Mythological Studies is a humanities doctoral
program offering a strong grounding in a variety of mythic narratives and religious traditions. Theoretical approaches to myth, and a foundation in the principles of depth psychology are emphasized. The interdisciplinary study of belief systems, rituals, sacred images, symbolic and mythopoetic meanings illuminate the dynamics working through culture to inform and shape its contours. Mythological Studies is an interpretative art. It thrives on paradox, ambiguity, and the shape-shifting ways in which symbol and metaphor inform and transform our lives.

Discerning similarities in the world's traditions, we seek to understand the common patterns in human life, as well as the diverse ways in which human beings live and make sense out of their experience. Both common patterns and diversity are honored. A further value of the mythic imagination is that it provides us with a capacity for self-understanding—the myths that each of us live by personally—as well as an understanding of alterity or Otherness. Guidance from those who have traveled this way before allows us to look back and bring forward into our lives insights from classic texts. Students also discover recurring mythic themes in contemporary literature, theater, art, and film, while recognizing local, cultural, and historical contexts.

Mythological Studies is interdisciplinary and multicultural in its scope and hermeneutical in its depth. The program especially emphasizes the interpretative modes of depth psychology, particularly the influences that derive from Freud, Jung, and Hillman. This tradition is changing and developing in dynamic ways through dialogue with scholarship in other academic fields.

Such study is appropriate for many positions which are enriched by a solid foundation in the humanities. Our graduates incorporate scholarship in mythology in careers such as writing, education, art, film, communications, religious leadership, and the helping professions. Others may use their studies to enrich and broaden their understanding of the mythic sense of everyday life.

"It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation."
—JOSEPH CAMPBELL