Dean's Message

Dean L. Gregory Jones

When you consider Duke Divinity School in preparation for ministry, you are looking at one of the leading centers of theological inquiry.

Theological education at Duke draws together the academy, the church and the world, and our mission requires that we engage and enhance all three in overlapping ways. Our reputation for excellence is built on the strengths of a faculty whose members combine rigorous scholarship, engagement in the wider world, and a commitment to the church that is distinctive among theological schools.

The Divinity School’s vocation is to equip students for faithful leadership and critical reflection on the church’s role in a dramatically changing global culture. This is not a passive experience. Rather, it is one of active, demanding formation that occurs best in a community of shared experiences that help shape ministerial identity.

Duke Divinity School is one of the 13 theological schools founded and supported by the United Methodist Church, which has been and continues to be central to the school’s mission. Additionally, the school is a major ecumenical center by virtue of its Wesleyan tradition and its commitment to the catholicity of the church.

We seek to provide intellectual leadership for the church’s ministry in the world. Our faculty is highly respected in such major areas as the history of interpretation and theological interpretation of Scripture; theological ethics; pastoral leadership; studies in the Wesleyan tradition; theology and medicine; and racial reconciliation.

We welcome students from a variety of diverse denominations and perspectives, and ask that all members of the community be willing to test their cherished views and assumptions. In a world polarized by stereotypes and divisions, we strive to create a dynamic center in which we have enough in common to make conversation possible and enough differences to make it necessary.

Duke Divinity School is highly invested in assuring a substantive role for clergy in the contemporary world. If the church is to thrive, we must identify tomorrow’s pastoral leaders, educate and form them well, and sustain their learning over the course of their ministry. There is no substitute for a passionate, learned clergy.

We invite you to join our community of learning, worship, and transformative service as you seek to answer God’s call to ministry.

Grace and Peace,

L. Gregory Jones
Dean