Description of program: The GTU offers the Ph.D. in the context of the University of California at Berkeley. The Ph.D. in Psychology and Religion explores the contemporary disciplines of psychology, religious traditions, and modes of care and healing. Inherent in the program is the assumption that the resources of contemporary psychology, including social psychology, feminist and cross-cultural perspectives, provide crucial theories and methods that enhance the quality of human life and enrich understandings of religion and theology. Student programs are individualized and ordinarily include a continuing clinical involvement in the community or in a religious organization. The goal of the Ph.D. program is to educate people to be excellent researchers, writers, and teachers in the field of Religion and Psychology.

Faculty and faculty interests: Rosemary Chinnici, SL (pastoral counseling, ministry courses, issues in feminist theology and psychology, issues in women's friendship); Gary Pence (psychological impact - negative and positive - of Christian beliefs and practices); Lewis Rambo (conversion, cinema, psychology of religion, self theory, congregations, globalization); Benoni Silva-Netto (pastoral counseling in a multicultural context, western psychotherapies and Asian theologies, psychological dynamics in the congregational life of churches, standards of competence in pastoral ministry); Archie Smith (African-American family, pastoral psychology, theology, narrative psychology, family therapy); Sandra Read Brown (frontiers of pastoral care, pastoral marriage and family counseling, methodology in pastoral care and counseling, gender issues from a pastoral perspective); Elizabeth Liebert, SNJM (women's experiences of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, spiritual discernment spiritual direction in Protestant context, women's spiritual care, adult development and spirituality).

Admissions Requirements: Applicants are expected to hold either a Master of Divinity degree from a fully accredited seminary and have academic and experiential background in psychology, or a Master of Arts or its equivalent in theological studies from an accredited graduate school, with appropriate experience in psychology. In the latter case the student may be required to take supplemental psychological and theological courses for one year. Applications are evaluated by both the GTU and the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley.

Language and other Requirements: The GTU language requirement involves certification in French, German, or Spanish. Students whose first language is not English may substitute English as their foreign language. In addition, a basic course in statistics and a doctoral level course in a research method appropriate to the student's area of interest is required. Two years of residency are required during which time students take courses offered at the GTU and at the University of California, Berkeley. Comprehensive examinations and a dissertation including an oral defense are requirements for the Ph.D.

Comprehensive Examinations: Foundational to each examination is the critical and constructive contributions of social psychological, racial-ethnic, feminist, and cross-cultural perspectives: 1) Psychology of Religion. The focus is the study of religion through the discipline of the psychology of religion, and when appropriate, the anthropology and/or sociology of religion; 2) Psychological Sciences. Focuses on the fields of contemporary personality theory, social psychology, and developmental psychology; 3) Clinical and Therapeutic Disciplines. Addresses theoretical and practical knowledge of various modalities of psychotherapy, marital and family counseling, pastoral counseling, and sychopathology; 4) Methodological Issues in Religion and Psychology. Focuses on the critical and constructive exploration of methodological issues involved in the interface between religion and psychology; 5) Historical Perspectives on Religion and Psychology. Examines the general historical matrix out of which psychology and systems of care and counseling have emerged.

Contact: Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, 510-649-2400.

Back to Directory Page

Mission Statement

Annual Meeting

Publications

Membership

Study Groups

Contact Information

Society Bibliography

Other Resources