ALEXANDRIA, Va., September 3, 2024 – Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) has welcomed the highest number of incoming students for more than a decade for the 2024/25 academic year.
A total of 57 students from 32 dioceses across the Unites States, as well as students from Canada, India, Nigeria, the Republic of Georgia and Tanzania, have joined the Seminary this year. The incoming class includes 35 Master of Divinity, six Master of Arts, eight Anglican Studies, six Pathway to Ministry, and two Diploma in Theology students. Around 39% of the incoming class are students of color, making it our most diverse class to date.
VTS is also excited to welcome 11 students from denominations outside of The Episcopal Church, including members of the Baptist and Presbyterian Church U.S.A. We are also delighted to have a descendant from our Reparations Program studying one of our residential programs for the first time.
The new academic year began with the traditional Opening Eucharist with Academic Procession. It also included a Matriculation Rite, during which members of the entering class were asked to affirm their commitment to the VTS community, building on a new practice which was introduced for the first time last year.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., Dean and President of VTS, said: “This is our core work: our gift to the Church is to invite God to work on human lives so that they might be worthy vehicles of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This large incoming class is very exciting; we are looking forward to our shared journey together.”
In his sermon at today’s Opening Eucharist, Dean Markham spoke of the complex world in which we currently live, with countries at war internationally, an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate at home, and The Episcopal Church recently going through the process of electing a new Presiding Bishop. However, he reminded those gathered that suffering, pain and death are at the heart of the Christian tradition, and we are constantly exhorted to walk the journey of life aware of its fragility and pain.
He said: “We are in the business of formation. Part of the journey of formation is learning to cope with the hurt, pain, and complexities of life. Prepare yourself for the formation work that God wants to do in your life during this academic year. Do what you can to be constructive agents of the Gospel in this world. And if God is granting you a season of normality, be grateful. May God continue to work on all our lives as God forms us for the work of the Church.”
The start of the new academic year follows the successful conclusion of August Term, during which the incoming class spent time on campus for orientation, learning and worship.
VTS’ three-year, residential Master of Divinity (M.Div.) is designed to meet the educational and formational needs of students in the ordination process in The Episcopal Church or in an equivalent process in another denomination.
The Seminary also offers three specialized Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees in the areas of Biblical Studies, Church and Witness, and Christian Formation, and several one-year master’s-level programs. The Diploma in Anglican Studies provides students who already have an M.Div. degree the opportunity to dive deeply into the Anglican tradition in preparation for ordination. The Pathway to Ministry program enables students to begin a one-year course of studies and graduate with a Diploma in Theology or continue into the M.A. or M.Div. programs.
Full-time residential students on all of these Master’s-level programs are covered by full scholarship funding, covering their tuition, housing and meal plans.
