Prison Studies Certificate

Program Code: D-PRISON-C
Degree Designation: Certificate
Department: Divinity School
Website: divinity.duke.edu/academics/certificates/prison

Program Summary

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 the ministry (see Matthew 25:36). This certificate can normally be earned within the MDiv, MTS, and ThD degree programs.

Academic Requirements

• THD Requirements

  • Serve as a TA for Project TURN course or Plan B 

  • Significant Research Project related to Carceral Studies

  • Coursework on Carceral Studies (Complete at least 2 credits): Take at least 1 course Divinity course and 1 non-Divinity course

• MDVR and MTS Requirements

  • Core Prison Course (complete any)

    • PARISH 809 (Restorative Justice, Prison Ministry, and the Church)

    • PARISH 719 (Restorative Justice, Prison Ministry, and the Church)

  • Project TURN Elective

  • Other Elective (complete any)

    • BCS 763 (The Ethical and Political Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr.)

    • CHURMIN 762 (The Love of God and Neighbor)

    • PARISH 780 (The Missional Church and Evangelism)

    • PASTCARE 806 (Naming the Powers: Pastoral Care and the Spiritual World)

    • PREACHNG 802 (Principalities, Powers, and Preaching)

    • XTIANETH 804 (Theological Dimensions of American Law and Politics)

    • XTIANETH 806 (Masculinity and Ministry)

    • XTIANTHE 804 (Theology, Justice and the Intellectual Life)

    • XTIANTHE 812 (The Doctrine of Creation and Theological Anthropology)

    • XTIANTHE 813 (Leadership and Discipleship)

    • XTIANTHE 952 (Slavery and Obedience)

    • Other pre-approved courses may also count

  • MDVR Requirements

    • Field Education

    • Spiritual Formation: Take exactly 2 courses that match the following: CHURMIN 709

  • MTS Requirement: Prison-focused Thesis

Guidance on Requirements for Residential MDiv Students

• Completion of core prison course

• Participation in a Project TURN course taught on-site in a local prison.

• Completion of one additional course approved by the director that addresses questions relevant to prison studies (for example, treating approaches to justice, atonement, race, gender, conflict, or contextual ministry). An appropriate course or directed study approved by the certificate director may be substituted for this requirement.

• Completion of a suitable field education placement

• Participation in a designated prison-oriented spiritual formation group, or, on petition, completing an approved research project

Requirements for MTS Students

• Completion of core prison course

• Participation in a Project TURN course taught on-site in a local prison

• Completion of one additional course approved by the director that addresses questions relevant to prison studies (for example, treating approaches to justice, atonement, race, gender, conflict, or contextual ministry). Examples of such courses named above. An appropriate directed study approved by the certificate director may be substituted for this requirement.

• Completion of an MTS thesis that focuses on some aspect of prison studies that (1) takes the voices of incarcerated people (past or present) seriously and (2) views the prison as a site of significant learning and investigation

Requirements for THD Students

• Completion of two courses related to carceral studies. These courses can be in any department and may be directed studies. Options include any course that the student believes will advance their knowledge in the fields of prisons, pathways to prisons, criminal or restorative justice, alternatives to addressing social harm, or the race, class, gender, and sexuality biases in and impacts on policing and incarceration. Creative learning around theologies that acknowledge Jesus as a policed, sentenced, and executed person, carceral themes in the Bible, the Christian history of complicity with and resistance to incarceration, etc, are encouraged. Demonstrate relevance to the certificate director for pre-approval.

• Service as a Teaching Assistant for one Project TURN class, taught inside of a local NC prison comprising half Duke students and half students incarcerated at the facility under the leadership of a Duke professor. 

  • Plan B would be simply attendance in a TURN course or the approved equivalent

• Complete a significant research project related to carceral studies. This might be an article-length final project for a class, a presentation at an academic conference, a published journal article, a dedicated exam in carceral studies with attendant reading list, or significant inclusion of carceral themes in the dissertation.