University of Chicago Divinity School

The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today lacks any sectarian affiliations. It is ranked number one in the field of the study of religion according to the National Research Council's measure of faculty quality in its survey of all doctoral granting programs in religious studies. The scholarly work of the school is organized through the work of three faculty committees, each of which is further subdivided into areas of study. PhD students concentrate their work in one of the eleven areas of study. Students in the various master's programs combine study in these areas with courses specific to their programs. All students are taught by the same faculty. History A distinguished Semiticist and a member of the Baptist clergy, Chicago's first university president William Rainey Harper believed that a great research university ought to have as one central occupation the scholarly study of religion, to prepare scholars for careers in teaching and research, and ministers for service to the church. Having taught at what was then the Baptist Theological Union Seminary, Harper incorporated it into the University of Chicago as its Divinity School, the first professional school at the university. The Baptist Theological Union (BTU) had founded the Seminary, established in 1865, "alongside" the Old University of Chicago which opened nine years earlier in 1856. The old university had ceased operations under bankruptcy in 1886, with the exception of its law school which was absorbed by Northwestern University.