| Course ID | Course Name | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Bible Courses: 12 hours | ||
| BIB 521 | Old Testament Interpretation I | 3 hours |
| BIB 522 | Old Testament Interpretation II | 3 hours |
| BIB 541 | Introduction to New Testament | 3 hours |
| Choose one of the following: | ||
| BIB 542 | Interpreting New Testament Letters | 3 hours |
| BIB 543 | Interpreting New Testament Gospels | 3 hours |
| Biblical Studies Elective | 3 hours | |
Engage within a learning community that models the demographic diversity that reflects the future of religious leadership, and communal and congregational life, in the United States.
Be cultivated in an educational context where faculty and students find themselves in an amazing array of conversations – in classrooms and hallways, around bi-weekly community meal tables, in co-curricular gatherings, and in internships – about a wide range of contemporary realities.
The Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree stands at the center of the School of Divinity’s degree offerings. The program prepares students from diverse ministry experiences and theological perspectives for religious leadership. The program encourages students to explore the rich histories and traditions of Christianity, to understand the changing social and religious landscape of our times, and to gain awareness and practical experience of the issues facing churches in their local and global contexts. Through their studies in the MDiv curriculum, students will connect their knowledge of a full range of theological and ministry disciplines with what they encounter in ministry settings and in the world. Through imaginative courses and community engagement, students are challenged to become religious leaders committed to justice, reconciliation, and compassion in Christian churches and other ministries.
The Master of Divinity degree is an 76-credit hour program designed to be completed in three years of full-time, residential study. Interested in part-time study? Students may pursue the MDiv degree with permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Associate Dean of Admissions. The maximum length of time allowed to complete the program is six years. Any financial aid awarded will be prorated.
The Wake Forest Difference
Like other programs, our Master of Divinity program includes foundational courses in the study of the Bible, pastoral care, theology, church history, ethics, and spirituality, but we are innovating our approach with imaginative courses and diverse programs of community engagement. What does this mean for you?
Asking generation-defining questions like, how can faith leaders be equipped to foster racial reconciliation and social justice in the midst of increased cultural and economic divides? or how can religious leaders encourage faith formation and meaningful community amid an increasing disconnect with the church?, an MDiv from Wake Forest will position you as an informed leader to respond effectively.
Learning Goals
- Academic integration of Christian traditions, theologies, scriptures, and practices.
- Sustained vocational reflection and spiritual formation that inform ministry in pluralistic contexts.
- Innovative application and embodiment of a range of ministerial practices for a continually transforming religious world.
- Theologically informed analysis of social, cultural, political, and ecological systems within a variety of particular settings.
What Sets Our MDiv Apart
Art of Ministry
Through the Art of Ministry program, students have the opportunity to be deeply involved in discovering their ministerial identity, practicing ministry, and theological reflection.
- Ministerial Identity: More than a job or a career, ministry is a vocation in which persons respond to a call to participate with others in God’s project of justice, reconciliation, and compassion. To respond to the call of ministry is not simply to learn particular skills and practices. It is a larger undertaking, in which a person cultivates an identity as a minister, becoming, in Barbara Brown Taylor’s words, “God’s person in the world.”
- Ministerial Practice: Through a wide variety of practices, ministers empower communities to respond to God’s activity in their midst. The practices of pastoral care open up spaces in which persons can experience wholeness and healing in the presence of God. Students directly engage ministry centered around homelessness and poverty, child welfare, LGBTQ advocacy, chaplaincy, palliative care, community supported agriculture, anti-racism, community organizing, refugee resettlement, anti-human trafficking, disability accommodation and advocacy for victims of sexual assault.
- Theological Reflection: Ministers are the resident theologians in the communities they lead. They do this work skillfully when they interpret experience through the lenses of Scripture, theological traditions and framings, pastoral care, and the liturgical arts. Art of Ministry is one place in the curriculum in which students are asked to bring their learning from all of these theological disciplines into conversation with ministry experience.
Responsive to Changing Patterns of Religious Life
One of the School of Divinity’s guiding principles is to:
- Encourage global perspectives: Through theological reflection, critical inquiry, and ministry formation, the School of Divinity encourages students to explore diverse religious, cultural, and ethnic perspectives within both national and international contexts.
To accomplish this aim, the School highlights in its curriculum each year courses that include a travel component. Each of these courses meets our curriculum’s cross-cultural context area requirement. In past years, students have traveled with faculty, students from other professional schools, and community members to Appalachia, Nicaragua, Egypt, and Israel.
Another guiding principle is to:
- Embody hospitality: The School of Divinity seeks to cultivate a community of learners that celebrates diverse religious, racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and sexual identities and that fosters accessibility for all its members.
Our curriculum contains area requirements that reflect changing 21st-century patterns of religious life. Students can choose from a variety of graduate level courses offered in the School of Divinity and in other schools and departments of the University that meet the requirements of the four additional areas: Race and Class, Gender and Sexuality, Religious Pluralism, and Science, Health, and Ecological Well-Being.
Teacher-Scholar Ideal
The teacher-scholar model is more than an idea. Wake Forest is one of only two Top 30 National Universities in which faculty — not graduate assistants — teach all full-credit academic courses. The student-faculty ratio at the School of Divinity is 7 to 1. What you think matters; what you feel matters; what you do matters, and it matters to more than just yourself. Our faculty are invested in you.
Plan of Study and Requirements
Want to know more about courses? You can view past course schedules and new course descriptions on our Academic Resources page. Selected course descriptions are also available in the the Academic Bulletin.
Accreditation Information
Wake Forest University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters, and doctorate degrees. Questions about the accreditation of Wake Forest University may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website https://www.sacscoc.org.
Wake Forest University School of Divinity is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, and the following degree programs are approved:
- Master of Divinity