The GTU’s doctoral program is governed by Areas, or fields of study.  Students are admitted to an Area and work within that framework.  An Area represents a distinctive methodology or approach to scholarship.  Areas include:

• Art and Religion
  
• Biblical Studies
• Christian Spirituality
• Cultural and Historical Studies of Religions
• Ethics and Social Theory
• History
• Homiletics
• Interdisciplinary Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Liturgical Studies
• Near Eastern Religions
• Religion and Psychology
• Systematic and Philosophical Theology

The GTU offers a distinctively interdisciplinary approach to scholarship within one’s specialized Area of Study, utilizing the depth of faculty expertise made possible by the union of the nine member schools, affiliated centers and institutes.  The academic disciplines represented by a diverse range of faculty, combined with multidenominational and interfaith cooperation, provide a rich environment for developing one’s academic voice.

The Ph.D Program places theological or religious studies in the context of university research disciplines, to provide an additional critical and theoretical dimension to their work.  Most students pursue this required dimension of the program by working with a faculty member from the University of California at Berkeley, just a block away from the GTU.

The Th.D. Program has a specific theological emphasis, and is designed for students whose intellectual goals will gain focus through a theologically-defined academic lens.