HDS - AFA - Master of Divinity (MDiv) Program

Admissions and Financial Aid

The Master of Divinity Degree

Students in the master of divinity (MDiv) program learn to work at the intersections of the academic study of religion and the practices of religious communities, the past and the present, classroom study and field study, the convictions and practices of their own religious tradition and the convictions and practices of traditions other than their own. By working together at these intersections, HDS seeks to educate future ministers and religious leaders who are able to engage, in an intellectually critical way, the traditions within which they will serve, the structured injustices of society, and the multireligious context within which they will practice their ministries.

Requirements for the Degree

Introductory Courses

In the first year of the program, members of the faculty invite MDiv students into the intellectual life of the School through a series of team-taught introductory courses:

Distribution Requirements

Histories, Theologies, and Practices

Students in the MDiv program must take at least six courses in histories, theologies, and practices in the religious tradition in which they are preparing to minister. Courses in history, theology, ethics, religion and society, and arts of ministry will satisfy this requirement, and students are expected to pursue coursework in as many of these areas as possible.

Theories and Practices of Scriptural Interpretation

All students will be required to take three courses in the theories, methods, and practices of scriptural interpretation in the tradition in which they are preparing to minister. To fulfill this requirement, students must satisfactorily complete three courses: one scriptural; one theory and methods of scriptural interpretation; and one which is either scriptural or theory and methods of scriptural interpretation.

Other Religions and Comparative Courses

All students will be required to take three courses in a religion other than the one in which they are concentrating. Two of these courses must be taken in a single religion or in a single geographical or cultural complex. The third course can focus on another religion or be an explicitly comparative course.

Arts of Ministry

The School provides coursework (including courses in other departments and Schools of Harvard University) and field placements leading to competence in these arts of ministry:

Preaching and Worship
Pastoral Care and Counseling
Religious Education and Spiritual Development
Administration and Program Development
Public Leadership, Community Organizing, and Planning
Denominational Polity.

All students develop basic competence in at least three of these arts through a combination of coursework and field education.

Field Education

Every student is required to complete two units of supervised field education. The fundamental purpose of the field education program is to provide experience and to develop the arts of ministry through supervision in actual situations of ministry.

The Office of Ministry Studies assists students in selecting an appropriate field education placement from the approximately 200 settings available. These placements cover a broad range of ministries in settings including congregations, clinical and counseling sites, social action agencies, and institutions of secondary and higher education. Students in field education are supervised by their site supervisor and by faculty in the Office of Ministry Studies.

For further information about field education sites, please visit the Field Education website.

Junior Paper

During the second year of study, students write a junior paper in a class of their choosing. The junior paper is intended to give the student the opportunity to clear some intellectual ground in preparation for writing the senior paper: to engage a body of literature, to conceptualize an idea, or to place a practice of ministry in conversation with an academic discipline.

Senior Seminar and Paper

In their final year of study, all students write a senior paper of 30-40 pages in which they explore a question in ministry using resources from their studies in the classroom and in the field. The paper is written in close consultation with a faculty adviser and in the context of the MDiv Senior Seminar.

Language Courses

MDiv students must complete three semesters of study (three half courses) in one language relevant to their program, through coursework at Harvard, with a minimum of B- in each course.

Harvard Divinity School