Master of theology degree online

As a high-risk obstetrics nurse at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, N.Y., Maureen Cavanagh has had many heartbreaking discussions with parents about their fragile babies. But even after 25 years on the job, she never felt fully confident as a counselor, especially when it came to matters of life and death. "I felt awkward talking about faith or spirituality and how patients regarded dying," she says. So last year the lifelong Catholic enrolled in an online master's degree program in the field of healthcare mission at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. "Now, the first thing I ask is 'How do you regard what is happening?'" says Cavanagh. "I talk with families about how they feel about life and death, how they feel about suffering . . . . The program has allowed me to better understand and better articulate the values that come out of the Catholic tradition."

Seminary and divinity school enrollment has increased steadily over the past decade, and the bulk of that increase is because of grad students like Cavanagh. Many hope to master skills like counseling and administration. And they're going to schools of theology because they want to include faith in their training. "Students increasingly want their religious beliefs to really inform all aspects of their lives--not just be a cultural expression on Sundays," says Craig Williford, president of Denver Seminary.

Indeed, while the percentage of theology school graduates planning to go into parish ministry, the usual career path for ministers, is down 19 percent over the past five years, the number of seminary grads in new fields like pastoral counseling has risen dramatically. The shift can be explained by the many older students who see a divinity degree as a way to launch a second career as a counselor or a teacher, as well as others who enroll to learn how to apply their religious beliefs to their current work in hospitals, jails, and nonprofit organizations. All, says Williford, just "want the tools and training to use their faith in the world."

A host of new programs allow them to do so without donning a clerical collar. Duke Divinity School and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Social Work, for instance, began accepting students into a dual-degree program for the first time last fall. After four years of schooling, the program's graduates will be fully qualified to work as both ministers and social workers. Theology schools like Denver Seminary have started online and part-time degrees in subjects such as communications and leadership. The new programs often market themselves as a way to meld faith and career. "We wanted to do something to help prepare students to serve the church but not necessarily in an ordained capacity," says Donna Claycomb, Duke's director of admissions. "This is a more holistic or balanced approach to the vocation of social worker."

Theology programs typically allow students to immerse themselves in Christian theory and practice. Students often begin their coursework by studying Scriptures and then moving on to Christian theology and history. Yet even when the topic is organizational behavior or communications, Christianity is the theme. Cavanagh's healthcare classes, for instance, also cover canon law and Christian ethics. "Everything is based on the question 'How is what we do connected to our faith?' " she says.

Awakening. Chris Min asks himself that question, too. A television producer, Min experienced a religious awakening while watching the biblical finale of the film Magnolia. Soon afterward, he enrolled in a master's program in theology, worship, and the arts at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "I want to realize a synergy between my faith and my creative process," says Min, who plans to produce Christian films after he graduates this year.

But some students don't enter divinity school with specific career goals. After working as a youth minister for three years, Laurea Glusman says she was "unbelievably exhausted, mentally and spiritually." So she withdrew to the Duke-UNC program to deepen her theological knowledge as well as to develop her skills as a counselor. "I am not sure what I will do next," she says. "But I know I am called to embody Christ, to help people--and that's what ministry is all about."