Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Diversity tableBy history, intention, and design, the Yale Divinity School community embraces a wide range of Christian traditions. Committed to serving church and world, it also welcomes people of various religious and nonreligious traditions, drawing wide the circle to include myriad perspectives.

Seeking to foster the knowledge and love of God through critical engagement with the traditions of the Christian churches, the Divinity School upholds the value of broad inclusivity and diversity in our academic, worship, and communal life.

Action & Impact: Read stories

We celebrate the fullness of race and color; denominational, political, theological, and cultural difference; the range of expressions of sexual and gender identity; and the varied voices that come with age, life experience, national and community service, and socioeconomic status.

In ecumenical conversation and in the space created that crosses traditionally entrenched positions, profound educational value is gained and diverse perspectives are presented.

To this end, we foster inclusivity and diversity through our academic, social, and spiritual practices. At the core of our intention is the deliberate encouragement of conversation across the lines of difference; attention to offering access to all aspects of our common life; consistent sensitivity to the uniqueness of each person’s background; and particular attentiveness to our words in speech, writing, prayer, and praise.

We value the worth and dignity of every member of the Divinity School community, as we build an environment where inclusivity and diversity are central and consistently affirmed.

Action & Impact

September 16, 2024
Around 100 Yale alums, donors, and guests packed an event space at the new International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., on September 14 to hear two Yale...
May 3, 2024
Keri Day ’04 M.A.R. was inaugurated by Princeton Theological Seminary as Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion, becoming the first Black woman...
April 26, 2024
By Ray Waddle The movement of the Holy Spirit at Chicago’s historic Trinity UCC Church might sound like John Coltrane, southern gospel, or rapper-producer J Dilla. It might...
April 2, 2024
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. It’s not unusual for scholars to be asked why they spend years of their lives devoted to a certain subject area. However, Adrián Emmanuel...
March 8, 2024
Story and photos by Timothy Cahill ’16 M.A.R. Michael Morand ’87 B.A., ’93 M.Div. greeted nearly a dozen staffers of the New Haven Museum who had been assembled in their...
February 16, 2024
February 16, 2024 Yale Divinity School Dean Greg Sterling issued the following statement today. —— Slavery is our country’s original sin. It is a stain on our...
February 5, 2024
The Rev. Andre Cortez Gilford Jr. ’24 M.Div. is the current president of Yale Black Seminarians, a Divinity School student group of more than 30 members that has pushed for...
January 9, 2024
In the new episode of the YDS “Quadcast,” scholar and author Julie Faith Parker ’02 S.T.M., ’09 Ph.D. interprets the Bible through a feminist lens, reclaiming the biblical...
October 29, 2023
By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R. The path that led Bo kyung Blenda Im ’12 M.A.R. to Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music—first as a student, then as a fellow,...
June 19, 2023
Announcement by Dean Greg Sterling June 19, 2023 ------ Now that the 2022-23 academic year has reached its conclusion, I would like to celebrate a number of accomplishments...
May 22, 2023
In the new episode of the YDS “Quadcast,” Kyama Mugambi discusses how Christianity in Africa is changing the global religious landscape. Mugambi, Assistant Professor of World...
April 28, 2023
By Leah Silvieus ‘21 M.A.R. Boston’s Old North Church is most known for its role in the beginning of the American Revolution. It was there that church sexton Robert Newman...
April 5, 2023
Yale Divinity School Professor Willie James Jennings will give Oxford University’s Bampton Lectures for 2023—the first African American tapped for the 243-year-old lecture...
March 14, 2023
By Timothy Cahill ’16 M.A.R. In 2017, the Rev. Dr. Rena Joyce Weller Karefa-Smart ’45 B.D. was presented with the Lux et Veritas Award, one of Yale Divinity School’s most...
December 19, 2022
December 19, 2022 Yale Divinity School today announced the establishment of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy, which will pursue teaching, practice, research,...
November 26, 2022
Braxton Shelley, Associate Professor of Music, Sacred Music, and Divinity at YDS and the Institute of Sacred Music, has won four prizes for his 2021 book Healing for the Soul...

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