Programs & Content

Degree Programs

In many ways, each of our seven degree programs integrate faith and service in that the mission of Duke Divinity School is ‘to engage in spiritually disciplined and academically rigorous education in service and witness to the Triune God in the midst of the church, the academy, and the world.’ All of our degree programs provide a theological grounding in the historic and orthodox faith with the purpose of forming leaders who will have the imaginations to be social innovators. The Master of Divinity degree is the clearest example of this. The Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program is a three-year degree that prepares students for a wide range of ministries in the church, academy, and world. Our distinguished faculty members teach a broad set of core course requirements that cover the classical disciplines of church history, Biblical studies, theology, and practical ministry, as well as elective opportunities that allow students to either complete ordination processes or to pursue the particular interests and passions to which God has called them.

We form students for ministry in a variety of ways — through coursework, corporate worship, field education, service opportunities, houses of study, and denominational associations. Each first-year M.Div. student is also placed in an intentional spiritual formation group led by a local pastor or religious leader. These small, diverse groups meet weekly to share concerns, reflect on the nature of Christian discipleship, and pray together. Two weekend retreats each year extend the experience. There are generously paid field education internships built into the three-year model, allowing students to receive practical experience and training as a complement to work done in the classroom. Our spiritual formation component, required of each first-year student, nourishes the life of discipleship and prayer.

The curriculum for our flagship degree program is designed to give students a solid foundation for wherever their calling takes them—be that ordination, lay ministry, nonprofit work, or a career in teaching. Our classes cover Old and New Testament, Church history, Christian theology, world Christianity, ministry, worship, preaching, Biblical languages, the Black Church, and a variety of electives. Our electives give students the opportunity for in-depth exploration of critical theological issues that face contemporary society. Students can take classes with Project TURN, in which incarcerated men and women study alongside Duke Divinity School students; engage connections between food and faith with Professor Norman Wirzba; or explore connections between Christianity and medicine with practicing physicians and theologians. Our M.Div. program boasts an academically rigorous curriculum surrounded by vibrant worship, contextual learning, opportunities for spiritual formation, and a close-knit student community. Through the breadth and depth of its program, the M.Div. leaves open many vocational doors to graduates, including pastoral ministry, non-profit leadership, further academic work, and teaching.

Duke Divinity School currently offers six certificates and concentrations that give students the opportunity to focus their coursework on a particular area of ministry or study. The Certificatein Anglican Studies is designed to serve the academic and formational requirements of those preparing for ministry—lay and especially ordained—in the Episcopal Church and other member churches of the Anglican Communion. The Certificate in Baptist Studies is designed to serve the academic and formational requirements of those preparing for ministry—ordained and lay—in the Baptist tradition. The certificate in Gender, Sexuality, Theology, and Ministry (GSTM) is designed to offer opportunities to women and men to study gender and sexuality in the life of the church, in the Christian tradition, and in contemporary culture. The certificate in Prison Studies provides students with the opportunity to engage specifically with people in prison and the system that imprisons them in the context of theological education and formation for ministry. The Certificate in Theology, Medicine, and Culture will prepare Duke Divinity students for robust theological and practical engagement with contemporary practices in medicine and healthcare. The Concentration in Christian Education benefits persons seeking to practice as church educators, teachers, college chaplains, youth workers, or health care workers.​

Courses Integrating Faith and Service

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Listen, Organize, Act. This course integrates practical, political and systematic theology with practices drawn from community organizing, community development and repertoires of direct action in order to help participants work with congregations and communities to develop strategies for faithful and transformative change. The course also serves as an introduction to Christian approaches to social, political and economic witness. Basic categories churches use to frame social and political engagement will be explored; for example, “neighbor love” and “prophecy”; as well as some concepts and dynamics that are present but not used, such as “power,” “self-interest,” and “politics.”

Christianity, Race, and the American Nation. Religion is diffused throughout American life and culture; it is lived and practiced in complex—and sometimes contradictory—ways across the Nation’s many miles and demographics. Race as a concept is a constantly shifting chimera, which nevertheless bestows or denies historic, economic, and social benefits to those it defines. “Christianity, Race, and the American Nation” will explore the major themes of African American religious history as people of African descent battled slavery, survived Jim Crow segregation, pushed for equality in the Civil Rights Movement, and eventually came to see a man of African descent living in the White House.

The Most Segregated Hour: Churches, Race, Class, & Caste. The Christian church remains the most segregated institution in America. It has been nearly sixty years since the historic 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education that began public school integration. It has been almost fifty years since Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech in 1963. Yet, most Protestant congregations still reflect the racial makeup of their pre-Civil Rights era counterparts. This course explores why this is so and asks how we can move forward toward a religious life that better reflects the diversity of the nation.

World Christianity, Contemporary Politics, and Responses to Poverty. The course aims to identify and develop critical frameworks for assessing the theology and practice of church affiliated NGOs such as Christian charities, social welfare services (whether local, national or global in reach), Christian political initiatives, and social movements within the context of a globalized and post-secular world.

Beyond Borders: Latin American, Latino, and Hispanic Theologies. This course will theorize Crossing Borders and the shared space of Latin American, Latino/a, and Hispanic religious voices. The course will have a historical component, beginning with a look at the encounter between European religious traditions and the indigenous religious map of the Americas. We will then study the emergence of Latin American Liberation theology and trace the development of this theological flow through to the present day. The last part of the course will concentrate on Latino/a and Hispanic religious voices in the United States and interpret their specific discourse within the larger shared space mapped in the first part of the course.

Caring for Creation. This course will consider the various ways churches can address the leading environ-mental crisis of our time: global warming, species, and biodiversity loss, food and water, habitat loss, pollution, etc. Various models of care (stewardship, priesthood, virtue) and church practice (education, liturgy, mission) will be considered and developed.

Restorative Justice, Prison Ministry, and the Church. The course describes and critiques realities and issues in the American criminal justice system and the underlying ideology of retribution in light of the theology of restorative justice and the church's mission as an agent of reconciliation. Models of restorative justice, prison ministry, and the pastoral role in forming such ministries are considered.

Ministry with Millennials. The “Millennials” (those born after 1980 or so) are often described in faith communities as the “missing demographic.” This is likely true if we are looking for them in the pews at 11:00am on Sunday morning. They are not, however, missing from places of substance and engagement, often the very places where communities of faith take a stand for truth and justice. It is incumbent on faith communities both to reach into the places where millennials are “living, moving, and having being,” and to reclaim our rich heritage of standing with the lost and forgotten of this world.

Education and Social Issues. This course will attend to such themes as the relationship between tradition and prophetic imagination, church life as ecological in the broadest sense, and theologies of creation, incarnation, redemption, Spirit sustenance, and eschatology. Several outdoor-oriented field trips are planned in order for students to encounter first hand a variety of ecological issues and pedagogies.

Gender and Popular Culture: Women, Theology, and the New Environmentalism. Religious vocation is central to the life of the Christian community, whether defined as a call to ordination or to lay ministry. Since the formation of religions vocation is a function not only of ecclesiastical authorities and traditions, but also of cultural conventions and images of women and religion, a study of the subject must attend to cultural forces. This course addresses the subject of women's religious vocation and the influence of cultural processes by pairing important texts on various forms of calling and ministry with films on religious vocation. It will give students the opportunity to critically examine the gendered relationships found in various films, and the way the religious faith is imagined.

The Bible & Domestic Violence. This course will combine scriptural exegesis with the study of literature on pastoral care relating to domestic violence (DV). It will also include guest lectures by experts in DV and third party training in responding to DV. Throughout, students will seek to weave together the study of scripture with the study of contemporary contexts in order to cultivate a response to DV that is not only informed by scripture, but also energized by the biblical witness and adept at marshalling a host of scriptural resources.

Principalities, Powers, and Preaching. This course will examine Biblical texts, liturgical materials, theological literature, films, and the newspaper as resources for exploring the nature of what the New Testament calls the “Principalities and Powers,” as well as their significance for preaching.

Field Education Connecting Faith and Justice:

Duke Divinity School maintains field education placement opportunities with over 150 different church and non-profit partners, the majority of whom connect faith and justice explicitly in their context. To illustrate, here are descriptions of the opportunities for connecting faith and justice from 5 of our placement partners:

Step Up Ministry

Step-Up Ministry has been a partnered site of Field Education for 5 years and has hosted more than 10 students from Duke Divinity School. Step-Up Ministry is located in Raleigh, North Carolina just blocks from the North Carolina State University campus. Their vision is to be the premier resource in Wake County for people seeking to improve their lives and develop stable careers. What makes this placement unique is that they are thoroughly faith-perspective driven. Some opportunities that the intern gets to experience during their time include writing devotions, evaluating curriculum, building relationships with participants, and developing long-term relationships with the North Carolina prisons and the Prison Ministry certificate program.

Duke Memorial United Methodist Church

​Duke Memorial United Methodist Church has been a loyal partner with the Field Education office since 1973 and has hosted countless student interns. Mission and outreach is strong at Duke Memorial UMC, with an incarnational model for mission, building relationships with the nearby West End neighborhood and JJ Henderson housing facility. Duke Memorial also provides physical office space for several local non-profits such as BUMP: The Triangle, which teaches music from the African Diaspora to urban youth. Duke Memorial has long-standing partnerships with organizations such as Interfaith Hospitality Network and Urban Ministries of Durham.

LeSalle Street Church

​LaSalle Street Church is located in downtown Chicago and offers a variety of opportunities for interns. In addition to more traditional ministries the church offers, they also serve and work with homeless men and women, senior citizens, and neighbors in various economic and ethnic groups. Their mission statement states that as a church, they “seek to be a diverse community that worships Jesus Christ and responds to His claims and call by pursuing authentic relationships, genuine service with others, and participation in the broader Christian church.”

The Church of the Saviour

​The Church of the Saviour is an ecumenical church comprised of multiple faith communities in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Along with its eight independent small churches, there are approximately 30 mission organizations providing support to persons in need. An intern has opportunities to visit and preach for multiple churches while investing deeply in The Potter’s House, Dayspring Church, or The Church of Christ, Right Now. At The Potter’s House, the intern joins a diverse community of seekers to discuss spiritual journey/justice-oriented books and films all for the purpose of dialogue and respect across differences. At Dayspring Church, the interns have an opportunity to preach and plan worship in an outdoor pavilion, learn about land spirituality, attend a silent retreat, and help make lunches for a homeless shelter. Finally, at The Church of Christ, Right Now, which is a small urban faith community focused on mass incarceration, an intern will get to walk alongside those who are discovering their gifts through their greatest wounds.

World Relief

​World Relief is a non-profit setting located in Durham, North Carolina. Their mission is to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable by working with and serving the refugee community. World Relief engages the local church through Welcome Teams, where volunteers pick up newly arrived refugees from the airport; Apartment Set-Up Teams, where volunteers set up newly arrived refugees apartments; Donations Organization Teams, where volunteers organize and maintain World Relief’s storage facilities and donations; and Good Neighbor Teams, where volunteers partner with the refugees for at least their first six months in the U.S. engaging them through integral mission.

Student Engagement

Extra-Curricular Opportunities: International Field Education

Duke Divinity School’s summer internships in International Field Education place theological education and pastoral training in the context of an increasingly interconnected global community. These international placements have been offered since 2001, when three divinity school students spent the summer serving in South Africa. Since then, interest and applications to the program have risen dramatically. The program now includes internships in Mexico, El Salvador, South Africa, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.
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Students selected for these 10-week summer placements receive a stipend to offset travel and living expenses as well as tuition assistance. Many students have ranked this opportunity among the top five reasons that they chose Duke Divinity School over other seminaries.

The goals of international field education are:

• To learn about the church in other cultures, languages, and traditions
• To be stretched and transformed by the gospel as it is lived out in another country
• To be equipped for cross-cultural ministry and to develop sensitivity to the needs of the world

To learn more about our International Field placements visit: https://divinity.duke.edu/formation/field-education/international-field-education

Walking the Talk - Student Engagement

We believe that people make a place, so we asked schools to profile three current students who are engaging major social issues while in seminary.

Margie Quinn is a 2nd year MDiv student. Before coming to Duke, she spent two years in Seattle serving people experiencing homelessness and taught justice workshops to youth at Christian summer camps all over the country. She lived at a Lutheran Retreat Center in the North Cascades, learning how live sustainably and in community. Now a student at Divinity School, she engages the world through her studies and is currently pursuing a Certificate in Gender, Sexuality, Theology and Ministry and a Certificate in Prison Studies. She also lives in an intentional community, The Friendship House, with other Divinity students and adults with development disabilities. This experience has stretched her understanding of God's beautiful, messy kin-dom and shown her how much God shows up through the daily practice of encountering another person. Lastly, she finds time to pray with her feet. She shows up to marches and protests in order to listen and be witness to God's children calling for justice for the oppressed and marginalized.

Tamario Howze is a Senior M.Div. student. He has a heart for public service and a commitment to ministry within the marginalized urban context. As a Durham native, he currently works with DurhamCares to mobilize pastors to bridge connections between one another in order to challenge the injustices within the city of Durham. He is a spokesperson within DurhamCAN, the Religious Coalition for Non-Violent Durham, and People Against Crime. He also serves as the Divinity liaison and Vice President of Black Graduate and Professional Students Association. Currently, he is serving with Global Interfaith Partnership (the Umoja Project) in Kisumu, Kenya where he is working with communities and families who are experiencing economic hardship.

​Seyun Hwang is a Senior M.Div. student. He has been involved in Reality Ministries since he came from South Korea to America to pursue an M.Div. at Duke Divinity School in 2015. As a part of Reality Ministries, he lives in the Friendship House in Durham that provides housing for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, matching them with Duke students as their roommates and friends. It is a place of community that creates opportunities to learn how to live in interdependence and mutual growth through the life-changing reality of Christ's love. His daily life is rooted in faith-based fellowship expressed through a regular rhythm of eating, praying and celebrating together. He has gained deeper insights into the nature of community and of God by learning about the diverse gifts of those with and without disabilities, the ways they can enrich the lives of others.

Service-Based Scholarships

Duke Divinity School offers a number of scholarships and fellowships that can help fund a student’s theological education, and all students admitted to the M.Div., M.T.S., M.A.C.S., M.A.C.P., D.Min., and Th.D. programs receive some scholarship support. Many of our scholarships recognize students who demonstrate a commitment to service and justice work.
A few specific examples include:​

Dean's Scholarships

​Dean’s Scholarships, ranging up to 75 percent of tuition per year, are awarded to entering M.Div. students. Factors taken into account include ethnic origin, missional responsibilities for the church at home and abroad, and denominational needs.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Endowed Fund Scholarships

​Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Endowed Fund Scholarships are annually given to entering students who belong to ethnic minorities. These scholarships reward outstanding promise for ministry in areas of service and justice and who demonstrate strong academic performance.

The William W McCutchen & Irene L McCutchen Endowed Schoarlship

​The William W. McCutchen and Irene L. McCutchen endowed scholarship is offered to students enrolled in Duke Divinity School who demonstrate vocational clarity for service in world missions and who seek to encourage global perspectives, learning, and leadership in ministerial education. Preference is given to but not limited to international students with particular promise for Christian leadership who also have significant financial need.

Duke Divinity School views the church as the catalyst for service and justice work, and the majority of our scholarships recognize students who demonstrate promise for ministry in the church. A full list of scholarships can be seen on our website at http://divinity.duke.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships-fellowships.

Core Commitments

Environmental Q&A: How does Duke Divinity School practice and promote environmental stewardship and sustainability?

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Duke Divinity School promotes environmental stewardship and sustainability through course offerings, field placements, and a growing cultural awareness of how faith and food intersect. Caring for Creation is one of our courses taught by Dr. Norman Wirzba. This course considers the various ways churches can address the leading environmental crisis of our time: global warming, species, and biodiversity loss, food and water, habitat loss, pollution, etc. Various models of care (stewardship, priesthood, virtue) and church practice (education, liturgy, mission) are considered and developed.

We also have a direct partnership with Anathoth Community Garden and Farm in Cedar Grove, NC. The mission of Anathoth is “cultivating peace by using good food and sustainable agriculture to connect people with their neighbors, the land, and God” (Website). Anathoth practices sustainable agriculture, which is a way of growing food that preserves the vitality of the farm, the surrounding ecosystem, and the local community.
Through the partnership with Duke Divinity School, Anathoth is a site for Master of Divinity (M.Div.) students to fulfill field education requirements. The ministerial and educational opportunities that Divinity students receive while serving with Anathoth, part-time for the academic year or full-time for ten weeks over the summer are wide-ranging and deep, include but are not limited to:
- Extending social and spiritual support to children and adults from diverse backgrounds - Facilitating worshipful experiences in the garden such as Bible studies and Eucharist services - Learning to navigate the horticultural and social challenges of an agrarian ministry - Behind-the-scenes of some of the fundraising and administrative responsibilities of running a non-profit organization.​

Q: What makes Duke Divinity School unique?

A: A focus on restorative justice and the Certificate in Prison Studies

One area of social justice that has a particular engagement at Duke Divinity School is restorative justice. The United States has the largest prison population in the world and the system is primarily punitive rather than restorative. In response to this social justice issue, Duke Divinity School has created a Certificate in Prison Studies. The Certificate in Prison Studies can be earned within the M.Div. program and provides students with the opportunity to engage specifically with people in prison and the system that imprisons them in the context of theological education and formation for ministry.

Students in the certificate program take a course on restorative justice and an additional prison studies elective. They also participate in a Project TURN course taught on-site in a local prison and complete a field education placement in a prison setting, a local church doing prison ministry, or a non-profit organization that works with incarcerated persons. Project TURN creates a learning environment in which incarcerated men and women and Duke Divinity School students can learn alongside one another as classmates. Classes balance academic training and personal spiritual development to offer a unique experience in which diverse students stretch their boundaries and enlarge their imaginations. In addition, students join a designated prison-oriented spiritual formation group or they can petition to complete an approved research project.
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Beyond the certificate program, the program in Prison Studies also brings speakers to the Divinity School to address issues related to justice and prison ministry within the larger community. Student groups focused on prison ministry and justice also host regular events, including panel discussions and screenings of documentaries on justice issues.

Careers that Change the World

Q: How are Duke alum integrating faith and service in their current ministry/career fields.

Jessica Dayson
​MDiv '13

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Jessica Dayson graduated from Duke Divinity School with a Master
of Divinity degree in 2013. After attending Duke Divinity School,
Jessica received an appointment as a provisional elder in the
United Methodist Church. She helped relaunch the campus
ministry at UNC Asheville in the summer of 2015. The ministry
focuses on helping students connect with God, with each other,
and with the world through engaging conversation, meaningful
service, and deep relationships. Jessica is passionate about
encouraging students to invest in their faith and God's call in their
lives. She gets excited about seeing students respond to the
movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives and dedicating themselves to following Christ more fully.

Jessica is an advocate for the Church to invest in young adults and campus ministry as a
way to be present to an age demographic often neglected by the Church. Jessica lives in
Asheville with her husband, Darryl, who is also United Methodist clergy, and their son Malachi.

Louis Threatt
​MDiv '11

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​Louis Threatt graduated from Duke Divinity School in 2011 with a Master of Divinity degree and a focus on Prison Studies. He attended North Carolina Central University and received a Bachelor in Physics with a minor in Mathematics. Louis is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry degree at Drew University focusing on Pastoral Care and moments of crisis especially with those who are impacted by incarceration. He is the Director of Project TURN a partnership between Duke Divinity School, School for Conversion, State and Federal Prisons.
 
Project TURN (Transform, Unlock, ReNew), creates a learning environment where incarcerated men, women and Duke students can learn alongside one another as classmates. The TURN classes balance academic training and personal spiritual development, which offers aunique experience where diverse students stretch their boundaries and enlarge their imaginations. It is rooted in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world any longer, but transformed by the renewing of your mind...” Louis is also a Special Programs Instructor at Duke assisting with the Prison Studies certificate, helping students think theologically about prison ministry and Restorative Justice. He is an ordained minister who serves as Pastor of Messiah Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Winston-Salem, NC.
 
Louis serves on the Commission on Ministry for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in North Carolina. He also serves on the board of Repairers of the Breach Inc., which educates clergy and lay leaders in developing leaders with a clear progressive moral vision for leadership in the 21st century. He resides in Durham with his wife Tiffany and they have one daughter named Nadia. He is passionate about serving God and seeks to empower others--especially those that are pushed to the margins of life by race, economic status, and/or incarceration. He has a love for the youth and is dedicated to serving all God’s people.

Brandon J Hudson 
​MDiv '13

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​Brandon J. Hudson has a heart for community and a passion for working with young people. As the Executive Director of Urban Hope, Brandon seeks to empower and equip young disciples of Christ with the critical Christian consciousness needed to faithfully navigate the challenges of this world and become agents of change for God's kingdom. Twice a graduate of Duke University, Brandon earned a Bachelor of Arts in African & African-American Studies in 2006 and a Master of Divinity in May of 2013. During his undergraduate career, Brandon invested much of his time building community among students on Duke's campus and across the Triangle area and mentoring young black men in the Durham Public Schools. He also spent eleven weeks in Ghana, West Africa, studying identity and authenticity within hip-hop and youth culture. As a graduate student at Duke Divinity School, Brandon concentrated on ministry in marginalized urban contexts with an emphasis on Christian responses to the prison industrial complex. He was fortunate to serve with and learn from churches in Houston and Baltimore that minister to gang-involved youth and the formerly incarcerated. Ultimately, through his service and leadership with Urban Hope, Brandon desires to enter into friendship with Walltown youth and their families in hopes that together they might learn what it means to be friends with God.

Kelly Steele
MDiv '15

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​Kelly Steele, MDiv ’15, is the Mission Developer for the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. She is starting the Church of the Epiphany to cross social boundaries for the sake of Love, specifically through community organizing and employing creative approaches to liturgy (e.g. using the Music that Makes Community methods and encouraging improvisation). The community organizing serves as the “service” component of our church; instead of starting another food pantry or closing closet they are using Asset-Based Community Development and asking how people become and stay disenfranchised and work on the grassroots level to remediate that.

The Dean's Q&A

Q: How is Duke Divinity School changing the world?

Elaine Heath

Dean of the Divinity School & Professor of Missional and Pastoral Theology

“The Good News of Jesus Christ has the power to change the world, and at Duke Divinity School our central focus is on equipping women and men to enter into transformational practices of ministry with faith and confidence. Duke Divinity offers a rigorous curriculum that prepares ministers, both lay and ordained, with the theological depth and practical skills needed for the difficult and vital work of ministry.

This ministry is occurring in the midst of a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. In a globalizing world, our neighborhoods grow in diversity, and the churches that respond most effectively to these shifts most often do not look like the churches in which many of us grew up, if we grew up in the church at all. Thus, the work we do in the classroom, in the chapel, and in the field prepares leaders with skills needed for the church of today and tomorrow, building upon the living tradition that has sustained us. Along with our long-standing faculty strengths in theology, biblical studies, history, and practical theology, our focus on spiritual formation, field education and community engagement enables leaders to discern the movement of God’s Spirit to engage the wideness of God’s people for the redemption of the world.

I invite you to join us on this journey of hope and transformation.”
​
Grace and Peace,
Elaine A. Heath

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