Yale Divinity School

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Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School.png
Established 1822
Type Private
Location New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Dean Gregory E. Sterling
Website divinity.yale.edu/

Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy. The school grants the Master of Divinity (M.DIV.), Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), and Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) degrees.

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History [edit]

The Yale College was founded in 1701 for religious training, serving the Congregationalist churches of Connecticut. In its charter, it was designed as a school "wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts & Sciences who through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church & Civil State." A professorship of divinity was established in 1746 and in 1822, a separate department developed, later known as the Yale Divinity School.

The Berkeley Divinity School affiliated with Yale Divinity School in 1971. While Berkeley retains its Episcopal Church connection, its students are admitted by and fully enrolled as members of Yale Divinity School. The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, a division of the divinity school, maintains a large collection of primary source materials about Jonathan Edwards, a 1720 Yale alumnus.

Recent years have seen the Divinity School develop a specialty in various aspects of narrative theology, or postliberalism. Many if not most leaders of this movement are YDS graduates.

Campus [edit]

The Georgian style campus, The Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, designed by Delano & Aldrich, was built in 1932, modeled, in part, on the University of Virginia. It was named after Yale Law alumnus and benefactor John William Sterling, name partner at the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling. The school formerly occupied East and West Divinity Hall (1870–1931) designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Since razed, this site is now occupied by Calhoun College.[1]

Notable alumni [edit]

Former site of the Yale Divinity School bordering the New Haven Green in a postcard from about 1904.

IRST [edit]

Yale's Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology (IRST) has been an ongoing interdisciplinary program of the Yale Divinity School whose mission is to explore how religion and spirituality encounters and interacts with science and technology. IRST was co-founded in 2003 by Harold Attridge, the School's dean from 2002-2012, along with former dean Rebecca Chopp and then-professor of communication Wes Avram. Since then its programming, including nearly a hundred lectures and three international conferences, has been coordinated by James Clement van Pelt, a 2003 graduate of the School. Its programs and courses have been funded by Yale, the Metanexus Institute, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, and co-sponsored by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. IRST has hosted a weekly Science and Religion in Dialogue working group since 2004 and maintains an ongoing discussion of science-religion studies and issues via a Yahoo email group. IRST also co-directs research working groups such as the Synchro Project, which conducted research concerning the phenomenon of meaningful coincidence from both spiritual and scientific perspectives.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Yale's Lost Landmarks: Divinity Hall, Yale Alumni Magazine
  2. ^ "Faculty Members: Professor David Ford". University of Cambridge. 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
  3. ^ Bernstein, Adam. "Ernest W. Lefever dies at 89; founder of conservative public policy organization", Los Angeles Times, July 31, 2009. Accessed August 3, 2009.
  4. ^ Mooney, Tom, "Peter Pond's War," Providence Journal, Oct 15, 1989 p. M-06.

External links [edit]

IRST [edit]

Coordinates: 41°19′26″N 72°55′24″W / 41.3238°N 72.9234°W / 41.3238; -72.9234