Graduate Theological Union

Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley
Established	1962
Type	Private
Location	Berkeley, California, U.S.
President	James A. Donahue
Website	http://www.gtu.edu

The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of nine independent theological schools, and eleven centers and affiliates. Eight of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. 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, and its material acquisitions are coordinated with UC Berkeley and Stanford libraries. Borrowing privileges are available for all three institutions. The GTU is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, and most GTU's member schools are located in the Berkeley hills one block north of the university. GTU's 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., M.Th., and M.Div 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. All degree seeking students at GTU may take any classes offered at the University of California, Berkeley

Constituting Schools

• American Baptist Seminary of the West
• Church Divinity School of the Pacific (Episcopal)
• Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
• Franciscan School of Theology
• Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley
• Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
• Pacific School of Religion (United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and United Methodist Church), including the Swedenborgian House of Studies
• San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian Church (USA))
• Starr King School for the Ministry (Unitarian Universalist)

Research Centers

• The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies
• Institute of Buddhist Studies
• 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
• School of Applied Theology

Ranking

The National Research Council (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 MA 1992 Nominee for Nobel Prize in Peace 2008.

Shibley Telhami MA 1978 Ph.D University of California Berkeley Professor of International Relations and Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development University of Maryland

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

Charlotte Fonrobert, Ph.D Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Religious Studies, Co-Director of Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford University.

João Biehl Ph.D Professor at the Department of Anthropology of Princeton University.

Jenny Plane-Te Pa Principal of Saint John's College of University of Auckland, New Zealand

Laurie Zoloth Ph.D Professor of Medical Humanities & Bioethics and Religion and Director of Center for Bioethics, Science and Society at Northwestern University.

Ronald R. Cavanagh Th.D, Professor of Religion and Vice President for Undergraduate Studies at Syracuse University.

Mark L. Poorman Ph.D Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Theology at University of Notre Dame

Gregory E. Sterling Ph.D Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences & Professor of New Testament at University of Notre Dame

Theophus Smith Ph.D, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.

Nancy Pineda-Madrid Ph.D, Professor of Systematic Theology at Boston College.

Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe Ph.D U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Alumna Janet Ruffing Ph.D. Professor of Religious Spirituality at Yale University Divinity School.

Nancey Murphy Ph.D. Th.D. Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Wesley Wildman Ph.D. Professor of Theology and Ethics at Boston University, 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

Shachar Pinsker Ph.D. Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan

Nancy Frankenberry Ph.D John Phillips Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College.

Jaime Lara Ph.D Professor of Religion and Art at Yale University

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.

Brita L Gill-Austern Ph.D Austin Philip Guiles Professor of Psychology at Andover Newton Theological School

Sharon Thornton Ph.D Professor of Pastoral Theology at Andover Newton Theological School

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

Arthur S. Thomas Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force

Notable Graduates of GTU Member Schools

Dr. Chung Chin-Hong, DST, San Francisco Theological Seminary, Professor of Phenomenology of Religion at Seoul National University.

Dr. Yvette Flunder, D.Min, San Francisco Theological Seminary, 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, Professor in Theology at Valparaiso University.

Dr. Herb Long, BA Stanford, BD San Francisco Theological Seminary Th.D Harvard, Former Dean of Students at Harvard Divinity School.

The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, M.Div Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, first woman Primate in the Anglican Communion

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.

Ted Peters Ph.D Lutheran Theologian and the Professor of Systematic Theology at GTU and Editor of the Journal of Theology and Science

David Alexander Ph.D Professor of Old Testament and Theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary, and President Emeritus of Pomona College

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

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

External links

• Graduate Theological Union
• Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
• Franciscan School of Theology
• Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
• Pacific School of Religion
• Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
• San Francisco Theological Seminary
• American Baptist Seminary of the West
• Church Divinity School of the Pacific
• Starr King School for the Ministry
• Institute of Buddhist Studies