The Masters of Divinity program is designed for men seeking ordination to the gospel ministry. Its goal is to equip pastors and teachers to handle Scripture with exegetical skill and personal reverence, to preach Scripture with doctrinal precision, humble boldness, and pastoral zeal, and to live Scripture with personal attractiveness and holy passion. Our program is concerned with doctrinal fidelity and practical godliness, truth and love, knowledge and practice.
Each CTS class utilizes the best of Reformed literature, past and present. Beginning students will study the complete text of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. The writings of B.B. Warfield and John Murray are also emphasized. Third and especially fourth year students will be exposed to more recent developments in Reformed and non-Reformed thought. It is our belief that beginning students are best trained through grounding in solid, biblical instruction before being exposed to Christian thought and literature that diverges from our understanding of the “faith once delivered to the saints.” The biblical goal of ministerial education is not to seek conformity to the reigning zeitgeist but to commit the apostolic faith to men who shall in turn be able to teach others, and thereby seek the transformation of modern men and nations by an intelligent, humble, and bold declaration of the Word of God.
Building upon the foundation of the revelational epistemology of the apostle Paul, Augustine, and John Calvin, as well as the apologetic work of Cornelius Van Til, Christ Theological Seminary is dedicated to the intellectual defense of the gospel, a defense of the Christian worldview against all belief systems raised in opposition to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In addition to Reformed theology and presuppositional apologetics, CTS students will also be taught the full range of the traditional theological curricula: a strong emphasis in the original languages, sound principles of hermeneutics and exegesis, careful application of God’s law to the wide range of ethical issues of the Christian life and the broader culture, training in the Westminster Confession of Faith, homiletics, ecclesiology and church history, philosophy, and pastoral theology.
Because sound theological training involves practice as well as theory, all M.Div. students must be actively involved in a local church. It is expected that third and fourth year students will be more actively engaged in pastoral ministry. CTS, working in conjunction with Christ College and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States, will provide oversight and assistance to students seeking involvement in already existing church bodies or church planting work. CTS requires all M.Div. students to be under care, i.e., officially recognized ministerial candidates, of their presbytery, denomination, or other overseeing church body.
Successful completion of the following classes is necessary to be granted a M.Div. degree from CTS. Prior to the bestowal of the M.Div. degree, all graduates must (1) sustain an oral examination covering the entire range of the theological, creedal, historical, and exegetical program, and (2) deliver a sermon indicating exegetical, doctrinal, and practical mastery of the program. These will take place before a group of men approved by CTS. The class listing is in the recommended sequence. Students transferring into the CTS program from another institution may begin the M.Div. program at the level closest to their current academic development, which will be determined at the discretion of the governing body of CTS.
(M.Div. students are encouraged to take at least two electives from the philosophy or apologetics curricula during their third and fourth years.)
NT1: Introduction to Greek (Crowe)
TS1: Reformation Theology (Strevel)
NT2: New Testament Literature (Black)
PH1: Critical Thinking (Butler)
NT3: Intermediate Greek (Crowe)
TS6: Scripture and Trinity (Rogers)
NT4: New Testament Theology (Black)
TS3: Systematic Theology 1 (Johnson)
OT1: Introduction to Hebrew (Crowe)
TS4: Systematic Theology 2 (Johnson)
TS7: Man, Sin, and Christ (Morecraft)
NT5: Greek Exegesis (Crowe)
OT3: Intermediate Hebrew (Crowe)
TS5: Biblical Introduction and Criticism (Strevel)
TS2: Westminster Confession of Faith (Morecraft)
AT3: Introduction to Biblical/Presuppositional Apologetics (Butler)
TS8: Kingdom, Church, and Eschatology (Otis)
AT5: Christian Ethics (Strevel)
HT1: Church History, I: Patristic through Medieval (Morecraft)
OT5: Hebrew Exegesis
PH2: Christian Introduction to Philosophy (Butler)
HT2: Church History 2: Westminster Assembly to Present (Morecraft)
AT6: Pastoral Theology (Rogers)
OT2: Old Testament Theology (Morecraft)
AT1: Hermeneutics and Exegesis (Black)
NT6: New Testament Exposition (choose one course below)
Synoptics (Morecraft)
Johannine Literature (Strevel)
Pauline Epistles (Black)
Pastoral Epistles (Rogers)
AT7: Biblical Counseling (Rogers)
HT3: Historical Theology (Morecraft)
HT4: Church Polity (Morecraft)
OT4: Old Testament Exposition (choose one course below)
Pentateuch (Morecraft)
Historical (Johnson)
Writings (TBS)
Minor Prophets (Otis)
Isaiah (Strevel)
AT2: Homiletics (Morecraft)
AT4: The Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til (Strevel)
P3D: Introduction to Modern Philosophy (Butler)