The Theology Department offers an M.A. and a Ph.D. degree. The faculty is composed of distinguished teacher-scholars committed to mentoring students, to discovering the Christian heritage, and to exploring together new ways of understanding and articulating that heritage. Graduate students can choose to specialize in the following areas of concentration:

• Systematic Theology engages Roman Catholic theology in historical and contemporary eras, while also facilitating the study of Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and other religious traditions and worldviews. In addition to classical topics (such as theologies of God and Christ), the Systematic Theology program enables students to focus on ethics, ecclesiology, ecological theology, feminist theology, liberation theology, liturgical theology, Orthodox theology, philosophical theology, and Catholic social thought.


• Historical Theology studies the intellectual and social contexts of western Christian theology from late antiquity to the present day, in concert with other disciplines such as medieval studies, philosophy, history, and the social sciences.


• Christianity in Antiquity explores the emergence of Christian thought and practice from its formative beginnings in Second Temple Judaism to the fifth century of the common era. It attends to the resources, issues, and methods associated with the fields of New Testament, Patristics, and early Christianity.


• Biblical Studies attends to the cultural contexts in which the Bible was written and received, as well as questions of literary criticism and theological implications.

Thank you for your interest! We encourage you to direct your specific questions about the program to individual faculty members. If you have questions about the application process or the status of your application, please contact the Office of Graduate Admission by phone (718) 817-4416 or email at fuga@fordham.edu.

To apply to the Theology Department, please submit the following:

• online application with $70 application fee
• curriculum vitae
• statement of intent (one to two pages)
• writing sample (five to seven pages)
• official transcripts
• official GRE scores
• official TOEFL scores (if applicable)
• three letters of recommendation

Applications to the M.A. program must have a strong preparation in the humanities, with at least a 3.0 (B) average. Applicants for the doctoral program must normally have achieved at least a 3.5 (B+) average in their master’s degree.

To increase participation in the theology program by historically underrepresented groups, admission requirements can be adjusted to take into account the applicant’s educational background. All international students whose first language is not English must pass the TOEFL examination with a minimum score of 650. Those failing to do so must improve their English proficiency through courses in English as a second language.

For more information about admissions, please visit the Fordham University Office of Graduate Admission webpage.

Applications to either degree are handled through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 

To apply now, click here.