ThD Program

Prospective students interested in doctoral work in religion may only apply for the Ph.D. program in the Study of Religion at Harvard University.

The Th.D. program of the Harvard Divinity School was inaugurated in 1914 and the final cohort was admitted in 2014. The Committee on the Study of Religion continues to administer those students enrolled in the Th.D. program. The Th.D. program emphasizes the study of the literatures, languages, practices, and institutions that shape religious and theological traditions and thought from a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives. Although the Western humanistic traditions in their histories and their encounters with other cultures and religions, past and present, form the historic basis for the Th.D. at Harvard Divinity School, the program also offers the opportunity for students to engage in the study of varieties of geographical/historical complexes and religious traditions.