Degrees Offered: Ph.D.; Th.D.
Theology students develop solid grounding in a specific theological discipline while integrating dimensions of university-based study into their theological curricula. Students may choose to pursue (1) a theologically oriented program taking into account issues raised by the university disciplines, (2) a philosophically oriented program concentrating on cross-disciplinary issues coordinated with suitable work at the University of California, (3) a theological program oriented toward the natural sciences using the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences as a major resource, (4) a theological program with an interdisciplinary component involving the establishment of a foundation of credentials in another GTU Doctoral Area designated as an “allied field.”

Objectives
The principal objective of the Area is to educate doctoral students for scholarly research and teaching. The primary focus of theology in the program is to interpret the Christian faith, in the context of the ecumenical and inter-religious consortium of the Graduate Theological Union, in response to the challenges posed by contemporary cultures. Students and faculty analyze this faith by tracing its influence on the history of ideas, its traditional reformulations, and its various contemporary re-conceptualizations. Special attention is given to Protestant and Roman Catholic theology since the end of World War I in light of the historical sources with a view toward constructive thought in the twenty-first century.

Language Requirements
The student must show competence in two foreign languages (not a computer or statistical language) in which a substantial theological literature exists (ordinarily German, French, Spanish and Latin). Proficiency must be shown in one language before proceeding to the General Comprehensive exam and in the remaining language(s) before proposing the Special Comprehensive exams. The Area reserves the right to require additional languages if they are crucial to a student’s chosen course of study.

Required and Recommended Coursework Two courses are required: History of Theology 1914-1965 (STHS 5111) and History of Theology 1965-today (STHS 5112). If, after consultation between the student and advisor, it is determined that the student has mastered the subject matter of the two required courses, then with the advisor’s written permission the student may substitute two other courses at the ST5000 level or above which include a scholarly paper.

Students are advised to take several advanced seminars for credit each semester. The course work enables students to broaden their base of knowledge as well as sharpen their focus for constructive thinking, building upon knowledge gained from biblical studies, historical studies, ethics, social science, world religions and philosophy.

Comprehensive Examinations
Students are required first to take a general standard written exam on the contemporary period. This exam provides a structure of study which tests the student’s grasp of the major developments in theology since the end of World War I, as well as the student’s skills for theological research, thinking and writing.

Special Comprehensive Examinations test students’ ability to develop academic expertise in their chosen field while keeping breadth of perspective in view. An important skill for the student to develop at this point, which will become invaluable at the dissertation level, is that of discriminating sources. To aid in this, Special Comprehensive Examination guidelines limit the number of sources to be used for each exam.

The Special Comprehensive Examinations consist of three written segments plus an oral defense:
(1). The History of Theology. The first exam tests the student’s grasp of a significant doctrine or idea through each of four periods: (a) Patristics; (b) Medieval; (c) Reformation; and (d) Enlightenment and 19th century. Additional questions may deal with Scripture or Eastern Orthodox Theology; (2) Major Figure. For this segment, focusing on a contemporary major thinker, the student may take a four-hour closed-book single exam, write a 25-40 page paper, or teach a course (following the procedures for the latter in the GTU Doctoral Handbook. (3) Contemporary Theological Problem. For this segment, the student may take a four-hour closed-book single exam, write a 25-40 page paper, or teach a course (following the procedures for the latter in the GTU Doctoral Handbook). The format may take the form of either (a) a historical trajectory, or (b) a constructive proposal.

Dissertation
Dissertations in the Area are limited to 100,000 words (approximately 400 pages), including documentation and bibliography. Further details regarding the dissertation and oral defense are found in the Area Protocol and the GTU Doctoral Handbook.

CORE DOCTORAL FACULTY IN SYSTEMATIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY

KEVIN F. BURKE, SJ • Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, JSTB
Christology; Liberation Theology; spirituality; ecclesiology; theological method; theological synthesis; Ignacio Ellacuria.

MICHAEL J. DODDS, OP • Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology, DSPT
Divine action; divine attributes; Trinity; God and suffering; theology and science; philosophical anthropology.

ALEJANDRO GARCIA-RIVERA • Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, JSTB
Aesthetics and liturgical theology; theology and the arts; theological aesthetics; suffering and the human person; the intersection between science and theology.

MARION S. GRAU • Assistant Professor of Theology, CDSP
Theology and empire; doctrinal studies, especially soteriology; methodological approaches; feminist, poststructuralist, colonial discourse analysis; economy, ecology, and theology; hermeneutics; divine action in the world.

GEORGE E. GRIENER, SJ • Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, JSTB
Roman Catholic enlightenment; history of 18th and 19th century theology; theology of suffering; theology of the Trinity; the Christian God; the human person; Karl Rahner’s philosophy of religion.

JAY JOHNSON • Senior Director, Academic Research & Resources, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, PSR  American pragmatism and constructive theology; queer/critical social theories and theology; post-colonial approaches to theological discourse; modern Church history and theology; religious leadership and sexual ethics.

FUMITAKA MATSUOKA • Professor of Theology, PSR
Asian American theology and religion; race in theological education.

The evolution controversy; the stem cell controversy; the future of systematic theology; Genesis commentary.

ANSELM RAMELOW • Assistant Professor of Philosophy, DSPT
Aesthetics and metaphysics; scholastic philosophy; epistemology; hermeneutics; religion and the arts; art history.

ROBERT RUSSELL • Professor in Residence of Theology and Natural Sciences, GTU/CTNS
Resurrection, eschatology and physical cosmology; Trinitarian theologies of Pannenberg, Tillich, Rahner, and Peters in relation to the natural sciences; time and eternity in relation to physics; non-interventionist objective divine action (NIODA) and quantum mechanics; Christology and life in the universe; creating and physical cosmology; theological and scientific methodologies; inter-religious dialogue and natural science.

RICHARD SCHENK, O.P. • Professor of Philosophy and Theology, DSPT
Philosophical anthropology; Theological anthropology; medieval thought; 20th-century systematic and ecumenical theology; hermeneutics and phenomenology.

CONSORTIAL FACULTY RESOURCES

PHYLLIS ANDERSON • Professor of Theology, PLTS
Theology in ecumenical perspective; women in ministry; Luther and Aquinas.

PHILIP W. BUTIN • Professor of Theology, SFTS
Trinity; Calvin studies; ecclesiology; sacraments; interfaces of Christian theology, worship, and practice.

THOMAS CATTOI • Assistant Professor of Christology and Cultures, JSTB
Christology; patristic theology; comparative theology (especially Christian Buddhist dialogue); systematic theology and critical theory.

FAUSTINO MANALIGOD CRUZ, S.M. • Associate Professor of Practical Theology and Education, FST
Immigration and ethnic studies; congregational studies; contextual theologies; educating for a multicultural Church and society; Filipino immigrant theology and ministry; contemporary issues in faith and culture.

EDUARDO C. FERNANDEZ, SJ • Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ministry, JSTB
U.S. Latino theology and ministry; history of the southwest; missiology; inculturation; popular religiousity.

DONALD L. GELPI, SJ • Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology, JSTB
Ecclesiology; Christology; sacraments; human person.

JOHN KIESLER, OFM • Assistant Professor of Missiology, FST
Theology of religious life; theology and spirituality of mission.

EDWARD KRASEVAC, OP • Professor of Theology, DSPT
Natural Law in the tradition of Aquinas; autonomy of the will in contemporary Roman Catholic Ethics; relation of Christian faith to historical Jesus research.

GREGORY LOVE • Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, SFTS
Relation between divine and human action; providence and evil; God and human suffering; Christian theology and science; human liberation: Gutierrez and Barth.

LEWIS MUDGE • Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology and Hermeneutics, SFTS
Ecumenical social thought; theological ethics; thought of Paul Ricoeur; responsibility ethics in the intercultural context.

KENAN B. OSBORNE • Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology, FST
Christology; sacraments; contemporary philosophy; Chinese philosophy.

REBECCA PARKER • Professor of Theology, SKSM
Religion and violence; liberal theological views of suffering; process theology; religion and the arts; feminist theology; interpreting the death of Jesus.

INESE RADZINS • Assistant Professor of Theology and Swedenborgian Studies, PSR
Feminist theory; continental philosophy; Simone Weil; Emanuel Swedenborg.

MAYRA RIVERA RIVERA • Assistant Professor of Theology, PSR
Constructive theologies, especially feminist and postcolonial approaches; Latin American Liberation Theology; U.S. Hispanic theologies; ecofeminist theology; doctrine of God; theologies of the body.

MARIAN RONAN • Associate Professor of Contemporary Theology and Religion, ABSW
Feminist, literary and psychoanalytic theory; feminist and womanist theologies; contemporary American Catholicism; racism and classism in feminist religious writings; philosophy for understanding theology; religion in America.

T. HOWLAND SANKS, SJ • Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, JSTB
The community called Church; Vatican II revisited; faith and culture; theological method.