Theology, Medicine, and Culture Certificate
Program Code: D-TMC-C
Degree Designation: Certificate
Department: Divinity School
Website: divinity.duke.edu/academics/certificates/medicine
Program Summary
The certificate in theology, medicine, and culture will prepare Divinity School students for robust theological and practical engagement with contemporary practices in medicine and health care. The certificate can be pursued by students in the MDiv (residential and hybrid), MTS, ThM, or MA degree programs.
It will be of special interest to students who will be working in parish-based settings and who wish to develop further competence and confidence engaging questions of suffering, illness, and the role of medicine; who are interested in serving as chaplains in a health care setting; who are trained or are pursuing training in the clinical disciplines (e.g., medicine, psychology, nursing, and social work); and/or who intend further study in bioethics or in pastoral theology.
Academic Requirements
MDVH, MDVR, MTS, and THM Requirements (complete at least 3 courses)
TMC Two-Course Sequence (complete any)
XTIANETH 761 Health Care in Theological Context I
XTIANETH 763 Health Care in Theological Context II
TMC Electives (complete any) - see list below
Practical Ministry Component
Research Paper
TMC Programs Participation
MACP Requirements (complete at least 2 courses)
TMC Two-Course Sequence (complete any)
XTIANETH 761 Health Care in Theological Context I
XTIANETH 763 Health Care in Theological Context II
TMC Electives (complete any) - see list below
Research paper
TMC Programs Participation
TMC Electives
OLDTEST 769 (Prophecy in the Body)
PASTCARE 804 (Theology and Trauma)
PASTCARE 812 (Discipleship and Disability)
XTIANETH 813 (Listen, Organize, Act: Churches, Politics, and Community Transformation)
PARISH 806 (Caring for Creation)
PASTCARE 761 (Introduction to the Ministry of Social Work)
PASTCARE 765 (Pastoral Care through Anxiety and Depression)
XTIANETH 811 (Happiness, the Life of Virtue, and Friendship)
XTIANETH 815 (End of Life Care and Theological Ethics)
CHURHST 810 (Death, Grief, and Consolation, Ancient and Modern)
OLDTEST 770Z (Ezekiel)
PASTCARE 766 (Ministry and Care in the Contexts of Displacement and Loss)
NEWTEST 814 (The Bible & Domestic Violence)
PREACHNG 807 (Balm in Gilead: The Spirituals as a Homiletical Resource)
XTIANETH 763 (Health Care in Theological Context II)
XTIANETH 764 (Health and Holiness)
XTIANTHE 845 (Beauty, Suffering, and the Cross)
CHURHST 819 (The Body in Early Christian Thought and Practice)
CHURHST 954 (Death and Dying in Late Antiquity)
NEWTEST 771 (New Testament Bodies)
NEWTEST 813 (Paul & the Person)
OLDTEST 806 (Biblical Bodies)
PARISH 760 (Food, Eating, and the Life of Faith)
PARISH 817 (Theology and Social Science)
PASTCARE 762 (Introduction to Issues in Cross-Cultural Pastoral Care and Counseling)
PASTCARE 810 (Theology, Mental Health and Human Flourishing)
XTIANETH 765 (Attending to Persons in Pain)
XTIANETH 807 (Advanced Theological Bioethics)
XTIANTHE 842 (Womanist Theological Ethics)
XTIANTHE 970 (Modern Christology and Chalcedon)
XTIANTHE 812 (The Doctrine of Creation and Theological Anthropology)
CPE 510 (Level One Clinical Pastoral Education)
CPE 500 (Parish-Based CPE - Duke Hospital)
CPE 510O (Level One CPE)
CPE 550 (Level One Clinical Pastoral Education, Transferred)
CPE 575 (Level Two Clinical Pastoral Education in Pastoral Care and Counseling)
CPE 580 (Level Two Clinical Pastoral Education, Transferred)
PARISH 786 (Organized Compassion: History and Ethics of Humanitarianism)
PARISH 821 (Global Food Policy)
PARISH 822 (Charitable Foods)
PASTCARE 760 (Introduction to Pastoral Theology and Care)
PASTCARE 806 (Naming the Powers: Pastoral Care and the Spiritual World)
XTIANETH 816 (Healthcare, Inequities and Theological Ethics)
XTIANSTU 705 (Cultivating Christian Imagination I)
XTIANSTU 707 (Spiritual Formation and Community Engagement for Theology, Medicine and Culture)
XTIANSTU 708 (Spiritual Formation and Vocation in Health Care)
XTIANTHE 809 (The Theology of Death and Martyrdom)
XTIANTHE 851 (Transhumanism, Theology, and Embodiment)
PARISH 820 (U.S. Food Policy)
XTIANETH 783 (The Care of Souls and the Ethics of War)
XTIANETH 817 (Womanist Bioethics)
CHURMIN 762 (The Love of God and Neighbor)
CPE 520 (Level One CPE Extended Unit)
PASTCARE 779 (Christian Approaches to Mental Health Care)
PARISH 823 (Food, Faith, and Health)
Other pre-approved courses may also count
Requirements for MDiv (Residential and Hybrid), MTS, and ThM Students
Completion of at least three courses that explore the intersections of theology, medicine, and culture; one of these courses must be one semester of the two-course sequence XTIANETH 761 and 763 (Health Care in Theological Context).
Participation in a program, elective, or professional service that offers practical ministry-related experience in a health care setting.
Completion of a research paper that directly engages the intersection of theology, medicine, and culture. This paper may be done as part of a class and will ordinarily be presented publicly near the conclusion of the student’s degree program.
Regular participation in the semi-monthly TMC seminar. The schedule of these informal seminars is available from the TMC website and on the school’s calendar of events. Candidates for the certificate are expected to attend as many of these events as possible.
Requirements for MA Students
Completion of at least two courses that explore the intersections of theology, medicine, and culture; one of these courses must be one semester of the two-course sequence XTIANETH 761 and 763 (Health Care in Theological Context).
Completion of a research paper that directly engages the intersection of theology, medicine, and culture. This paper may be done as part of a class and, if feasible, may be presented publicly at a TMC seminar or year-end symposium.
If feasible, regular participation in the semi-monthly TMC seminar. The schedule of these informal seminars is available from the TMC website and on the school’s calendar of events.