Gender, Sexuality, Theology, and Ministry Certificate

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

Program Summary

The Certificate in Gender, Sexuality, Theology, and Ministry (GSTM) can be earned within the MDiv (residential and hybrid), MTS, and ThD degrees and enables students to make the study of gender, sexuality, theology, and ministry a core component of their theological education. It fosters a collaborative environment for teaching, research, service learning, and dialogue.

The GSTM certificate creates a network, community of discourse, and intellectual space—at Duke Divinity School and beyond—where questions of gender and sexuality are privileged in the academic study and practices of theology, ministry, and lived religion. The certificate examines intersections of gender with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality, and asks what these questions mean for the church and beyond.

Students in the certificate take elective courses in the Divinity School or Department of Religious Studies and in Duke’s Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies that use gender and sexuality as primary lenses. They also design and execute independent research or contextual learning projects and present their work in a senior colloquium.

Academic Requirements

This certificate can be earned within the residential and hybrid MDiv, MTS, and ThD degrees.

THD, MTS, & MDiv Requirements

• 3 Courses

  • 1 GSF course 500-level and above

  • 2 Divinity electives

    • A comprehensive list of elective courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Contextual Learning or Research Project in the area of gender, sexuality, theology, and ministry. The project may be conducted in one of four ways:

  • within a course (but not within any of the three courses that fulfill the previous requirement)

  • within a directed study

  • as an independent community service project

  • within the context of a field education placement (Note: The field education office is not responsible for facilitating or evaluating this project in any way)

• Colloquium Participation to discuss their contextual learning projects and/or to share the results of their research. Affiliated faculty members will be responsible for directing the colloquy.

MACP Requirements

• 2 Courses

  • Any 2 courses in gender studies within the Divinity School or the Department of Religion, or an approved alternative, with a clear focus on gender studies.

  • A comprehensive list of courses is available to students in the degree audit system.

• Colloquium Participation to discuss their contextual learning projects and/or to share the results of their research, if feasible

• Assignment related to Gender, Sexuality, Theology, and Ministry for a non-GSTM course, with permission from the instructor

• Vocational Integration Summary: Completion of a 500-word summary of how coursework integrates with current vocation, with specific reference to the GSTM certificate.