Yale university. Divinity school

For more than a century, theological instruction was conducted by Yale's president or by the Professor of Divinity, a position established by Thomas Clap in 1746. During these years, however, Yale did not have a formally established Divinity School. The college began to feel the lack of a separately established department in the beginning of the nineteenth century as more New England colleges--such as Williams, Middlebury, Union, and Hamilton--began to draw students to their seminaries. In response to the rapid development of professional schools and the increasing secularization of college curriculum, Yale established the Theological Department in 1822, later known as the Yale Divinity School. The degree of Bachelor of Divinity was first conferred in 1867, the Master of Sacred Theology in 1939, and a degree of Master of Religious Education was conferred from 1954 through 1960. In 1960 the latter was replaced by the Master of Divinity. In 1971, Yale Divinity School merged with the Berkeley Divinity School, a seminary for the training of Protestant Episcopal ministry which had opened in Middletown, Connecticut, and had moved to New Haven in 1928. The combining of the two schools established the Berkeley Center at Yale which develops field-oriented aspects of the professional program.

The Divinity School is a graduate-professional school which is interdenominational, providing training for pastoral service, missionary service, Christian education, religious leadership, and teaching and research in religion.

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