Religious Studies and Theology

Overview

The Graduate Theological Union ’s Master of Arts program offers an exciting opportunity to explore religion and theology in an interreligious context. Offered in cooperation with the member schools and centers of the GTU consortium, the program provides ecumenical and interreligious learning opportunities, offering students access to courses throughout the schools of the consortium, as well at UC Berkeley, just blocks away. 

GTU students can choose their fields of study from among more than thirty concentrations grouped into four interdisciplinary departments: Sacred Texts and Their Interpretation, Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion, Theology and Ethics, and Religion and Practice. The program allows students opportunities for specialization in a particular religious tradition or academic field, while also providing a basic understanding of theological or religious studies as preparation for doctoral study, secondary school teaching, educational or social justice ministries, or leadership in religious institutions or the nonprofit sector or religious institutions.

Our campus is a rich, interreligious, educational meeting grounds where scholar-explorers from more than twenty nations gather, learn from one another, and mutually inspire new directions in service and scholarship. MA students can pursue interreligious work, intensive study within specific religious traditions (including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, and more), or interdisciplinary topics such as art and religion or theology and science. Students who complete the program will demonstrate focused knowledge within their chosen concentration as well as knowledge of several different approaches to theological and religious studies, and will be skilled in dialogue with practitioners of other religious traditions. Beginning in Fall 2020, students in the MA program can also pursue a Certificate in Interreligious Chaplaincy.