Yale Divinity School

The Social Work profession is commonly described as one of the helping professions. Social work professional education strives to educate persons and equip them with knowledge and skills to enhance human well-being and, to help meet basic and complex needs of all people, with particular attention given to those who are vulnerable, oppressed, and impacted by poverty.  Yale Divinity School offers a joint study degree in divinity and social work for qualified applicants.

The theoretical foundations of divinity and social work, the various field work opportunities in theological and social work education and the knowledge and skills gained in the ministerial and social work curricular domains enhances effective professional practice in religion and social work. The joint degree education enhances personal growth and increases professional skills and marketability. Ordained and non-ordained social justice leaders with the dual degree of divinity and social work can live out their sense of call and vocation inclusive of or outside of a traditional religious leadership context. This includes their working in local and international social welfare agencies, higher education, mental health services, and community development organizations.

Yale Divinity School has an enduring commitment to foster the knowledge and love of God through critical engagement with the traditions of the Christian churches in the context of the contemporary world. It furnishes resources for the churches to reflect critically on their identity and mission in response to changing social and cultural realities and other world religions. Ecumenical and university-based, the Yale Divinity School recognizes as indispensable to its mission a communal environment which combines rigorous scholarly inquiry, public worship and spiritual nurture, practical involvement with the churches' ministries, and mutual regard among human beings across the diversities of gender, sexual orientation, race, class, nationality, and culture.