DOCTORATE IN SACRED THEOLOGY

DOCTORATE IN SACRED THEOLOGY

DOCTORATE IN SACRED THEOLOGY DESCRIPTION The Doctorate in Sacred Theology is the highest degree granted by the Ecclesiastical Faculty within the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry by virtue of its status as an ecclesiastical faculty, in accordance with Sapientia Christiana. It follows upon the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). In addition to preparing students for teaching in seminaries and other institutions of higher learning, it equips one to be a member of an ecclesiastical faculty. The program is designed to form scholars who combine broad knowledge of an area, a critical knowledge of theological methods, an ability to do original research, and who will make significant contributions in their chosen fields of study. This handbook is intended to assist students in understanding the features of the STD program at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. As a guide to the policies and expectations within this degree program, it will be helpful to prospective applicants as well as to matriculated students making progress toward completing the degree. Regarding interpretation of these policies, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the STD program director are the proper arbiters. ADMISSION Students seeking admission to the STD program should complete general admissions procedures as outlined on the STM website, www.bc.edu/stm. The requirements for admission are as follows: An STL degree or the near completion of an STL degree. (A student accepted into the STD degree program does not formally begin the STD program until the STL degree requirements are fulfilled). A 3.7 GPA in course work at the STL level or the equivalent of this average. A letter of intent naming the area (Historical-Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Ethics, Word and Worship, Church History) that the student wishes to study. Such a letter should include the person or persons on the faculty with whom the student would like to work. Three letters of recommendation. Either the STL thesis or a major research paper from the STL program that conveys the student s capabilities in research and writing. All transcripts from previous post-secondary education. The TOEFL exam results if English is not the applicant s native language. 2

REGISTRATION When the student is accepted into the STD program, the student will be assigned an advisor. After the first semester, the student should decide on a particular faculty member as the student s dissertation director. When the student makes that decision and secures the agreement of the faculty member, the student should notify the STD program director and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. At that point, the dissertation director becomes the student s advisor. With the approval of the advisor/director, the student must register every semester. Students and their advisors should agree on what work the student anticipates doing that semester, e.g., studying in particular courses, acting as a teaching assistant, comprehensives, drafting the dissertation proposal or dissertation writing. During the first year of studies, an STD student should normally be registered each semester for two 3-credit courses plus TM 888 (non-credit placeholder which gives full-time status). After the first year, students register for TM 980 STD Specialized Research (6 credits) each semester until they graduate. REQUIREMENTS A three-semester residency after completion of the STL degree. One modern European language beyond the one ancient and one modern the student has by virtue of the STL degree. Those working on biblical or patristic topics may show competence in two ancient languages and one modern. Four courses or seminars in the area of specialization or some related topics. Of these, two courses must be offered by members of the Ecclesiastical Faculty. One of these is to be a reading course related to the subject matter of the projected STD dissertation. (If the student has done an STL thesis in an area not exactly related to the STD dissertation, then the student may be required to do additional course work). Two semesters of service as a teaching assistant. During residency, attendance/participation in the monthly Doctoral Colloquium. Participation in an appropriate seminar within the student s area of theology when it is available (for example, the PhD-STD doctoral seminar in ethics). Preparation and successful completion of the Comprehensive Examination. Preparation and approval of a Dissertation Proposal. Successful completion and defense of the doctoral dissertation. 3

LANGUAGES The requirement of one modern language may be fulfilled by successfully completing a course in the language and thus having it entered into one s transcript, or by an examination administered by a faculty member and arranged by the director of the program. The language requirement must be completed before the dissertation proposal can be approved. TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS Students should let the STD program director know of any courses for which s/he would like to provide teaching assistance. The program director will advise the STM Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, who will assign students to faculty as teaching assistants. COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION The Structure of the Examination The examination is taken subsequent to the course work and prior to writing a dissertation proposal. The comprehensive examination has three parts that are arranged like three concentric circles and moves from more general knowledge pertaining to the area of study, through the field of specialization, to the subject matter of the STD dissertation. The first level will cover general competency in the area (Historical-Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Ethics, Word and Worship, Church History); the second will address specialized concerns of a field (for example, Christology, Pauline Letters, Bioethics, Sacraments, Reformation); the third will focus on specific material foundational to the anticipated subject matter of the dissertation. The written exam will consist of a four-hour examination on each of the first two levels taken on two successive days. The second half of the examination, consisting of a two-hour oral examination to be held the following week, deals with all three levels of subject matter. Examination Board The examination board consists of the dissertation director, who acts as the chairperson, and two other faculty members who have been selected by the student, in consultation with the dissertation director and the program director. At least one member of the board must be a member of the Ecclesiastical Faculty. The dissertation director, in consultation with the student and the program director, will determine which faculty member is responsible for the respective parts of the exam. Setting Up the Examination During the last semester of coursework, the student should notify the program director when he or she intends to take the comprehensive examination. With the assistance of the dissertation director and the program director, the student should develop an appropriate bibliography for each of the three parts of the exam. Then the student should present the bibliographies to the examination board. The board members may make additions or subtractions to the bibliography. When the dissertation director approves the completed bibliography, the student should present a copy of it to each of the examiners. Date of the Examination The written comprehensive examinations will be given only on the Monday and Tuesday of the third week of October, the third week of February, and the second week of May, according to the 4

STM Academic Calendar. The student must register for the examination at registration time for the particular semester in which the student intends to take it. Coordinating the Examination The dissertation director should solicit from the respective examiner of each of the two parts of the examination three questions for that part. All questions should be based on the bibliography agreed upon by the student and the respective examiner. The dissertation director should present to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs the three questions for each of the two days. The Associate Dean in turn will administer the written exams and will photocopy the answers and distribute them to the board members. The Associate Dean will also give the dissertation director the STD Comprehensive Examination Report of the Examiners form for registering the results of the comprehensive exam. Examination Procedure Written examination. Each written examination of the first and second parts will last four hours. The candidate will answer two questions. The written exams will be read by all three examiners. The Associate Dean will assign the student a proper room for the exam and provide a computer for the student to use. Oral examination. The candidate will be examined by all three examiners. The oral examination will last two hours and be divided into three parts. During the first and second parts, the examiners will question on material from the first two written examinations. Normally, the questioning should begin with and grow out of the material written by the student. The candidate may begin the examination with a brief commentary on the preparation for the examination and the written responses to the first two parts of the examination. The third part of the exam will deal with the material which was studied in preparation for writing the dissertation proposal. The student will be given an opportunity to describe his or her dissertation project and all three examiners may ask questions about the project. Examination Grade The two possible grades for the comprehensive examinations are pass and fail, determined by a majority of the board. Should a student fail the comprehensive examination, he or she may take it once again at a date no sooner than three months from the completion of the first examination. In cases of a second failure, no further attempt is allowed. The dissertation director returns the form for registering the examination grade to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. DISSERTATION PROPOSAL The dissertation proposal is an integral step in the writing of the STD dissertation. The proposal is a semi-public document that is placed at the disposal of the entire faculty for their consideration. It should clearly explain the dissertation project. Ordinarily, a dissertation proposal will be approximately ten pages in length excluding the bibliography and contain a title page, an introduction, a statement of the subject matter, the question the dissertation will answer, the method of the dissertation, a description of its contents, and at least a tentative schematic 5

outline of the chapters and their approximate size. The form of both the dissertation proposal and the dissertation itself should correspond to the Chicago Manual of Style. After successful completion of the comprehensive examination and fulfillment of the language requirement, the student, after consultation with the dissertation director, solicits two other professors to serve on the dissertation committee as readers. One of these three professors must be a member of the Ecclesiastical Faculty. The dissertation director, the two readers, and the program director must formally approve the dissertation proposal. The student is responsible for securing their signatures on the Approval of STD Dissertation Proposal form, which is available in the Service Center. After securing their signatures, the student must then give a copy of the dissertation proposal to the program director, who will make it available to the entire faculty. Any faculty member who wishes to raise questions or objections or to supply constructive suggestions regarding the proposal may do so to the program director up to ten days after the faculty has been notified. If none are forthcoming after ten days, then the student should submit the proposal together with the above-mentioned form to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, at which time the proposal is officially approved. If questions, objections or suggestions are received from the faculty, the program director will forward them to the dissertation director, who in consultation with the readers will determine which changes, if any, must be made to the proposal. If changes are required, the advisor will notify the program director when they have been made and indicate this on the above-mentioned form. Then the student should submit the revised proposal with the above-mentioned, annotated form to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, at which time the proposal is officially approved. DISSERTATION The student works closely with the dissertation director. After the student begins writing, the student presents individual chapters to the dissertation director for comment, corrections, direction, etc. When the dissertation director judges that a particular chapter is ready for the readers review, the dissertation director notifies the student to submit it to the readers for their comment, corrections, etc. While waiting for the readers comments, the student should proceed to the next chapter. The dissertation committee has the freedom to proceed otherwise if, with the student, all agree to do so. The dissertation director, the two readers, and the program director approve the completed dissertation for defense. It is the student s responsibility to secure their signatures on the Approval for STD Defense form, which is available in the Service Center. The student returns the signed form to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, who confirms that all other academic requirements for the degree have been completed by signing the form. The dissertation may now proceed to defense. The STD dissertation should ordinarily not exceed 80,000 words, double-spaced with letter quality printing in the form of the Chicago Manual of Style. DISSERTATION DEFENSE The defense is conducted by a board consisting of the dissertation director, the two readers, and one examiner. One member of board must be from an institution other than Boston College; ordinarily it will be the examiner. The examiner is appointed by the program director, after 6

consulting with the dissertation mentor. The examiner is so-called because this is the only member of the board who has not read or directed the dissertation prior to its being approved for defense. The dissertation director may find it helpful to receive input from the student about prospective examiners to be contacted; however, the student should not initiate such contacts. Arrangements (including date and time) for the defense shall be made by the assistant to the department chairs of the STM. Ordinarily it may not take place until one month after the dissertation has been received by the examiner. The defense is moderated by the program director or someone appointed by the director and will last no more than two hours. The defense is open to the public. The defense board must come to one of three possible conclusions by a majority vote: 1) the candidate passes without any conditions (apart from minor corrections of grammar, typographical errors, and rephrasing; 2) the candidate passes with minor revisions; 3) the defense adjourns until major revisions are completed, after which the dissertation is to be re-examined. Any required revisions must be clearly indicated to the dissertation director of the dissertation who will oversee them and determine that they have been made. At the conclusion of the defense the board must sign the S.T.D. Defense Report of the Examiners form and submit it to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. After successful defense of the dissertation and the completion of any required revisions, the student must submit it online to the University Libraries, in the process also submitting it for publication. For more information, as well as to begin the process of online submission, please visit www.bc.edu/libraries/help/howdoi/etd.html.the degree is conferred at commencement. 7