Black Church Studies

Black Church Studies Certificate Program logo

The Black Church Studies Certificate Program (BCSCP) at Yale Divinity School (YDS) offers a Certificate in Black Church Studies for students who wish to respond to the evolving work of the Black Church and to the critical needs of marginalized communities. The program is open to students interested in serving in historically Black congregations, and /or who are inspired by the rich and ecumenically diverse traditions of the Black Church. 

The BCSCP at YDS supports the inquiry of, and engagement with, practices of African American churches and other Christian communities throughout the African Diaspora. To cultivate such inquiry the BCS Certificate Program offers opportunities for dialogue with emerging and existing leaders in the Black church and in the broader community. 

Through course work, colloquia, special lectures and other culturally relevant events, the BCSCP creates the opportunity for innovative and interdisciplinary thinking, and space for dialogue that supports the development of a student’s unique voice and perspective on Black religious life. 

Director: Rev. Joanne Browne Jennings

BCSCP Requirements

  • Course work of at least twelve (12) credit hours of African American religious inquiry. One course must examine some aspect of African American history. 
  • Participation in one (1) colloquium per semester 
  • Participation in either the annual YDS/ New Haven Pilgrimage or the Biennial BCSCP Retreat. 
  • Complete one (1) supervised ministry in a BCSCP approved site.
  • Participate in a regular meeting designed specifically for BCSCP participants. 
  • MDiv students are required to confirm with the BCSCP director their intention to receive the BCS certificate at the beginning of their second year of study, no later than the last day to change a course grade for that semester. 
  • MAR students are required to confirm with the BCSCP director their intention to receive the BCS certificate at the beginning of the spring semester of their first year of study, no later than the last day to change a course grade for that semester. 
  • STM students are required to confirm with the BCSCP director their intention to receive the BCS certificate at the beginning of their course of study, no later than the last day to change a course grade for that semester. STM students are also required to offer a presentation tied to their research project in relation to Black Church Studies, at the end of their course of study. 

Black Church Studies group website

A group website supporting the Black Church Studies Certificate Program participants. This site provides more information about speakers, events, and academics.

BCSCP website

Contact

Rev. Joanne Jennings
Director of Black Church Studies

joanne.jennings@yale.edu

BCSCP Spring 2026 Courses

  • REL 3900B Transformational Leadership: Nonviolence Core Concepts
  • REL 517 “Race” and the New Testament
  • REL 603  Love, Prophecy and Social Criticism
  • REL 615  Introduction to Christian Ethics
  • REL 626  Systematic Theology 
  • REL 640  Body and Land
  • REL 656  James Cone*
  • REL 7101  Black Church Burning*
  • REL 736  Black Gods of the Metropolis: Black Religion During the Great Migration*
  • REL 803  Introduction to Religious Education
  • REL 808   Black Religion and Radical Education
  • REL 810  My Neighbor’s Faith: Building Interreligious Community
  • REL 851  Practical Theology and the Carceral Continuum
  • REL 876  Psychopathology and Pastoral Care
  • REL 9100  The Gospel Imagination: Tradition and Revolution *
  • REL 9205  African Urban Music: An Introduction to Transnational Themes
  • REL 942 Islam at the Intersections: Readings in Liberation, Race, Gender and Sexuality
  • REL 943  Gospel, Rap, and Social Justice : Prison and the Arts
  • REL 988  Virtue, Vice and Epistemic Injustice

 

Courses marked * satisfy the BCSCP History requirement