In a global and multi-religious world, Vanderbilt Divinity School seeks to fulfill the following objectives:
• to engage in theological inquiry;
• to help persons prepare for the practice of Christian ministry and public leadership;
• to encourage personal and spiritual formation;
• to prepare agents of social justice; and
• to educate future scholars and teachers, locally and globally.
CONCENTRATION: Spirituality and Activism
CONCENTRATION: Global Christianities and Interreligious Encounter
CONCENTRATION: Prison and Carceral Studies
We offer faith-informed continuing education and formational programming for individuals, organizations, and religious communities. Our programs include executive education, certificates, vocational training, seminars, and parish teaching that will cultivate new skills and form deeper callings throughout all seasons of one’s vocation.
"My VDS coursework has both affirmed my call to ordained ministry and expanded my evolving commitments to interreligious community building. My classes in Wesleyan theology, United Methodist mission and polity, and Jewish Studies were particularly transformative, and I am confident that I can now be a leader in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue because of my life-changing experience at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
I will continue seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church though the Order of Elder and have accepted a job as the Program Coordinator for Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. I'm thrilled to begin this meaningful work at the intersection of education and religion, and I hope to continue a ministry that recognizes and proclaims all people as being made in the image of God!"
- Thornton Taylor Muncher, M.Div.'25 and Founder's Medalist for the Divinity School
