblical Studies, Historical Theology/History of Christianity, Ethics/Moral Theology, Pastoral Theology, Gender Studies, Feminist Theology, Ecumenical Theology, Liturgical Studies, Ecclesiology, Linguistic Studies, Biblical Literature, and any other fields that incorporate Scripture in a various different ways. While this is a Conference with Scripture at the core of its theme, a diverse range of proposals are acceptable.
Interdependent Bodies: Disability, Creation, and Reimagining Relationality
Accessing the Divine invites participants to reimagine what it means to be human through the lens ofdisabled embodiment. We also welcome proposals on critical issues and themes from graduatestudents, faculty, religious leaders, activists, and academics in a variety of fields, such as disabilitytheology, practical theology, liberation theology, systematic theology, comparative theology, religiousstudies, disability studies, area studies, sociology, ethics, psychology, and related subject matters.
The 2nd Annual Accessing the Divine Conference invites graduate students and emerging scholars working in fields related to disability theology to submitproposals which engage interdependence, disability, creation, climate and/or relationality inconversation. Proposals which consider methodological reflections on approaches towards disability,interdependence, and climate are also invited.
Co-Sponsored by Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium and Boston College Theology and Ministry Library
Theology, Religion, and Dungeons and Dragons
The steering committee for a new graduate student conference of the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium (BTI) is inviting papers on the intersections of academic disciplines of theology, religious studies, and the creative world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and other related media. D&D is one of the most influential games ever created and helped launch roleplaying games into popularity. The conference will include a keynote speaker, papers, and a live D&D game.
We invite submissions from diverse disciplines, subdisciplines and perspectives such as (but not limited to): Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Game/Media Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Theology, Religious Studies, Narrative, Phenomenology, Ludology, Liturgical Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, Art, Literature, Performance, Critical Theory, etc.
Lumen et Vita
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The SSTM Graduate Student Academic Journal
Lumen et Vita, meaning "Light and Life," is the graduate student journal of the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry. An online, open-access volume of research, reflections, and reviews by a range of CSTM students, its goal is to encourage ongoing dialogue within the school and to fuel interdisciplinary conversation across the entire Boston College community. In addition to shining a light on the rich variety of interests within the CSTM, Lumen et Vita provides students with a professional editorial forum in which to share their scholarly work.
Student Funding Opportunities
Financial assistance is available to CSTM students who attend professional and academic conferences as a way to further their graduate and professional research initiatives and professional formation goals, and to represent the school on the local, national, and international level. Both the Clough School of Theology and Ministry and the Graduate Student Association offer opportunities to fund conferences and research for qualified students.