Apply Now

Request Program Info

Search the GTU

Displaying 361 - 380 of 612
Basic Page

GTU Alum Directs Humane Society’s Animals and Religion Program

Few people know about the harsh lives of approximately 10 billion animals raised on U.S. factory farms every year before appearing on our dinner plates. One who knows much about these animals is Christine Gutleben, M.A. ’05. Gutleben is director of the Animals and Religion program of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and co-producer of the film Eating Mercifully, which showcases the plight of these animals, and profiles people who are engaged in what the Humane Society calls “the ethics of food and faith.” The film premiered at the Washington National Cathedral last fall.   The...
AcademicsGTU Alums
Basic Page

Protocols and Other Area-Related Material

GTU doctoral students must comply with policies and requirements included in the GTU Catalog in place at the time they matriculate into the doctoral program. The Area protocols below apply to students who began the doctoral program in Spring 2015 or before, prior to the GTU's adoption of its current doctoral curriculum. Click here to learn more about the current doctoral program. In general, the GTU Catalog describes “what” a student must do to earn a doctoral degree.  Area protocols include Area-specific requirements and policies, but also describe “how” students meet program requirements....
Academics
Basic Page

Registrars of the GTU

BST (formerly ABSW) Kat Croswell 510/841-1905 ext. 237 CDSP (until 1/31/2026) Robert Kramish 510/204-0714 DSPT Rebecca Hinkley 510-883-2056 GTU John Seal 510/649-2462 IBS Helen Tagawa   JST/SCU Mack Griffith 510/549-5014 PLTS Aaron Greig 510/559-2719 PSR Janett Cabanero 510/849-8285 SFTS/UOR...
Current Student Resources
Basic Page

BCARS - Certificate Requirements

All students enrolled at the GTU or any of its member schools are eligible to register for the BC/ARS Certificate. Upon successful completion of the requirements students will be awarded the certificate. Students register for the Certificate by filling out an “Intent to Enroll” form (also available through member school registrars).  Students will submit the “Intent to Enroll” to an administrative support person who will manage the BC/ARS records. This person will be designated to do this by the GTU Dean.  Upon completion of all the requirements, the student presents a completed Requirements...
Basic Page

From the President

Daily experiences remind me that the GTU tag line probably ought to read: “Where religion engages the world,” rather than “where religion meets the world.” The member schools, centers, institutes, and affiliates of the Graduate Theological Union actively engage the world in all its diversity—provoking new thought, igniting expanded spiritual awareness, and transforming lives. Let me offer just a few recent examples of how the GTU is shaping the future of religious studies:   Laurie Zoloth, GTU ’93, was recently elected President of the American Academy of Religion, and has issued a call...
Basic Page

Buddhist Studies

M.A. Faculty     Stories   Buddhist Studies: New Avenues Tori Pinto, M.A. '11       The Non-Pursuit of (Unsustainable) Happiness: A Buddhist View Scott Mitchell (Ph.D. '08) and Eisho Nasu (Ph.D. '96) Degrees M.A. This Area of concentration is available to students affiliated with the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Overview  Students in the program are required to take a breadth of courses in Buddhist Studies, while also...
Basic Page

Academic Degrees & Programs

    At the Graduate Theological Union, the proximity of our member schools, multifaith centers, and interdisciplinary programs creates a dynamic intellectual community that draws scholars from around the world. Our curriculum has grown beyond the traditional strengths in Bible, history, theology, and ethics to encompass a wide range of areas, including art and religion, religion and psychology, cultural and historical studies of religions, Christian spirituality, and interdisciplinary studies. Doctoral Studies at the GTU The GTU offers both the Ph.D and the Th.D. degree.  Both are advanced...
Basic Page

Janet Ruffing’s Very Full and Satisfying Career

“…it’s important for me to give back…”  Ruffing (center) in Thailand, where she helped initiate a spiritual direction program (photo altered with Photoshop filter) “I am a witness to students in my classes being able to link their work in social justice to a deep contemplative part of themselves. They see the relationship between their interior life and their work in the world,” says Janet Ruffing (Ph.D.’86), professor of the practice of spirituality and ministerial leadership at Yale Divinity School, and a Sister of Mercy. That is a gift, according to Ruffing, and it is one...
GTU News

Congratulations to 2023 CIS Graduates

Congratulations to the Class of 2023 CIS Graduates As-salaamu alaikum, greetings of peace. The Center for Islamic Studies is delighted to present the Class of 2023 graduates in Islamic Studies: Dr. May Kosba, PhD dissertation title, The Race Question: Egyptian Intellectualism on the Periphery of the African Diaspora. Currently Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Program in African Studies at Princeton University. Congratulations! Huzaifah Bharucha MA thesis title, Contradictions between Āḥād Ḥadīth and Qiyās within the Ḥanafī Madhhab. Huzaifah will begin the PhD program in fall 2023...
News & EventsGraduate Theological UnionThe Center for Islamic Studies (CIS)
CIS | Center for Islamic Studies
GTU Faculty

Lillian I. Larsen

Professor Larsen's work remains deeply rooted in pedagogical approaches formed in a broad spectrum of educational environments. Improbably, her interest in re-reading Christian sources (and more particularly, the Apophthegmata Patrum - the collected sayings and stories of early Egyptian monks) began while teaching secondary mathematics in an urban classroom. Since that point, Larsen's  investments have been iteratively defined (and refined) through exploring the role religion has played in shaping ancient, and derivatively, contemporary learning. From early in her tenure at Redlands, she has...

Telephone: 
909-748-8492
Email: 
lillian_larsen@redlands.edu
San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS)
Basic Page

UC Berkeley

A unique partnership between the Graduate Theological Union and the University of California, Berkeley, creates unparalleled opportunities for GTU students and faculty. The cooperative relationship with this world-class university just a five-minute walk from our campus enables GTU students to cross register for courses at UC Berkeley, to access university libraries, and to enhance their studies through the incorporation of university disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, ethnic studies, and Near Eastern studies.    The collaborative relationship with the UC Berkeley has...
AcademicsAdmissions & AidLife at GTUFaculty & Staff ResourcesCurrent Student ResourcesGraduate Theological Union
Basic Page

Bajpai Scholarship Endowment

The Graduate Theological Union is honored announce the establishment of The Professor Shiva G. Bajpai Scholarship Endowment This endowed fund, created by the family of Professor Shiva G. Bajpai and intended to honor the incredible legacy of Professor Bajpai’s life and educational work, provides funding for scholarships for students pursuing the MA concentration in Hindu Studies, the MA concentration in Yoga Studies, or a PhD concentration in Hindu Studies at the Center for Dharma Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Professor Bajpai taught at California State...
Support the GTUAdmissions & AidCenter for Dharma Studies (CDS)
GTU News

GTU President Riess Potterveld to Retire in June 2018

The Board of Trustees of the Graduate Theological Union has received notice that Dr. Riess Potterveld will retire at the end of June 2018 after five years as president of the GTU. The Graduate Theological Union has accomplished much during the tenure of President Potterveld, and the Board is grateful for his dedicated service and leadership. New developments at the GTU under Dr. Potterveld’s presidency include the rapid growth of the GTU interreligious model, the creation of the Center for Dharma Studies; the first offerings of Jain and Sikh courses; the establishment of new interreligious...
AcademicsLife at GTUNews & Events
Riess PotterveldPresidentBoard of TrusteesWilliam D. GlennSusan Cook Hoganson
Basic Page
Basic Page

About the CDS

The GTU’s Center for Dharma Studies (CDS) represents the leading edge in interdisciplinary and rigorous academic programs in Hindu Studies and Dharma Studies. Highlighting theology, applied ethics, contemplative paths, ritual studies, and the in-depth study of ancient, classical, and contemporary Hindu texts, thought, and practice, the CDS offers the rich diversity of the Hindu world to scholars and students of these and other traditions. The CDS was established with a ground-breaking gift from Mira & Ajay Shingal of the Bay Area. The CDS is a programmatic Center through which the GTU offers...
Center for Dharma Studies (CDS)
GTU News

CTNS Turns 35—and Becomes a GTU Program!

From the Fall 2016 issue of Currents, view PDF On Tuesday, October 18, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) celebrated its 35th anniversary—and its new beginning as an internal program of the GTU. CTNS became a GTU program unit earlier this year, after a long and successful history as an independent nonprofit affiliated with the GTU. The October 18th celebration featured a retrospective by CTNS Director Robert Russell touching on the major facets of CTNS’s eventful history, as well as words of encouragement from current and former CTNS staff, students, and colleagues. The...
The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS)
CTNS | Center for Theology and the Natural SciencesIan G. Barbour Chair in Theology and ScienceTempleton PrizeRussell Family Fellowship in Religion and ScienceCharles H. Townes Graduate Student FellowshipTheology and ScienceRiess PotterveldRobert John Russell
GTU News

From the President

From the Fall 2016 issue of Currents, view PDF by Dr. Riess Potterveld One of my disciplines as president of the GTU is to scan the thick magazines published by universities, colleges, and theological schools to monitor the evolution of education. There are an incredible number of stories about students, faculty, and whole academic fields seeking to impact specific global issues. Recently, the GTU secured a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to encourage research that seeks to address particular global challenges. Through this new program, cohorts of students, with a faculty...
Center for Swedenborgian Studies (CSS)
Riess PotterveldCurrents Fall 2016Arthur Vining Davis FoundationsInternational Society for Krishna ConsciousnessHis Grace Gauranga DasGovardhan Eco VillageDevin ZuberCSS | Center for Swedenborgian Studieseco-village
GTU News

Naomi Seidman Is Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

For immediate release, April 7, 2016 The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced that Dr. Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture at the Graduate Theological Union, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2016. Dr. Seidman is among a diverse group of 178 scholars, artists, and scientists selected to receive the prestigious award this year; Fellows for 2016 were chosen from a field of nearly 3,000 applicants. The Fellowship, granted for Dr. Seidman’s work in the field of literary criticism, will support development of her upcoming book, tentatively titled The Navel of...
The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies (CJS)
CJS | The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish StudiesNaomi Seidman
GTU News

Letter from the President

From the Spring 2016 issue of Currents, View PDF In this and other recent issues of Currents, we have celebrated the strengthening embrace of interreligious education at the Graduate Theological Union, as well as our ongoing addition of new religious partners here in Berkeley. You can see this emphasis in the GTU’s redesigned doctoral curriculum, which features more than thirty different concentrations, including many designed to enhance interreligious and interdisciplinary work. You can see it in the establishment of our new Center for Dharma Studies, which brings the study of Hinduism,...
Basic Page

First Annual Women & Religion Student Conference

Women’s Studies in Religion hosts The First Annual Women & Religion Student Conference   March 2, 2012   Tucson Room at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific 2451 Ridge Road Berkeley, CA 94709   12:30       Gather, refreshments and introduction 1:00   Session I:  Locating Women in History and Society Chair:  Darleen Pryds, Franciscan School of Theology Alex McDermid, MA, Buddhist Studies, “Gender in Jodo Shinshu Temple Families” Mee-Yin Mary Yuen, PhD, IDS, “Enhancing the Capabilities of Rural Women in China” Khalia Jelks, PhD,...

ContrastHigh|Normal