Graduate Theological Union

“An ecumenical and interreligious crossroads, building bridges among Christian denominations and other faith traditions, and dedicated to educating students for teaching, research, ministry, and service.”
Description of PhD Program
The GTU is a unique institution. It offers the PhD degree, an advanced academic degree intended to prepare students for professional careers in teaching, writing, and scholarship, as well as for leadership opportunities with religious organizations, social service agencies, foundations, museums, libraries, publishing, and in educational institutions.

Students entering the PhD program at the GTU can choose their fields of study from among more than thirty concentrations grouped into four interdisciplinary departments: Sacred Texts & Their Interpretation, Historical & Cultural Studies of Religion, Theology & Ethics, and Religion & Practice.

The doctoral curriculum builds on the ecumenical, interreligious, and interdisciplinary strengths of the GTU, and offers enhanced opportunities for both specialization and cross-disciplinary study. The GTU’s doctoral program utilizes the depth of faculty expertise made possible by its eight member schools and more than a dozen academic centers and affiliates.

The academic disciplines represented by a diverse range of faculty, combined with multidenominational and interfaith cooperation, provide a rich environment for developing one’s academic voice. The GTU has the faculty and research resources to offer a distinctively interdisciplinary approach to scholarship within one’s specialized concentration.

Tuition & Housing Costs
Tuition $32,280 for first two years

Continuing fee $9,270/year

Housing $10,800 (single student, 9-month academic year)

Tuition Assistance
All students are eligible for Presidential Scholarships, which are merit-based and cover full tuition for two years. Others receive grant-in-aid awards based on demonstrated need.

Financial Aid-Fellowships

At least one Presidential Scholarship each year goes to a person of an underrepresented minority, and the Hearst Scholarship is also designated for enhancing the diversity of the GTU student body. All students are eligible for Merit and Need-Based Aid, including several Endowed Scholarships, all of which are applied to tuition costs.

Hispanic/Latina/o Faculty
Luis Menedez-Antuña
Assistant Professor of New Testament

Wendy Arce
Assistant Dean

Eduardo Fernández
 Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ministry

Julián Andrés González
Assistant Professor of Old Testament

Alicia Vargas
Associate Professor of Multicultural and Contextual Studies
Interests include Mujerista Christology, Pauline inclusivity vis-à-vis Lutheran theology and mission

Marga Vega
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Interests include Metaphor, Aristole, Philosophy of Mind, Theories of Art, Social Philosophy

Hispanic Centers and Programs
Women’s Studies in Religion Program (WSR) sustains, promotes, and advances the study of women in theology and religion in full recognition of race, sexual and gender orientation, ethnicity, class, culture, nationality and religious orientation. WSR offers a Women’s Studies in Religion Certificate for graduate students at GTU and its member schools.
Yearly Events
GTU Distinguished Faculty Lecture

Reading of the Sacred Texts Lecture

Surjit Singh Lecture on Comparative Religious Thought and Culture

Neighboring Institutions or Programs
The GTU has cross-registration and cooperative library agreements with the University of California, Berkeley, which is located just a block away.
Library Resources-Special Collections
The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library provides electronic access to Clase Periodica, an Index of Latin American Journals in the sciences and humanities.
HTI Scholars

Salvador Alcántara
Inpatient Children and Adolescent Psychiatry
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital,
Cincinnati, Ohio

Jorge A. Aquino
Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Latin American Studies
University of San Francisco

Wendy M. Arce
Associate Dean of Students
Graduate Theological Union

Diana Patricia Avila (deceased)

José Balcells
Adjunct Faculty
Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico
Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico

Rebecca Berru Davis
Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow
Theology Department
Saint John’s University

Frederick Dalton
Teacher of Religious Studies
Bellarmine College Preparatory

Joseph De León
Lecturer
University of the Incarnate Word

Anita de Luna (deceased)
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Our Lady of the Lake University

Eduardo Fernández
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ministry
Jesuit School of Theology of Sana Clara University
Graduate Theological Union

Cecilia González-Andrieu
Associate Professor of Theological Studies
Loyola Marymount University

Michelle González Maldonado
Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Miami

Lauren Guerra
Lecturer
University of California Los Angeles

Kenneth Johnson-Mondragón
Director of Research and Publications
Instituto Fé y Vida

Jennifer A Fernández

Jennifer Christine Owens

Contact Information

The HTI person to contact for information on PhD studies at Graduate Theological Union is:

Name:     Kathleen Kook, Ph.D.
Title:        Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Phone:    510-649-2464

Person in Charge of Enrollment:

Name:     Dr. Wendy Arce
Title:        Associate Dean of Students
Phone:    (510) 649-2440
Email:     warce@gtu.edu