Graduate Theological Union
Encyclopedia
The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of nine independent theological schools
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

, and eleven centers and affiliates. Eight of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

. The GTU was founded in 1962. It maintains the Graduate Theological Union Library, one of the most extensive libraries of its type on the world. The GTU's member schools and library are affliated with the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, and
are located in the Berkeley hills one block north of the university, which includes access to libraries and other student resources. Enrollment is currently approximately 1,300. The local nickname for the neighborhood is "holy hill".

Academics

The GTU has the largest theological faculty in the United States. Religious traditions represented include Protestant, Catholic, Unitarian Universalist, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist. Curricula amongst the schools includes the arts, cultural and historical studies, spirituality, philosophy and interdisciplinary studies, in addition to traditional theological subjects. GTU offers M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

, M.Th.
Master of Theology
A Master of Theology is an advanced theological research degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries.-North America:In North America, the Master of Theology is considered by the Association of Theological Schools to be the minimum educational credential for teaching...

, and M.Div
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

 degrees, as well as Ph.D and Th.D programs in cooperation with the University of California at Berkeley's graduate school, and two joint Ph.D programs with the university's Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Department of Jewish Studies.

Constituting Schools

  • American Baptist Seminary of the West
    American Baptist Seminary of the West
    The American Baptist Seminary of the West is a theological school affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention. It is located in Berkeley, California, USA. It is part of the Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of theological schools and...

  • Church Divinity School of the Pacific
    Church Divinity School of the Pacific
    Church Divinity School of the Pacific is one of the eleven seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is located in Berkeley, California, and is a member of the Graduate Theological Union...

     (Episcopal)
  • Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
    Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
    The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology is a Roman Catholic college, seminary, and graduate school in Berkeley, California. It is located at 2301 Vine Street in Berkeley....

  • Franciscan School of Theology
    Franciscan School of Theology
    The Franciscan School of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate theological school, owned and operated by the Province of Saint Barbara of the Order of Friars Minor...

  • Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley
    Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley
    The Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University is a Jesuit Seminary that is a school of Santa Clara University and one of the member colleges of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California...

  • Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
    Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
    Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California is a seminary affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is a member school of the Graduate Theological Union...

  • Pacific School of Religion
    Pacific School of Religion
    Pacific School of Religion is an ecumenical seminary located in Berkeley, California. It maintains covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the Disciples of Christ, providing all necessary expectations for candidates to their ordained ministries....

     (United Church of Christ
    United Church of Christ
    The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

    , Disciples of Christ, and United Methodist Church
    United Methodist Church
    The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

    ), including the Swedenborgian House of Studies
    Swedenborgian House of Studies
    The Swedenborgian House of Studies is the seminary of the Swedenborgian Church of North America at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California...

  • San Francisco Theological Seminary
    San Francisco Theological Seminary
    San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

     (Presbyterian Church (USA)
    Presbyterian Church (USA)
    The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...

    )
  • Starr King School for the Ministry
    Starr King School for the Ministry
    Starr King School for the Ministry is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley, California and part of the Graduate Theological Union. Starr King School opened in 1904 as the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry...

     (Unitarian Universalist)

Research Centers

  • The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies
  • Institute of Buddhist Studies
    Institute of Buddhist Studies
    The is a Jodo Shinshu-affiliated seminary and graduate school, located in Berkeley, California. It is an affiliate member of the Graduate Theological Union, also located in Berkeley. Its primary mission is to train Jodo Shinshu ministers for service in temples in the United States through the...

  • Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
  • Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education
  • Center for the Study of Religion and Culture
  • Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences
  • New College Berkeley
    New College Berkeley
    New College Berkeley is a Christian tertiary institution located at 2029 Durant Ave, in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1977 and is an affiliate of the Graduate Theological Union. It focuses on providing interdisciplinary studies to equip lay Christians for active ministry...

  • School of Applied Theology

Ranking

The National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...

 (NRC) has released a comprehensive assessment of doctoral programs in the United States. Among forty religion programs surveyed, the GTU is the largest in numbers of both students and faculty. It ranked #9 in "diversity of academic environment."

In one independent compilation based on the NRC’s "regression-based" rankings, the GTU appears at #22 overall.

Student diversity rankings at the GTU include the doctoral program’s #4 ranking in number of female students, #9 in female faculty, and #7 in international students. The GTU also ranked #14 in minority faculty and #23 in minority students. The report did not count Asians as a minority, which are a significant presence at the GTU.

The GTU ranked #20 in percent of students graduating within eight years (38.4%), #22 in average time to degree (8 years), and #26 in percent of first-year students with full financial support.

Notable alumni

John Dear
John Dear
John Dear is an American Catholic priest, Christian pacifist, author and lecturer. He has been arrested over 75 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice and nuclear weapons.-Studies:...

  MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 1992 Nominee for Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 in Peace 2008.

Shibley Telhami
Shibley Telhami
Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a nonresident senior fellow of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution....

 MA 1978 Ph.D University of California Berkeley Professor of International Relations and Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...



Terrence W. Tilley Ph.D, President of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 2008-9; Professor of Catholic Theology and Chair of the Department at Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...



Charlotte Fonrobert
Charlotte Fonrobert
Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert is a professor in the Religious Studies department of Stanford University. She specializes in Judaism, especially talmudic literature and culture...

, Ph.D Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Religious Studies, Co-Director of Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

.

João Biehl
João Biehl
João Guilherme Biehl is a Brazilian anthropologist and theologian currently based at Princeton University. He specializes in medical anthropology and is the winner of the Rudolph Virchow Award given by the Society for Medical Anthropology. He was also awarded the Margaret Mead Award in 2007...

 Ph.D Professor at the Department of Anthropology of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

.

Jenny Plane-Te Pa Principal of Saint John's College
St John's College, Auckland
The College of St John the Evangelist, located in Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand, is the theological college of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia...

 of University of Auckland
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...



Laurie Zoloth Ph.D Professor of Medical Humanities & Bioethics and Religion and Director of Center for Bioethics, Science and Society at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

.

Ronald R. Cavanagh Th.D, Professor of Religion and Vice President for Undergraduate Studies at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

.

Mark L. Poorman Ph.D Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Theology at University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...



Gregory E. Sterling Ph.D Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences & Professor of New Testament at University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...



Theophus Smith Ph.D, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

.

Nancy Pineda-Madrid Ph.D, Professor of Systematic Theology at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

.

Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe Ph.D U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Human Rights Council.

Alumna Janet Ruffing Ph.D. Professor of Religious Spirituality at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 Divinity School.

Nancey Murphy
Nancey Murphy
Nancey Murphy is Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. She received the B.A. from Creighton University in 1973, the Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 1980, and the Th.D...

 Ph.D. Th.D. Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...

.

Wesley Wildman Ph.D. Professor of Theology and Ethics at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

, Co-Founder of Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion, and Director of Liberal Evangelical.

Kirk Wegter-McNelly Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy of Science, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...



Shachar Pinsker Ph.D. Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...



Nancy Frankenberry Ph.D John Phillips Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

.

Jaime Lara Ph.D Professor of Religion and Art at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...



Daniel Groody Ph.D Professor of Theology at The University of Notre Dame.

Jaime Balboa Ph.D Chief Administrative Officer for the Academic Senate at University of California at Los Angeles.

Virginia Burrus Ph.D Professor of Early Church History Chair of the Graduate Division of Religion at Drew University
Drew University
Drew University is a private university located in Madison, New Jersey.Originally established as the Drew Theological Seminary in 1867, the university later expanded to include an undergraduate liberal arts college in 1928 and commenced a program of graduate studies in 1955...

.

Brita L Gill-Austern Ph.D Austin Philip Guiles Professor of Psychology at Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...



Sharon Thornton Ph.D Professor of Pastoral Theology at Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...



David Batstone Ph.D Professor of Ethics The University of San Francisco

Arthur S. Thomas
Arthur S. Thomas
Arthur S. Thomas is a former Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force.-Biography:A native of Mankato, Minnesota, Thomas is an ordained Roman Catholic priest. He is a graduate of Mankato State College and the Graduate Theological Union...

 Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force

Notable Graduates of GTU Member Schools

Dr. Chung Chin-Hong, DST, San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

, Professor of Phenomenology of Religion at Seoul National University
Seoul National University
Seoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...

.

Dr. Yvette Flunder, D.Min, San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

, Founder the City of Refugee and Chair of the San Francisco Inter-religious Coalition on AIDS.

Dr. Carolyn S. Leeb, BA MIT, M.Div San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

, Professor in Theology at Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...

.

Dr. Herb Long, BA Stanford, BD San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

 Th.D Harvard, Former Dean of Students at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...

.

The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Katharine Jefferts Schori is the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Previously elected as the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, she is the first woman elected as a primate of the Anglican Communion...

, M.Div Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 26th Presiding Bishop
Presiding Bishop
The Presiding Bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America :The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the...

 of the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church
An episcopal church has bishops in its organisational structure which is calledEpiscopal polityEpiscopal Church may refer to:Anglican Communion:...

, first woman Primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

 in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...


Faculty

The GTU's dean is Arthur Holder. The president is James A. Donahue.

Robert J. Russell Ph.D Professor of Science and Theology and the Founder and Director of Center For Natural Science and Theology at Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

.

Ted Peters
Ted Peters
Ted Peters is a Lutheran theologian and Professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. In addition to his work as a theologian and educator, he is a prolific author and editor on Christian and Lutheran theology in the modern world...

 Ph.D Lutheran Theologian and the Professor of Systematic Theology at GTU
GTU
GTU may mean:* Georgetown Municipal Airport* Georgian Technical University, largest polytechnic high school in the country of Georgia* Gujarat Technological University, largest University in Gujarat, India...

 and Editor of the Journal of Theology and Science

David Alexander
David Alexander (college president)
John David Alexander was an American academic who served as president of Pomona College during a period of time where he led a major expansion of the school, and served as US National Secretary for the Rhodes Trust, overseeing the selection process for recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship from the...

 Ph.D Professor of Old Testament and Theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

, and President Emeritus of Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...



Aaron Brody Ph.D Robert and Kathryn Riddell Associate Professor of Bible and Archaeology at Pacific School of Theology, and Participating Faculty at the University of California at Berkeley

Christopher Ocker Ph.D Professor of History at San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

, and affiliated faculty at the History Department of the University of California at Berkeley

John Dillenberger
John Dillenberger
John Dillenberger was Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He was instrumental in forming the Graduate Theological Union which he headed during its first decade, first as Dean from 1964-1969 and then, from 1967 to 1972, as its first...

Ph.D Professor Emeritus, Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California

External links

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