Why did Duke initiate the Th.D. program?
Duke Divinity School initiated the Th.D. program, in part, so that students could take advantages of the faculty and resources gathered here for study in areas of Christian practice that are outside of the scope of typical Ph.D. programs—such as worship, preaching, evangelism, and the arts. Another major interest in the inauguration and design of the Th.D. program was a desire to deepen the ways in which we cultivate scholars, teachers, and pastors who embody the integrative theological task—ranging across the boundaries between the traditional academic disciplines of biblical, historical, systematic, and ministerial studies to resource theological reflection on matters of faith and practice in Christian communities. A third goal in launching the Th.D. was to encourage scholarly studies that probe the intersections of interest between Christian communities and the broader society, or theology and the broader university—such as theology and health care, the theological undergirding of p
