Our department offers a master's degree in Theology for full-time or part-time students. Non-matriculated students who wish to further their studies may be accepted on an individual case basis. Our program prepares students for doctoral study or secondary-school education. It also provides further foundation for those in educational or ministerial leadership, enriches Christian life and thought for those in the professions, and deepens the interpersonal and intellectual qualities of those who pursue careers in other fields.

Whether you choose the master's degree as a terminal degree or intend to pursue further academic work, our program offers courses that support you choices.

Please also check our Five-Year B.A./M.A. Program in Theology, where you may receive both degrees in an accelerated five-year timeframe.

Program Goals

The Department of Theology and Religious Studies:

• offers graduate courses that:
  • emphasize a broad understanding of the Catholic theological tradition as mediated through the questions raised by modern culture and responded to by the Second Vatican Council and by the continuing challenges of human life
  • investigate the resources of the Christian tradition and of contemporary culture
  • advance academic ways of understanding Christian belief and practice
  • reflect critically upon the life of faith, and
  • engage in what Augustine calls the restless search for wisdom
• serves the Church by:
  • preparing graduate students for doctoral study or secondary school education
  • providing further foundation for those in educational or ministerial leadership
  • enriching the Christian life and thought for those in the professions, and
  • deepening the interpersonal and intellectual qualities of those who pursue careers in other fields or change careers
• attracts men and women of all ages and with diverse educational backgrounds who:
  • value the academic study of theology
  • plan to attend full-time or are interested in attending part-time, and
  • either seek a degree or are non-degree-seeking persons.

We invite you to also read the Academic Program Objectives of Villanova University, published in the Graduate Catalog.