Art and Religion
Offered at CDSP, DSPT, JSTB, PSR, SKSM
At the M.A. level, this area deals with the way in which art and religion inform each other. Students focus on a variety of media, especially the visual arts, film, dance, and drama and their contemporary as well as historic expressions. Each school may have a distinct emphasis. E.g., CDSP offers poetry and music; DSPT offers visual arts and film, literature, and aesthetics; JSTB offers aesthetics and visual arts; PSR offers dance, drama, and visual arts; and SKSM offers music, visual arts, and Whiteheadian aesthetics. In addition to GTU courses, students can do coursework in the arts at the University of California at Berkeley and Mills College, while enjoying access to the cultural resources of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Biblical Languages
A specialized program offered at all schools except SKSM
Designed especially for highly qualified persons planning to pursue doctoral work in biblical studies, the program is also well-suited to persons desiring a terminal degree with a concentration in the biblical languages and a firm background in biblical studies. Prospective students are expected to have semester-length introductory courses in both Old and New Testament studies prior to entry.

Biblical Studies
Offered at all schools except SKSM
Study in this Area provides a strong foundation in the entire biblical corpus. In addition to the Jewish and Christian canonical, deuterocanonical, and extra-canonical scriptures, study also covers the background literature of early Israel, biblical and post-biblical Judaism, and early Christianity. The critical study of primary texts is emphasized, and the development of skill in appropriate languages is central to the program.

Buddhist Studies
A specialized program offered by the GTU and the Institute of Buddhist Studies
Students in the program are required to take a breadth of courses in Buddhist Studies, while also gaining an exposure to other religious traditions and a variety of approaches to the study of religion. The course of study culminates in a thesis in which the student demonstrates his/her grasp of a specialized area of study within a broader context, either Contemporary Shin Buddhist Studies or Buddhist Studies generally.

Christian Spirituality
Offered at DSPT, FST, JSTB, PSR, SFTS
Students in this area study Christian religious experience. The program is focused on Christian Spirituality in the context of the broad contemporary understanding of spirituality and in conversation with religious spiritualities outside the Christian sphere. Students work to develop competence in biblical and historical foundations of Christian Spirituality.

Cultural & Historical Studies of Religions
Offered at DSPT, FST, JSTB, PLTS, SKSM
Students in this area incorporate cross cultural and historical themes, building upon scholarly methodologies which advance critical understandings of interreligious, multicultural and contextual religious experience. Traditions for study include Buddhism, Chinese/Japanese Religions, Christianity, and Judaism.

Ethics and Social Theory/Religion and Society
Offered at CDSP, DSPT, FST, JSTB, PLTS, PSR, SFTS, SKSM
Study in this area combines ethics and the social sciences. It includes a focus on theological and social ethics, with attention to ethical theory and history, analysis, and policy as related to politics, health care, feminist ethics, sexual ethics, professional ethics, or environmental ethics. The area can also include the study of religion as a cultural and social phenomenon, with attention to theory, methodology, and research in related disciplines such as sociology and anthropology.

History
Offered at all schools
Historical studies provide a means for developing an understanding of the Christian religion through critical historical investigation into the unity, diversity, and development of the Christian community from its origins to the present. In asking how Christians in other places and eras acted and believed, one acquires analytical skills to evaluate present actions and beliefs.

Homiletics
Offered at CDSP, PLTS, PSR
Here one studies the practice of preaching in the context of a faith community, focusing on theoretical, practical, and spiritual components. The program involves dialogue with areas of study outside homiletics in order to situate preaching in the context of its broader theological and pastoral landscape.

Jewish Studies
A specialized program offered by the GTU faculty at the Center for Jewish Studies
The focus is on the history of Jewish thought, history, culture, and literature. Jewish/non-Jewish dialogue is an implicit part of the program, so that the unique environment of the GTU contributes to and benefits from such exchanges. Admissions requirements follow those of the GTU Common M.A.

Liturgical Studies
Offered at CDSP, FST, JSTB, PLTS, PSR
The historical and theological dimensions of Christian worship and ritual practice are the focus of this area. The program is interdisciplinary, and has a focus on both scholarly and pastoral dimensions. Students attend to the multidimensional nature of liturgical events, and to the diversity of socio-cultural situations that shape both historical and contemporary worship.

Orthodox Christian Studies
A specialized program offered by the GTU and the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute. The M.A. in Orthodox Christian studies allows for the focused study of the history, theology, liturgy, spirituality and praxis of the Orthodox Christian tradition from its origins to the present day. The program provides both an academic structure for sustained inquiry into the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and a theological foundation for service and leadership within an Orthodox parish or diocesan ministry.

Religion and Psychology
Offered at ABSW, CDSP, PLTS, PSR, SFTS
This area explores the contemporary disciplines of psychology, religious traditions, and modes of care and healing. Inherent to the area is the assumption that the resources of contemporary psychology, including social psychology, racial-ethnic, feminist, and cross-cultural perspectives, provide crucial theories and methods that enhance the quality of human life and enrich understandings of religion and theology.

Systematic & Philosophical Theology
Offered at all schools
Study in systematic and philosophical theology engages in the ongoing task of interpreting the Christian faith in response to our modern and emerging post-modern culture. Students and faculty analyze the ancient biblical faith by tracing its influence on the history of ideas, its traditional philosophical reformulations, and its various contemporary reconceptualizations. Emphasis is given to the need for theology to be pursued in an ecumenical spirit and to increased attention to cross-cultural dimensions of understanding.