This certificate is designed for clergy who already have a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and are seeking advanced coursework alongside students in the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) program. Students participate in two summers of in-person study with other D.Min. students and take four courses (12 credits) of their choosing, without completing a thesis. Upon completion of any four courses students may receive a certificate or apply to be admitted into the D.Min. program for further study. Students admitted into the D.Min. program will transfer their credit from the certificate into the program.

Concentrations

Preaching

The Preaching concentration is offered in response to a growing need for post-Master of Divinity study, instruction, and critical practice in preaching. No more than eight students will be accepted into the Preaching concentration each year in order to assure adequate support for their courses of study.

Students will take the following coursework: 

  • 2 Core (6 Credits)
    • Preaching the Pastoral Offices
    • Word and Method: Homiletical Frameworks in Historical Perspective
  • 2 Electives in Preaching (6 Credits)
Liturgy

The Liturgy concentration builds on Sewanee’s unique strengths in liturgical studies and is offered in response to a growing need for post-Master of Divinity study, instruction, and critical practice in liturgy. No more than ten students will be accepted into the Liturgy concentration each year in order to assure adequate support for their courses of study. Students will take the following coursework:

  • 2 Core (6 Credits)
    • Mapping Liturgical Structures
    • The Incarnation of Worship: The Church, Its Worship, and Cultures
  • 2 Electives in Liturgy (6 Credits)

Application Requirements

  • Applicants should have a mature Christian faith, a history of active participation in a church community, and have begun a disciplined spiritual life.

  • Applicants should have a clear sense of vocation, lay or ordained, and a clear sense of how the degree program will support that vocation.

  • A completed application is required. 

  • Applicants to all degrees should normally hold a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university.

  • Official transcripts of degree granting undergraduate and post-secondary academic work from each institution attended are required.

  • Applicants should have the intellectual ability and academic background to engage the curriculum in a satisfactory way and to fulfill successfully the requirements of the degree to which the student is applying. Applicants may be required to submit additional writing samples.

  • An applicant whose first language is not English is required to complete the TOEFL or IELTS. Students who are not U.S. citizens or do not have legal permanent residency in the United States are required to have or acquire a valid U.S. visa.

  • Admission normally requires evidence of a Master of Divinity degree or its equivalent; evidence of ordination; and a minimum of three years full-time or equivalent experience in ministry, subsequent to the granting of the Master of Divinity degree.

  • A minimum grade of B in post-graduate work is generally required for admission.

  • Two letters of recommendation, one from a person who can attest to the applicant's academic acumen and one from a church official or member of the clergy.
  • An official interview is required of all applicants.

Tuition & Fees

Tuition per credit hour: $680
Tuition per course: $2,040
Fees: 2025 rate to be determined (approximately $90)
University Housing: 2025 rate to be determined (approximately $540 double occupancy, $725 single occupancy)
Board: 2025 rate to be determined (approximately $540)

A $100 non-refundable enrollment fee is required of students upon accepting admission into the program.

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Commitment to Diversity

What does it mean to be the University of the South? The answer to that question changes from one generation to the next and from one individual to the next. Being “of the South” means that we are both the beneficiaries and the critics of a rich tradition. While we are deeply invested in this region, we also engage with other communities, locally and globally. Diversity and variety—of the South and of the world—inform and underpin our institution, and all our community’s citizens must confront this question on some level.

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Inclusive Language Policy

Language matters. It shapes our sense of reality and is therefore crucial for our understanding of God and others. Through language we forge and maintain our relationships with God and one another.

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The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation

The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation at the University of the South is a six-year initiative investigating the university’s historical entanglements with slavery and slavery’s legacies. Our Project’s name memorializes the late Professor of History, Houston Bryan Roberson, who was the first tenured African American faculty member at Sewanee and the first to make African American history and culture the focus of their teaching and scholarship.

About the Project