Master of Divinity (MDiv)
Admission
The Master of Divinity is a postbaccalaureate degree. Admission requirements include (1) a baccalaureate degree from an institution of higher education accredited by a US agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or approved by a Canadian provincial quality assurance agency, or the demonstrated educational equivalent of an accredited or approved North American baccalaureate degree; and (2) a minimum grade point average of 3.0.
Learning Outcomes
The primary learning outcomes of the MDiv are:
- Develop competence in studying, reflecting upon, and contextualizing sacred and historical texts, including the Hebrew and Christian bibles.
- Grow in practices of spiritual formation, relational support, self-care, self-understanding, and humility, while cultivating embodied practices for sustained ministry.
- Grow in the ability to provide holistic, spiritual, relational, and communal care.
- Grow in capacities for engaging across differences (social, cultural, and religious) in ways that foster mutual understanding, learning, and/or collaboration.
- Develop competence in constructive meaning-making and the ability to think critically, creatively, and theologically in conversation with traditions, histories, and lived practices.
- Develop competencies in leading communities through practices of moral and spiritual discernment, ethical witness, and transformative engagement with conflict.
- Develop competencies in leading religious and spiritual practices, guiding rituals, and communicating effectively to address the needs of various publics (for example, public speaking, preaching, the arts, and writing).
- Develop capacities to respond to complex contemporary challenges, through careful analysis of systems, cultures, and institutional structures.
- Develop skills in creating and administering ecclesial and/or nonprofit organizations.
Curriculum Requirements
The 72-unit Master of Divinity at Boston University School of Theology (STH) is shaped by a conviction that prophetic, practical religious leaders, thoroughly grounded in the wisdom of their traditions, are essential in the work of ongoing transformation of the church and the world. The curriculum seeks to educate religious leaders who can interpret complex and evolving local and global contexts and who can engage those contexts in creative and confident conversation with a full array of theological resources.
Core
The curriculum is built around a 30-unit core comprised of six categories from which students may select options of their choosing in each of the six full-time (or their part-time equivalent) terms of their degree program: (1) Sacred Texts & Interpretation, (2) History of Traditions & Institutions, (3) Theology & Meaning-Making, (4) Ethics & Lived Values, (5) Spirituality, and (6) Religious Leadership Practices. The current list of options in each category is found in the STH Bulletin, and the STH Registrar maintains a list of alterations to that list between Bulletin updates. Students in their first year also participate in the First-Year Formation course that establishes a framework for personal and spiritual formation that is integrated throughout the MDiv program.
Contextual Education
All students in the Master of Divinity program are required to undertake a yearlong contextual education placement along with “Integration of Theology and Practice” (ITP) groups designed to reflect on those placements and to integrate learning from the experience with the wider MDiv curriculum. The STH Contextual Education office assists students in securing those placements, whether in congregations or local community sites. All students who serve in field placements are required to complete a background check before their service can begin. The requirement is for all students serving in field sites, regardless of degree program. Students undertaking a contextual education field placement should consult the Contextual Education office or its website for instructions on securing the background check prior to the beginning of their placement.
Free Electives
Students in the MDiv program may choose up to 27 units (nine courses) of the required 72 units as free electives, thereby providing students plenty of room for exploration, customization, and specialization, including pursuit of various certificates offered by the school, University, or the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium.
Tracks
Recognizing that religious leadership will take place in a variety of vocational arenas, the remainder of the curriculum is then shaped around three tracks from which students may choose: (1) the Ecclesial Ministry Track, (2) the Chaplaincy Track, and (3) an Open Track that provides opportunities for additional customization and specialization.
Ecclesial Ministry Track
This track provides students the most defined curriculum for the purposes of fulfilling requirements for ordained or endorsed ministry. This track allows students preparing for ordained or endorsed ecclesial ministry to be deeply rooted in their own tradition and broadly prepared for the practice of ministry in a religious community according to their ecclesial standards.
Chaplaincy Track
This track provides students a curriculum organized around the emerging competencies necessary for providing spiritual care within or outside of traditionally religious spaces. This track is for students preparing to be chaplains, spiritual directors, spiritual entrepreneurs, or other religious practitioners, and gives them an opportunity to develop skills in culturally relevant care within the rapidly changing landscape of religious and spiritual demographics.
Open Track
This track provides students the possibility of curricular customization and specialization in an academic field of study, vocational direction, or certificate plan of study. Students work with their faculty advisor to design a five-course plan of study that furthers the student’s vocational discernment and preparation. Students are strongly encouraged (but not required) to pursue a certificate program. This track is especially appropriate for those who are pursuing dual degrees (though dual degrees may be pursued in any track with careful planning), vocations in global and community engagement, peacemaking and conflict transformation, community organizing, faith-based nonprofits/NGOs, interfaith leadership, theology and the arts, and much more.
Mid-Degree Assessment
All students in the MDiv program participate in a mid-degree assessment, typically in the spring term of the second year of their program (or the part-time equivalent). This assessment culminates in an extended advising session with the student’s faculty advisor so that the last year of the program can be tailored to the results of the assessment. The mid-degree assessment requires the creation of an e-portfolio, which includes a short self-assessment, examples of papers or other projects completed, and any contextual education evaluations that have been completed to that point. The assessment is as much an assessment of the curriculum and how well it has served the student as it is an assessment of how well the student has taken advantage of the curriculum in moving toward the aims of the degree program and the student’s particular track within that curriculum.
Length of Program
The program requires a minimum of six terms of full-time study for a total of 24 term courses (72 term units). The residency requirement is two terms with a minimum of 18 units. The time limit for the degree program is five years (10 terms).
Taking Courses Outside STH
MDiv students must complete all core requirements (30 units) within STH and are allowed to take up to a total of 24 units (one-third of the degree program) of track and free electives courses outside STH within Boston University, no more than 18 of those 24 units may be taken through the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium (BTI).
Grade Minimums
No grade lower than C is acceptable for use in satisfying any course requirements for the Master of Divinity.
Scholarships
Dean’s Scholarships
Dean’s Scholarships are awarded for the academic year, September to May. They are renewable each year, contingent upon the annual evaluation of the recipient’s grade point average (3.3 minimum), character, and commitment to ministerial or other religious leadership. All awards are for a maximum of three academic years of full-time MDiv study. Dean’s Scholarships are awarded before initial enrollment in the School of Theology. If the student has been awarded a stipend in addition to their full tuition, the stipend will be split equally over the academic year and be paid to the student on the fourth Friday of the month, September through April.
Tuition Scholarships
Tuition Scholarships are awarded for the academic year, September to May (though, in special cases, scholarships are available in the summer). They are renewable each year, contingent upon the annual evaluation of the recipient’s grade point average (2.7 minimum), character, and commitment to ministerial or other religious leadership. All awards are for a maximum of three academic years of full-time MDiv study.
The MDiv Plan of Study
The Master of Divinity consists of core requirements (30 unit hours), free electives (27 unit hours), and track requirements (15 unit hours), for a total of 72 unit hours.
Core Requirements (30 unit hours)
| First-Year Formation | 3 units |
| Contextual Education | 6 units |
| Sacred Texts & Interpretation – Choose two; one from among Hebrew Bible options and one from among New Testament options:
Hebrew Bible options 1. STH TO 704 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible New Testament options 1. STH TN 721 New Testament Introduction |
6 units |
| History of Traditions & Institutions – Choose one:
1. STH TH 8XX History of Christianity: From Antiquity to Latin America |
3 units |
| Theology & Meaning-Making – Choose one:
1. STH TT 731 Theology and World Religions |
3 units |
| Ethics & Lived Values – Choose one:
1. STH TS 824 Christian Ethics |
3 units |
| Spirituality – Choose one:
1. STH TC 823 Spiritual Guidance |
3 units |
| Religious Leadership Practices – Choose one:
1. STH MR 701 Public Theology, Ministry, and Leadership (MARPL course) |
3 units |
Policies pertaining to the core:
- First-Year Formation must be taken in the first two terms of study. Contextual Education is normally taken in the second year of study.
- Students must take at least one of the seven core category courses per term until their completion. Students may take more than one core course per term if they chose to move through the core more quickly. Students must take at least one Sacred Texts & Interpretation course and one History of Traditions & Institutions course by a student’s mid-degree review (which takes place in the fourth term of study, or the part-time equivalent). No course can ever be used to satisfy more than one requirement. All core courses must be taken within STH.
Free Electives (27 unit hours)
Nine courses, for a total of 27 unit hours, may be taken as free electives. Courses may be taken within the BTI as long as the total of the required 72 unit hours taken outside Boston University does not exceed 24 unit hours.
Track Electives (15 unit hours)
Students choose five track elective courses based on the specific requirements of their chosen Master of Divinity track. The following three tracks are available:
