Yale Divinity School-admissions

prospective students

Welcome to Yale Divinity School!

When Yale College was founded in 1701 its main purpose was for the training of Christian ministers. As its original charter states, Yale was to be a school "wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences who through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State." More than three hundred years later, Yale Divinity School continues to grow out of these foundations, training leaders for the Church, the academy, and many other communities of conviction.

Dedicated to the faithful and rigorous exploration of the relationship between the knowledge and love of God, the Divinity School has remained a community of study and research as well as worship and fellowship. Embodying the strengths of both a graduate program in religion and a seminary, Yale Divinity School offers students opportunities for serious academic inquiry and solid ministerial formation. Over the past several decades, this community has continually expanded to welcome faculty and students from an increasing diversity of cultural and religious traditions.

In the present day, a rich variety of approaches to faith, research, and worship co-exist to form a dynamic learning environment. Faculty and students engage in the challenges of the social and global concerns of the present without losing their consciousness of the roots of faith and the value of tradition. The people of Yale Divinity School remain grounded in the past, yet they continually foster an ever-deepening commitment to being the voice of progress in the Church, the academy, and society. Amid the plurality of perspectives represented on campus, members of the Divinity School community are united in their common goal of pursuing a fuller understanding of God through study, dialogue, and practice.

--Last updated: February 5, 2009