Candler School of Theology
at Emory University
Atlanta, GA | Affiliation: UMC
Programs & Content
Degree Programs
At Candler, we prepare real people to make a real difference in the real world. Whether a student is following a call to church ministry, teaching, non-profit leadership, public policy or theological research, there’s an ethos here that what we do will contribute to the positive transformation of the church and the world. Candler’s curriculum attends to the intellectual, personal, professional, and spiritual growth of students. Students benefit from unique academic offerings while learning from some of the best minds in theological education—and as a part of Emory University, they have access to libraries, research facilities, and events and lectures in a community known for its outstanding scholars and experts. The knowledge they gain in the classroom then resonates in their fieldwork placements in church, social service and clinical settings. This positive feedback loop from the classroom to the community integrates faith, service, and social justice, activating students’ passions and vocational callings in the wider world.
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The Master of Divinity is designed for individuals preparing for a variety of forms of ministry, from the pastorate to non-profit leadership—through a three-year program combining challenging academics, in-depth contextual learning, and faculty-led mentoring. The integration of faith, service, and social justice comes to its fullest expression in our Contextual Education (Con Ed) program. Where other seminaries require only a short field education placement in a church, Candler offers two years (plus optional summers) of practical experience in both social ministry and church settings. First-year placements are in social ministry or clinical settings, such as a non-profit addressing homelessness or refugee resettlement, a prison ministry, or a hospital chaplaincy program. Second-year placements are in churches or other ecclesial settings, such as a campus ministry. Through Con Ed, students are serving as the hands and feet of Christ in the world from their first day on campus.
The Master of Religion and Public Life serves both individuals who want to enhance their spiritual understanding or theological knowledge and those who encounter religion in their vocational or volunteer work and want to increase their effectiveness. Students can tailor the program to their particular interests and contexts, choosing courses from Candler’s catalog as well as those from across Emory University to explore the interdisciplinary nature of religion and theology. Depending on their unique goals, students may deepen their knowledge of the Bible and its interpretation, sharpen their understanding of religion and culture, and strengthen their ability to navigate religious issues they encounter in their lives and work. Two recent MRPL graduates applied their degrees toward developing prison education programs and racial reconciliation.
The Master of Religious Leadership is a two-year degree that enables Christian leaders to enrich their gifts for ministry by providing the biblical, theological, historical, and practical foundation critical for their work. Students build practical ministry skills through supervised internships in their field of interest, choosing from five concentrations: Justice, Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation, Pastoral Care, Mission, Evangelism and World Christianity, Ministries with Youth, and Worship and Music.
The Doctor of Ministry is a three-year, online/hybrid degree designed for experienced ministry professionals who want to strengthen the connection between theology and practice. Taught by Candler’s full-time faculty, the degree is 90% online, so students can remain deeply rooted in their places of ministry while completing their studies. The degree’s coursework and final project draw from the student’s ministry context as well, with a focus on finding faithful and creative solutions to current issues in church and society. Final projects from the most recent graduating class dealt with a restorative approach to anti-bullying, transforming an inward-centered congregation, a video-based small group curriculum on boundary leadership, Eucharistic eating as a model for bridging divides, and doing the work of well-being with African American men on a college campus, among many others.
The Master of Theological Studies draws on Emory's world-renowned faculty and serves those who wish to explore disciplines within theology and religion in a two-year, academic master's degree. The MTS is especially designed for individuals interested in pursuing some aspect of teaching and research, whether in an academic context, the non-profit world, or in public policy and social engagement. The program focuses on three areas: History, Scripture, Tradition of Christianity; Modern Religious Thought and Experience; and Global Religions. The flexibility of the Candler MTS program allows students to focus their work within an area of specialization or construct a broader degree across the theological disciplines. The program is also intentional about helping students discern their vocation through plenaries, small groups and professional development electives in areas such as Non-Profit Leadership and Management; Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding; and Youth Ministry.
Courses Integrating Faith and Service
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Approaches to Criminal Justice Ministry: Examines the historical, social, psychological, and theological implications of crime, punishment, and incarceration in America, including dimensions of the prison insustrial complex as well as their own attitudes and biases towards incarcerated persons.
Restorative Justice: Explores the roots of violence, Christian understandings of restorative justice, and contemporary work in indigenous religions. Examines examples of restorative justice in criminal justice, in U.S. Christian ministries, in relation to violence and incarceration, and in political engagement of global Christian-based groups and institutions.
The Church on the Border: Focuses on immigration policy and realities facing communities on the U.S.-Mexico border. The class will travel to the border for five days of home stays and meetings with migrants, U.S. and Mexican federal agents, Mexican social justice agencies, community organizers and congregational leaders.
Immigration, Religion and the American Church: Introduces students to a biblical and historical understanding of human migration, and examines the concepts, major trends, critical issues, and variety of challenges associated with contemporary realities from a Christian perspective.
Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue: Examines historical and contemporary Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and explore theologies and practices of dialogue between members of these Abrahamic faiths, with attention given to interfaith initiatives in the Atlanta area.
Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding: Explores the paradoxical ways religions can promote exclusion, hostility, and violence as well as tolerance, understanding, and peace.
Global Religions and Community Engagement: Prepares students for leadership in a multifaith society through the study of global religions and active engagement with the diverse religious communities of Atlanta. It emphasizes community-engaged learning through site visits and field research in collaboration with religious congregations.
Social Mission of the Christian Church: Critically and faithfully engages the social witness of the church as an integral form of the mission of the church in the world. Students analyze theological foundations for social witness, develop strategies for identifying and articulating that witness in the local church, and reflect upon a personal theology of social ministry.
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Field Education Connecting Faith and Justice:
Candler’s unique Contextual Education (Con Ed) program gives students an opportunity to connect the dots between faith and justice within both non-profit and church settings. Con Ed places all first-year Master of Divinity students in social service or clinical ministry settings. In the second year, they are placed in churches or other ecclesial settings, such as campus ministry. One outcome of the dual placements is that students expand the notion of church and of ministry while forming skills for leadership in ministries of justice and reconciliation, both in and outside the church. Among the social service and clinical settings are:
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Refugee Ministries: Congregational Ministries with Refugees, and the Refugee Services division of Lutheran Services of Georgia, where students assist those new to the United States with literacy, parenting skills to enhance child development, and connect them with educational, employment, and health care resources; they also visit immigrant detainees.
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Hospital Ministry: Gwinnett Medical Center, where students assist the professional chaplaincy staff by providing pastoral care to patients and their families.
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Prison/Criminal Justice Ministries: Lee Arrendale State Prison, Metro Transitional Center, Helms Facility, and the Department of Juvenile Justice’s Youth Detention Center, where students provide pastoral care to incarcerated women, youth in detention, terminally ill and pregnant inmates, and those transitioning out of the prison system.
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Ministries Related to Poverty: Gateway Center, First Presbyterian Church Community Ministries, and Campbell-Stone Apartments, where students provide hands-on service to the homeless, working poor, and low-income seniors through food pantries, emergency assistance, life skill courses, facilitating poetry groups, and serving as ministers in weekly chapel and prayer services.
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During the summer months, Candler students are encouraged to participate in paid ministry internships and the Candler Advantage program, which provide advanced contextual education and professional development, further enhancing students’ understandings of faith and justice in ecclesial and community settings.
Student Engagement
Extra-Curricular Opportunities
At Candler, our mission is to educate faithful and creative leaders for the church’s ministries throughout the world, so we emphasize deep engagement with the world and real-world contexts from the start.
Our students engage with the world in myriad ways in Atlanta and across the nation and the globe. Through our Contextual Education program, students are immersed in different social and ecclesial ministry contexts from day one. Opportunities for international study and ministry internships span six continents. Even our own Candler community is a microcosm of the real world, with a student body representing a wealth of diversity: 39 denominations, 12 countries, numerous ethnicities, and a wide age range studying in one of 16 degree programs. Plus, we are part of Emory University, a top-20 research institution with a global reach that enthusiastically supports the study of religion.
Among the dozen or more chartered student organizations at Candler is the Social Concerns Network, which supports, coordinates, and promotes social activism that emerges from the faith commitments of our students. SCN advocates the living out of theology in an effort to question and transform political, economic, and social structures in society and the world. In the past two years, SCN has focused on diverse topics ranging from abolishing the death penalty to advocating for homeless youth to championing fair labor practices for farm workers. Recent activities include participation in protests, letter-writing campaigns, prayer and worship services, seminars, and direct activism on campus, in the city of Atlanta, and on social media.
Candler students are also notably active in the Black Lives Matter movement, with wide participation that cuts across specific organizations to encompass a significant portion of the student body, faculty, and staff. The breadth of this participation reflects Candler’s commitment to nurture leaders who create positive change in our world, giving prophetic voice to move us closer to where God calls us to be.
Our students engage with the world in myriad ways in Atlanta and across the nation and the globe. Through our Contextual Education program, students are immersed in different social and ecclesial ministry contexts from day one. Opportunities for international study and ministry internships span six continents. Even our own Candler community is a microcosm of the real world, with a student body representing a wealth of diversity: 39 denominations, 12 countries, numerous ethnicities, and a wide age range studying in one of 16 degree programs. Plus, we are part of Emory University, a top-20 research institution with a global reach that enthusiastically supports the study of religion.
Among the dozen or more chartered student organizations at Candler is the Social Concerns Network, which supports, coordinates, and promotes social activism that emerges from the faith commitments of our students. SCN advocates the living out of theology in an effort to question and transform political, economic, and social structures in society and the world. In the past two years, SCN has focused on diverse topics ranging from abolishing the death penalty to advocating for homeless youth to championing fair labor practices for farm workers. Recent activities include participation in protests, letter-writing campaigns, prayer and worship services, seminars, and direct activism on campus, in the city of Atlanta, and on social media.
Candler students are also notably active in the Black Lives Matter movement, with wide participation that cuts across specific organizations to encompass a significant portion of the student body, faculty, and staff. The breadth of this participation reflects Candler’s commitment to nurture leaders who create positive change in our world, giving prophetic voice to move us closer to where God calls us to be.
Walking the Talk - Staying Engaged while in Seminary
We believe that people make a place, so we asked schools to profile three students who engaged in major social issues while in seminary.
Darrin Sims, MDiv student, anticipated graduation in 2021
St. Louis native Darrin Sims has always been interested in civil rights and activism. He majored in political science and history, served as a congressional intern, and taught middle school with Teach for America before enrolling at Candler in 2016. Through Con Ed, Darrin works with incarcerated youth at the Department of Juvenile Justice in Atlanta, serving as a chaplain at a residential facility for teenagers charged with crimes or found guilty of crimes, who are awaiting disposition of their cases by a juvenile court. “Darrin is a model for pastoral care,” says his supervisor. “He brings his teaching experience, his faith, and his creativity to engage youth in conversations about social justice.”
Tiffania Willetts, MDiv student, graduated in 2018
The daughter of United Methodist pastors—one from Puerto Rico and the other from Alabama—Tiffania grew up bilingual, bicultural, and very geographically mobile: Her family moved every five years to a new city in Florida. That context shaped her understanding of what the church is and what the church should do, she says. After college, Tiffania spent three years as a missionary in Argentina and in the United States before coming to Candler, where she is active in making the school and the broader Emory University more inclusive and more just through work with the Candler Latin American Community, The Candler Committee on Racial Equality, and the Emory Graduate Student Government Association.
Hannah Schultz, MDiv student, graduated in 2019
Growing up in the church, Hannah took on leadership roles in church youth groups, missions and service trips, summer camps, campus ministry, and interfaith programs—all of which set the stage for her decision to enroll at Candler. While here, she’s pursued her interest in interfaith work by doing her Con Ed at a local refugee ministry, where she’s involved with a family literacy program that supports mothers and their young children as they make the difficult transition to a new country with a political climate that’s often hostile to them. She hopes to find even more ways to support and show compassion to this marginalized group, many of whom are Muslim. “There are a lot of negative media messages directed toward refugee populations,” she says. “I think it’s critical that through this work, I show members of refugee communities that there are people who are glad they’re here.”
Service-Based Scholarships
All Candler scholarships are awarded based on merit to those whose life experiences, service to others, and vocational expressions support the school’s mission: to educate faithful and creative leaders for the church’s ministries throughout the world. Examples include those listed in the tabs below.
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The Dean’s Scholarship: Covers full tuition, fees, and an annual stipend of up to $20,000 for 3 academic years; one awarded per year; financial need is considered in the award decision.
Faculty Scholarships: Cover full tuition, fees, and an annual stipend of up to $20,000 for 3 academic years; three awarded per year; financial need is considered in the award decision.
Woodruff Scholarships: Cover full tuition, fees, and a $10,000 annual stipend for 3 academic years; five awarded per year to students who demonstrate qualities of confident and unselfish character combined with a deep concern for others; intellectual achievement; outstanding communication skills; significant leadership and creativity in school, church, or community; and clear potential for enriching the lives of seminary peers as well as their faith communities
Carpenter Scholarships for Community Engagement: $5000/year for 3 academic years; multiple awardees per year chosen based on academic excellence and the student’s deep passion for social transformation and commitment to community engagement.
Community Scholarships: Up to full tuition for 3 academic years; multiple awardees per year, chosen based on past community contributions and potential for ministerial leadership, and academic record.
Core Commitments
Environmental Q&A: How does Candler School of Theology practice and promote environmental stewardship and sustainability?
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Emory University identifies sustainability as a top campus priority, with a vision to help restore the global ecosystem, foster healthy living, and reduce the university's environmental impact. The comprehensive sustainability plan includes initiatives for green building and green space protection, energy awareness, waste minimization, water conservation, sustainable food, sustainable commute options, and encouraging a connection to the natural world. More than half of the campus is protected green space, and among U.S. campuses, Emory has one of the largest inventories (by square footage) of building space that's certified to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. We employ environmentally conscious construction, and operate a robust recycling program to recycle everything from white paper to snack bags to computers…and most things in between.
The university has recently earned awards for its innovative WaterHub, an on-site water reclamation system capable of recycling up to 400,000 gallons of water per day—nearly 40% of Emory’s total campus water needs. Committed action in the energy conservation category led the university to reduce its energy use by 25% from 2005-2015, and we are working toward 75% of the food at campus eateries being local and/or sustainably grown by 2025. Among other “green” accolades, in 2015, BestColleges.com ranked Emory among the top 10 “greenest” universities in the nation. |
Q: What makes Candler unique?
Prison/Criminal Justice Ministries
Candler has fostered close relationships with multiple sites within the state criminal justice system, including Lee Arrendale State Prison for Women, Metro Regional Youth Detention Center, Metro Transitional Center, and Helms Facility. These relationships have been built across many years, resulting in a level of trust for Candler that gives our students exceptionally close access to participate in ministry with inmates. This occurs especially through Contextual Education, where a student may serve at one of these sites for an entire academic year (descriptions of the sites are found under the “Academics” section). Additionally, Candler professor Liz Bounds and alumna Susan Bishop founded an educational program at Lee Arrendale State Prison that offers a one- or two-year Certificate in Theological Studies. Other seminaries in the Atlanta Theological Association now participate with Candler in the Certificate program, which provides theological education to around 40 inmates in a given year. Candler students often teach in the Certificate program. Related to this work with the prison system is significant student, alumni, and faculty action in anti-death penalty work. Candler students have been instrumental in raising awareness of issues with the death penalty across the past 5 years. That work reached an international audience in 2015 with the remarkable efforts of the #kellyonmymind campaign to save Lee Arrendale inmate and Certificate program graduate Kelly Gissendaner from execution. Though the efforts to have Gissendaner’s sentence commuted did not succeed in the end, the campaign garnered wide media attention, even winning the attention of Pope Francis, who wrote to Georgia’s governor on Gissendaner’s behalf. The momentum kept going even after the campaign, and students, alumni and faculty remain active in anti-death penalty advocacy. In February 2017, Candler’s Social Concerns Network organized a 3-city anti-death penalty tour of Georgia featuring Shane Claiborne, local activists, and family members of those who had been executed by the state. Curriculum-wise, Candler added a concentration in Criminal Justice Ministries in 2016.
Immigration/Refugee Ministries
Just a few miles from Candler lies Clarkston, Ga., a town that welcomes 1,500 refugees per year and half the population is foreign born. This offers students a learning lab for welcoming and working with refugees, which they do largely through Contextual Education placements at either Congregational Ministries with Refugees or the Refugee Services division of Lutheran Services of Georgia. Working through these organizations, students assist those new to the United States with literacy, parenting skills to enhance child development, and connect them with educational, employment, and health care resources; they also visit immigrants who have been detained by ICE. Because of Atlanta’s role as a global transportation hub, there is no shortage of opportunities to engage in ministry with immigrants and refugees in extra-curricular life as well: hundreds of metro area churches in many denominations have language classes and resettlement services as part of their ministry offerings.
Careers that Change the World
Q: What are some of the innovative or non-traditional jobs/careers recent grads have landed?
Jeania Ree Moore, 2015 MDiv
Director for Civil and Human Rights, General Board of Church and Society of The UMC
The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church is dedicated to the work of living faith, seeking justice, and pursuing peace. As director for Civil and Human Rights, Jeania Ree engages in advocacy related to immigration, refugees and migration, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, the death penalty, religious liberty, racial justice, voting rights, and education.
The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church is dedicated to the work of living faith, seeking justice, and pursuing peace. As director for Civil and Human Rights, Jeania Ree engages in advocacy related to immigration, refugees and migration, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, the death penalty, religious liberty, racial justice, voting rights, and education.
Tim Moore, 2012 MDiv
Executive Director, L’Arche Atlanta
One of the 147 communities of L’Arche International, a global organization that envisions a world where everyone has a secure place of belonging in community, where people with and without disabilities can live in mutually transformative relationship, and where all people's gifts are valued and given a place from which to contribute to the wider society. ...
One of the 147 communities of L’Arche International, a global organization that envisions a world where everyone has a secure place of belonging in community, where people with and without disabilities can live in mutually transformative relationship, and where all people's gifts are valued and given a place from which to contribute to the wider society. ...
Brenna Lakeson, 2016 MDiv
Program Assistant, Central Advocacy and Outreach Center
Central OAC offers programs and services – including supportive services, employment readiness training, and public policy advocacy – to equip and empower our guests to find a way out of homelessness.
Central OAC offers programs and services – including supportive services, employment readiness training, and public policy advocacy – to equip and empower our guests to find a way out of homelessness.
Brian Combs, 2006 MDiv
Founder and Pastor, The Haywood Street Congregation
A church in downtown Asheville, NC, practicing radical welcome to all, with special ministries for those experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and other marginalizing situations.
A church in downtown Asheville, NC, practicing radical welcome to all, with special ministries for those experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and other marginalizing situations.
Alisha Gordon, 2015 MDiv
National Director of Faith Initiatives, Mike Bloomberg 2020
“In this role, I’m leaning into a conversation that focuses on issues and innovation: what are the issues faith communities are most concerned about and how do we elevate their innovative ideas to help solve these issues? I'm committed to doing what I can to push for accountability, experiences for leaders to listen more than they speak, and opportunities to elevate the voices of people who are doing the work.”
“In this role, I’m leaning into a conversation that focuses on issues and innovation: what are the issues faith communities are most concerned about and how do we elevate their innovative ideas to help solve these issues? I'm committed to doing what I can to push for accountability, experiences for leaders to listen more than they speak, and opportunities to elevate the voices of people who are doing the work.”
Reginald Cleaver, Jr., 2012 MDiv
Chaplain, Atlanta VA Medical Center
On the front lines of offering spiritual care for veterans who may have experienced moral injury, PTSD or spiritual crisis related to their service or return to civilian life.
On the front lines of offering spiritual care for veterans who may have experienced moral injury, PTSD or spiritual crisis related to their service or return to civilian life.
The Dean's Q&A
Q: How is Candler School of Theology changing the world?
Jan LoveDean, Candler School of Theology
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At Candler, we prepare real people to make a real difference in the real world. Whether a student is following a call to church ministry, teaching, non-profit leadership, public policy or theological research, there’s an ethos here that what we do will contribute to the positive transformation of the church and the world. As a university-based seminary of The United Methodist Church, Candler is committed to teaching and learning to transform Christian congregations and public life, and to serving God and the world through the formation of leaders dedicated to ministries of justice, righteousness, peace, and the flourishing of all creation. Our vision for leadership is that one leads best by being deeply immersed in a context, learning and understanding its multiple layers and nuances. This is the underlying premise of our extensive Contextual Education program. Through this experience of joining supervised field work, classroom learning, and faculty mentoring, our students develop an enduring, adaptive capacity to apply the theological insights and leadership skills they gain at Candler to any number of ministry contexts to make for a more just and peaceful world. |
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