Master of Divinity (Hybrid)

Program Code: D-DIV-MDVH
Degree Designation: Master of Divinity
Department: Divinity School
Website: divinity.duke.edu/academics/hybrid-mdiv

Program Summary

The faculty of Duke Divinity School views the curriculum as not static but dynamic; constantly endeavors to review the curriculum as a whole and to tailor individual courses to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world; and periodically commits itself to overall curricular change. Major curricular revisions were instituted in 1948, 1959, 1967, 1987, and 2005.

This degree program is structured to elicit a positive response to (1) the challenge to provide an adequate professional education for ministry; (2) the needed variability of ministries in today’s complex world; (3) the norms of university education; and (4) Christian traditions.

Aims of the Curriculum

The aims of the basic degree program are to instill in students a specific set of skills, which should be strongly advanced during the seminary years, including the ability to:

  • read scripture and the great texts of Christian traditions with attentiveness, nuanced understanding, humility, and a lively imagination;

  • think theologically, in a way that is both faithful to these traditions and responsive to the challenges of our time;

  • think critically, both about the practices of the church and about the world in which the church finds itself—and to be agents of transformation in both;

  • think ecumenically and globally, with sensitivity to insights that churches in the wider world can share with churches in North America;

  • teach and preach the gospel with clarity, power, and reverence;

  • minister in context—to act with compassion and effectiveness in order to provide leadership for the church’s ministry of worship, service, and transformation in the world; and

  • sustain a commitment to living a life ordered toward holiness, justice, peace, and reconciliation.

Of course, goals of such scope cannot be neatly programmed in any curriculum, and the degree of achievement (in seminary and beyond) will vary with individuals and their own motives and incentives.

Through study and engagement within this program, students will be able to the following:

  • Read and exegete Scripture and the great texts of the Christian tradition for the purpose of preaching and teaching the gospel with clarity, power, and reverence.

  • Think theologically and critically about the doctrines and practices of the church and about the world in which the church finds itself, in ways that are both faithful historically to the tradition and responsive to the challenges of our time.

  • Gain clarity on vocational aspirations as they relate to serving the church, academy, and world.

  • Cultivate habits of spiritual disciplines to sustain a Christian life ordered toward holiness, justice, peace, and reconciliation.

  • Act with compassion and effectiveness in leading Christian ministries of worship, preaching, education, and formation in service to and transformation of the world.