The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today lacks any sectarian affiliations.
It is ranked number one in the field of the study of religion according to the National Research Council's measure of faculty quality in its survey of all doctoral granting programs in religious studies.
The scholarly work of the school is organized through the work of three faculty committees, each of which is further subdivided into areas of study. PhD students concentrate their work in one of the eleven areas of study. Students in the various master's programs combine study in these areas with courses specific to their programs. All students are taught by the same faculty.
History
A distinguished Semiticist and a member of the Baptist clergy, Chicago's first university president William Rainey Harper believed that a great research university ought to have as one central occupation the scholarly study of religion, to prepare scholars for careers in teaching and research, and ministers for service to the church. Having taught at what was then the Baptist Theological Union Seminary, Harper incorporated it into the University of Chicago as its Divinity School, the first professional school at the university. The Baptist Theological Union (BTU) had founded the Seminary, established in 1865, "alongside" the Old University of Chicago which opened nine years earlier in 1856. The old university had ceased operations under bankruptcy in 1886, with the exception of its law school which was absorbed by Northwestern University.
The Divinity School is located in Swift Hall, on the main quadrangle of the university's campus in close proximity to the Divisions of the Humanities and the Social Sciences for interdisciplinary work.
Degrees
The University of Chicago Divinity School grants Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Arts (M.A.), and Master of Arts in Religious Studies (A.M.R.S.) degrees. It offers several dual-degree programs with other schools at the University of Chicago.
Curriculum
Candidates for the Ph.D. choose among 11 areas of academic focus: Anthropology and Sociology of Religion Bible History of Christianity History of Judaism History of Religions Islamic Studies Philosophy of Religion Religion, Literature, and Visual Culture Religion in America Religious Ethics Theology
The faculty are organized into three Committees of Study:
The Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences
History of Religions
Anthropology and Sociology of Religion
Religion, Literature, and Visual Culture
The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion
History of Judaism
History of Christianity
Biblical Studies
The Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion
Philosophy of Religion
Ethics
Theology
Research and special programs
The Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion
The vision of establishing an institute for the advanced study of religion at the University of Chicago came from Joseph M. Kitagawa, the Dean of the Divinity School from 1970 to 1980. Martin E. Marty, a historian of modern Christianity, worked closely with Dean Kitagawa to formulate the purposes and operation of the institute within the context of the Divinity School's general mission of teaching and graduate research. The Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion officially opened in October 1979, with Professor Marty as its director. Subsequent directors have been Bernard McGinn (1983–1992), a historian of medieval Christianity; Frank Reynolds (1992–2000), a historian of religions who specializes in Buddhist studies; W. Clark Gilpin (2001–2004), a historian of American Christianity and theology; Wendy Doniger (2004–2007), a historian of religion who specializes in Hinduism and mythology; and William Schweiker, who works in the field of theological ethics. In 1998, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion was renamed the Martin Marty Center, to honor its founding director for his singular distinction as historian, author, and commentator on religion and public life.