Master of Divinity (M.Div.)

The Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree is designed primarily for students who plan to be ordained clergy and serve in Word, sacrament, service and order. It may also equip a person for other specialized ministries.

The number of new students to be admitted each year is determined by policies of selection established by the faculty. The following considerations are decisive:

1. Seriousness of purpose, emotional stability and likelihood of satisfactory performance in the degree program and of responsible membership in the Perkins and Southern Methodist University community

2. Presence of and potential for growth in, those emotional, moral and spiritual qualities requisite for the profession of ministry and the absence of patterns of personal behavior tending to be seriously disabling to ministry

3. Academic ability as shown by a minimum G.P.A of 2.75 (on a 4.00 scale) in a well-balanced curriculum. Normally, an applicant must hold the B.A. or equivalent degree from a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting body (MSA, NASC, NCA, NEASC-CIHE, NEASC-CTCI, SACS, WASC-Jr. or WASC-Sr.). An applicant with a degree from a nonaccredited school may be considered if the case is exceptional. It is particularly important that the student have an adequate liberal arts preparation. In keeping with the recommendations of the Association of Theological Schools concerning pre-theological studies, the following 60 hours of liberal arts coursework are highly recommended for admission to the M.Div. degree program:

4. Three hours of philosophy (preferably historical or introductory courses or logic)

5. Twelve hours of English (especially courses that include grammar, composition and creative writing)

6. Three hours of history

7. Three hours of social science

8. Thirty-nine additional hours of liberal arts

   The following are considered highly desirable for admission to the M.Div. degree program:

9. Three hours of a natural science or mathematics

10. Six hours of a foreign language

11. Six hours in religion (e.g., Bible, church history, history of religions, theology or ethics)

    People who have already graduated from college or who are considering the ministry as a second career are given special consideration by the Admissions Committee, especially in regard to the adequacy of their pre-theological curriculum.

    Beyond the evidence of ability furnished by transcripts, applicants may be asked to demonstrate their preparation for theological study by adequate performance on either the Graduate Record Examination or the Miller Analogies Test.

12. A reasonable program of financial support that will enable the student to be devoted properly to the main business of his or her theological training.

    Persons who have already graduated from college or who are considering the ministry as a second career are given special consideration by the admissions committee, especially with regard to the adequacy of their pretheological curriculum.

    Beyond the evidence of ability furnished by transcripts, applicants may be asked to demonstrate their preparation for theological study by adequate performance on either the GRE graduate school entry exam or the Miller Analogies Test.

    To supplement the data furnished by transcripts, letters of reference and other written material, a personal interview with the associate dean for enrollment management or with a person designated by the associate dean may be required of the applicant.

Perkins School of Theology has been part of Southern Methodist University since the university’s founding, growing out of the work of a commission led by Bishop James Atkins of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to establish a theological school west of the Mississippi River. Dr. E.D. Mouzon, dean of the Theological Department of Southwestern University and later bishop, became the first dean in 1914. With the opening of the university in the following year, the school of theology began its work as the church’s official theological school for the western half of the United States. When ownership of the University was vested in the South Central Jurisdiction of The Methodist Church at the Uniting Conference of 1939, the school of theology became the official theological school of that jurisdiction.

Dean Mouzon was followed by Deans Hoyt M. Dobbs (1916), Paul B. Kern (1920), James Kilgore (1926), Eugene B. Hawk (1933), Merrimon Cuninggim (1951), Joseph D. Quillian Jr. (1960), James E. Kirby (1981), Robin W. Lovin (1994), and William B. Lawrence (2002).

Beginning in 1945, the university received a series of large gifts from Joe. J. Perkins and Lois Craddock Perkins of Wichita Falls, Texas, which made possible the campus relocation and expansion of the school of theology and provided major endowment for its support. The generosity of the Perkins family has continued for three generations from the families of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro and her late husband Charles, and Caren Harvey Prothro and her late husband C. Vincent Prothro, as well as from the family of Kay Yeager and her husband Frank. The establishment of Bridwell Library was made possible through a founding gift from Joseph S. Bridwell of Wichita Falls and his daughter, Margaret Bridwell Bowdle in the late 1940s. The library continues to benefit from the munificence of the Bridwell Foundation.