In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divinity schools. In many Christian denominations and in some other religions, the degree is the standard prerequisite for ordination or licensing to professional ministry. At accredited seminaries in the United States this degree requires between 72 and 106 credit hours of study.
The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College, Dublin.
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, government, and service. It also caters to students from other Harvard schools that are interested in the former field. HDS is among a small group of university-based, non-denominational divinity schools in the United States.
Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new western frontier of the United States and second, to train ministers who would advance the movement to abolish slavery. Originally started under the direction of the abolitionist Stephen Peet and the Congregational Church by charter of the Illinois legislature, CTS has retained its forward-looking activist outlook throughout its history, graduating alumni who include civil rights activists Jesse Jackson Sr. and Howard Schomer, social reformer Graham Taylor, and anti-Apartheid activist John W. de Gruchy. It is one of six seminaries affiliated with the United Church of Christ and follows an ecumenical tradition that stresses cooperation between different Christian denominations as well as interfaith understanding.
Doctor of Theology is a terminal degree in the academic discipline of theology. The ThD, like the ecclesiastical Doctor of Sacred Theology, is an advanced research degree equivalent to the Doctor of Philosophy.
Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT) is a Protestant Christian Baptist seminary in Insein Township, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). Judson Research Center, Peace Studies Center, and Gender Studies Center are parts of Myanmar Institute of Theology. MIT's library has over 30,000 usable volumes and more than 30 periodical subscriptions for students and faculty.
Wycliffe College is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from around the world. As a founding member of the Toronto School of Theology, students can avail themselves of the wide range of courses from Canada's largest ecumenical consortium. Wycliffe College trains those pursuing ministry in the church and in the world, as well as those preparing for academic careers of scholarship and teaching.
A Master of Theological Studies (MTS) is a graduate degree, offered in theological seminary or graduate faculty of theology, which gives students lay training in theological studies. Under Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) standards, programs require graduates to have earned an accredited bachelor's degree or its equivalent. Programs usually require students to complete two years of full-time study or its equivalent to earn the degree. The degree can serve as preparation for entering a doctoral program in theology (Th.D.), religion (Ph.D.), or a related subject, such as education, counseling, social sciences, or humanities.
The Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is one of ten graduate or professional schools within Duke University. It is also one of thirteen seminaries founded and supported by the United Methodist Church. It has 39 regular rank faculty and 15 joint, secondary or adjunct faculty, and, as of 2017, an enrollment of 543 full-time equivalent students. The current dean of the Divinity School is the Rev. Dr. L. Gregory Jones, who assumed the deanship on Aug. 2, 2018 after previously serving as dean from 1997 to 2010. Former deans include the prominent New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays, who stepped down in 2015.
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological schools maintained by the United Methodist Church. BUSTH is a member of the Boston Theological Institute consortium.
The Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion is an interdenominational divinity school at Vanderbilt University, a major research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is one of only six university-based schools of religion in the United States without a denominational affiliation that service primarily mainline Protestantism.
The Reverend Carl P. Daw, Jr. M.A., M.Div., Ph.D. is an American Episcopal priest. He is Curator of Hymnological Collections and Adjunct Professor of Hymnology at Boston University School of Theology, and was Executive Director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2009. In May 2011, he was named a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music.
Ronald Frank Thiemann was an American political theologian and Benjamin Bussey Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School. His research in large part focused on the role of religion in public life. He was dean of Harvard Divinity School from 1986 to 1998.
The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (STM) is the Roman Catholic (Jesuit) graduate theological school at Boston College in the Chestnut Hill and Brighton neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. It is an ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and religious, for scholarship and service, especially within the Roman Catholic Church.
Kevin J. Madigan is a historian of Christianity who has taught at Harvard University since 2000. A member of the Faculty of Divinity, he has also served on Harvard's Committee on the Study of Religion, the Medieval Studies Committee, and the Center for Jewish Studies. Since 2009, Madigan has been Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Harvard Divinity School, an appointment offered by then-Dean of HDS, William Graham, and officially approved by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust. He has been married for over thirty years to Stephanie Paulsell, Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies at HDS. They have one child, Amanda P. Madigan, a student at Harvard Law School. In the summer of 2020, Madigan and Paulsell were appointed Faculty Deans of Eliot House, one of twelve undergraduate residences of Harvard College.
Charles Hallisey is the Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School and an authority on Sinhala literature and Theravada Buddhism.
Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús is an anthropologist, academic, author, and editor. She is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and American Studies at Princeton University, and the author of Electric Santería: Racial and Sexual Assemblages of Transnational Religion (2015). Beliso-De Jesús is also the editor-in-chief of Transforming Anthropology.
Harold Barnes Kuhn was an American professor of philosophy of religion, minister, and humanitarian. As a faculty member at Asbury Theological Seminary, he founded the Asbury Seminarian, which he edited from 1946 to 1978. In 1955, he served a term as president of the Evangelical Theological Society.
