Graduate Theological Education in Transition: Analyzing Two Decades of Enrollment and Programmatic Change

Seminaries in the United States have for more than two centuries sought to equip ministerial leaders for service within the community of faith. And yet these institutions have traditionally been the focus of very little quantitative research. This lack of data is particularly noteworthy given the existential crises many seminaries currently face, especially regarding their flagship Master of Divinity (MDiv) programs. Among seminary leadership, a common response to declining MDiv enrollment has been to decrease the length of the program—which historically required at least 90 credit hours—and to increase Master of Arts (MA) offerings. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the extent to which these programmatic changes may be explained by institutional theory. Longitudinal data were analyzed to examine change at Association of Theological Schools member institutions (AMIs) related to enrollment and degree program trends and MDiv credit-hour reductions. The results revealed that AMIs have changed in significant and similar ways over the past twenty years and that these changes appear to be prompted, at least in part, by isomorphic pressures from peer institutions.