The School of Theology and Religious Studies offers civil, ecclesiastical, and pastoral degrees. Detailed information on each degree can be found on our Graduate Programs page.

  • Civil Degrees (M.A., Ph.D.): The most common degrees offered by the School, the civil degrees focus on high quality, scholarly research.
  • Ecclesiastical Degrees (S.T.B., S.T.L, S.T.D.): The School of Theology and Religious Studies is an ecclesiastical faculty. In virtue of its accreditation by the Holy See, programs leading to certain degrees in theology are recognized as having canonical effects. 
  • Pastoral Degrees (M.Div., D.Min.): Professional degrees designed for specific types of ministry.

The School is organized into Academic Areas. Students will apply into an area and be assigned an advisor from that area. While the majority of the student's courses will come from their specific area, there are many opportunities, and in some cases requirements that will take a student into the other fields. Follow the links below to see the respective area's page for more details.

Bible

Biblical Studies

The Biblical Studies program at The Catholic University of America is designed to provide men and women, clergy and lay people with the training necessary for effective research, publication and teaching in the biblical field.

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Mary at Pentecost

Catechetics

The Catechetics Academic Area has a distinctive graduate degree.

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History of Christianity and Church History

The Church History program is focused on the history of the Catholic Church from the first to the twenty-first century.

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Historical and Systematic Theology

Historical theology studies the development of Eastern and Western Christian theology from the earliest Christian communities to the present. Systematic theology undertakes the task of a comprehensive and synthetic understanding of the Christian faith as mediated through the Scriptures and the Catholic Tradition and as interpreted by the conciliar and papal magisterium.

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Mass

Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology

The Program in Liturgical Studies/Sacramental Theology offers the civil degrees of M.A., the Ph.D., and the ecclesiastical degrees of S.T.L. and S.T.D.

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Virtues

Moral Theology/Ethics

Moral theology is the branch of Christian theology that focuses on the human response to the Christian revelation.

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Ash Wednesday

Pastoral Studies

The goal of Pastoral Studies is to prepare ordained Catholic clergy and lay ecclesial ministers.

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Spirituality

As an academic discipline, Christian Spirituality is interdisciplinary and embraces biblical, liturgical, historical-systematic, catechetics, and moral disciplines.

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