The M.Div. Program
Introduction
The Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree is a three-year professional course of study that aims to educate thoughtful, faithful, transformative leaders for church, academy, and community.
M.Div. students will:
- Establish a breadth of competence in religious studies.
- Develop a thorough understanding of biblical, historical, and theological foundations for Christian ministry.
- Integrate these foundational studies, along with insights from the social sciences and other disciplines, through practical theological reflection on the experience and practice of ministry in congregational and other settings.
- Acquire life-long habits of scholarship and critical inquiry that will sponsor continued vocational growth and renewal.
The M.Div. curriculum emphasizes the role of ministers as practical theologians. Three exercises in practical theological reflection, one in each year of the M.Div. program, provide a common structure for the work of all students in the program.
1. Public Church in America, taken by all first-year students, consists of a historical introduction to the cultural context of ministry in contemporary America, and engagement in a model of practical religious reasoning.
2. The Arts of Ministry Sequence in Worship, Preaching, and Pastoral Care provides second-year students with hands-on work in practical theology, relating these ministerial arts to the theological and cultural exploration of religious leadership and ritual as well as the concrete experiences of the students' congregational field education placements. See Field Education for more information.
3. The Senior Ministry Thesis and Project is the culminating movement of the M.Div. program. In their final year, students participate in a project seminar and write a 30- to 40-page thesis on a topic of their choosing, under the direction of a faculty advisor, demonstrating their practical theological skill as it is applied to an issue or problem in the practice of ministry. In the spring quarter of the final year, students make public presentations of their projects, designed to bring various disciplines, or “publics,” together for enriched theological reflection. See Senior Ministry Project for more information.
Program Requirements
Beyond these core classes in practical theology for ministry, M.Div. students extend their work in historical theology by taking at least three courses in Bible (Introduction to Hebrew Bible, Introduction to New Testament, and a course in biblical theology or exegesis), an introduction to theology, and at least two courses from the regular offerings of the History of Christianity and Theology areas (History of Christian Thought I–VI, History of Theological Ethics I–II, and/or The History of Christianity, 1600–1900).
M.Div. students are also expected in their second or third year to extend their work in systematic theology by selecting a course that provides an opportunity to write a constructive theological reflection that addresses a central question in Christian theology, reckons with the position of a major thinker, and arrvies at a critical judgment of the question.
In sum, the program requirements for the M.Div. degree are as follows:
1. Three years of scholastic residence.
2. Completion of a minimum of twenty-eight courses, including the following:
a) The masters-level introductory course, DVSC 30400 “Introduction to the Study of Religion” (required for all first-year masters students).
b) Public Church in America (CHRM 30200)
c) Introduction to Hebrew Bible (BIBL 32400)
d) Introduction to New Testament (BIBL 32500)
e) Introduction to Theology (THEO 31600)
f) Any two of the following courses in the History of Christianity or Theology: HCHR 30100, 30200, 30300, 30400, 30700, 31000; THEO 31100, 31200.
g) Arts of Ministry for the Public Church (CHRM 35500, 35600, 35700)
h) One course in biblical theology or exegesis.
i) One course in History of Religions, Religion and Literature, or Anthropology and Sociology of Religion taught by a Divinity School faculty member in the Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences.
j) One course for which the student submits a constructive theological paper, selected from a set of courses established annually by the Committee on Ministry Studies in consultation with faculty in Theology, to be taken before completion of the Senior Ministry Project seminar.
k) The Senior Ministry Project seminar (CHRM 42500).
3. Participation in the weekly integration seminar for first-year students, “Introduction to Ministry Studies (Colloquium)” (CHRM 30500).
4. Demonstration of competence in either New Testament Greek or Biblical Hebrew by either course work or examination.
5. Successful completion of field education and fieldwork. A year of Field Education in the Teaching Parish program is required during the student's second year, including successful completion of the weekly practicum class, "Reflection on the Practice of Ministry (Practicum)." A subsequent unit of approved and supervised fieldwork is also required.
6. Completion in the third year of an acceptable M.Div. Senior Ministry Project, consisting of two parts:
- a) A thirty-page thesis in practical theology for the public church.
- b) The oral presentation of the project in an appropriate public forum that includes ministry students and members of the Committee on Ministry Studies.
M.Div. students may take up to four courses in the neighboring theological schools, ordinarily for purposes of meeting ordination requirements. Each course must be approved in advance by the Director of Ministry Studies and the Dean of Students in the Divinity School. In special circumstances, with the approval of the Director and the Committee on Ministry Studies, students may take up to two additional courses in these schools.
Application For Bi-Registration At The University Of Chicago (pdf)
Application For Bi-Registration At The Lutheran School Of Theology (pdf)
All M.Div. students are expected to maintain a grade average of at least B-. A student whose grade average falls below B- may be placed on academic probation or asked by the Committee on Ministry Studies to terminate his or her program of study.
