There is an opportunity in Leuven for a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies. The way this works is the following: if you get this position, you have one year of funding  (starting in September, about 1800 euro/month net) in which one works and further refine one’s project with a supervisor (named ‘promoter’ here), and applies in January/February for a full PhD fellowship to the Belgian research agency – the FWO – for further four years (this one). UPDATE: There is an additional opportunity for after the first year, apart from the candidate’s FWO application: the promoter can also submit a project application with the FWO or the Research Council of KU Leuven. Two shots at it, as it were.

This means that if you get that, you end up with five years of full funding which should be enough to complete a thesis, take a few steps toward its publication, and apply for postdocs.

If you happen to be interested, I suggest you check the details, here (updated link), and get in touch with a professor in the faculty right away. The deadline is August 18 (updated).

There are here professors of Greek, respectively Latin Patristics, and the two professors of New Testament are interested in reception history as well.

Good luck!