Doctor of Ministry Preaching with Historical Imagination

Graduates of the Doctor of Ministry in Preaching with Historical Imagination will be able to:

• Integrate theological and scriptural knowledge with their cultural contexts.
• Richly describe and analyze cultural contexts to recognize, frame, and respond to crucial issues arising in their ministry.
• Develop enhanced leadership capacities oriented toward effective ministry.
• Draw upon theological resources and practices to reinvigorate and deepen their vocational callings.
• Demonstrate the ability to reflect on their own positionality, such as gender, religion, nationality, and specifically race.
• Articulate how the study of history shapes our understanding of the present and informs the practice of preaching.
• Exhibit a capacity to draw on church history and historical theology with care and critical generosity.

With limited space in each Preaching with Historical Imagination cohort, we encourage prospective students to apply early. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary accepts D.Min. degree applications on a rolling basis, and a waitlist is available if the cohort reaches capacity. Explore the D.Min. degree admission requirements to start your application.

Have questions about applying to the Doctor of Ministry program? E-mail the admissions team at dminadmissions@pts.edu or call 412-924-1365.

Application Deadlines

Priority Deadline: Dec. 5, 2026

Final Deadline: April 2, 2027

Prerequisites

For program eligibility, applicants must hold a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) or an accredited master's degree in a field related to their ministry context.

We’ve structured tuition for the Preaching with Historical Imagination program to reflect our commitment to church leaders by keeping the cost of attendance lower than most doctoral programs. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary also offers financial aid and scholarship opportunities for eligible students earning their D.Min. degree.

Note: Federal loans are not available for this program.

Reading the Bible with the Dead

Introduction to the history of biblical interpretation as subfield of church history and historical theology. Students will read examples of Christian biblical exegesis from late antiquity to the present day, learning to appreciate how the reception history of Scripture serves as a window on past communities and contexts. The course will introduce patterns of interpretation to contextualize present day exegesis as part of an ongoing conversation.

The Preacher as Historian

Introduction to research methods for historical studies, with special emphasis for approaching sermons as historiography (history writing). What does it mean to attend well to the contexts that shape persons and ideas in the past? How do we communicate the fruit of our historical research in compelling ways while taking care to avoid anachronism, reductionism, and other common pitfalls of historical arguments? This course will also cover general DMin research methods, including introduction to campus resources, to prepare students for the final project, which will require students to identify a framework for drawing on historical studies to bring carefully considered contextual connections to bear on contemporary questions of homiletical practice and pastoral leadership.

Ancient and Medieval Voices

A survey of preaching and theology from late antiquity through the medieval period, including both well-known and lesser-known voices.

This course surveys key developments in Christian theology and exegesis, with special attention to the theory and practice of preaching from late antiquity to the eve of the Protestant Reformation. Students will read homilies and other writings from Latin and Greek church fathers—such as Ambrose, the Cappadocians, Augustine, Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great—attending to how social and theological concerns influenced examples of proclamation that would have lasting implications for generations of Christians. The course will also examine lesser-known figures, such as preachers in medieval mystical traditions, in addition to ancient and medieval writings on the nature and form of Christian proclamation.

Storytelling from the Margins

History hides as much as it reveals, with mainstream and familiar narratives frequently allowed to proceed unencumbered by the many stories at the margins. This course teaches students to ask the questions that help identify the voices we have missed and attend to them with fresh ears. Students will further explore how examples of stories and storytelling from the margins challenge us to reconsider not only what we know about the past, but also how we tell others about it today, in ways that unveil and illumine the margins of contemporary communities. This course includes opportunities to workshop sermons and teaching materials for review and feedback.

Revisiting the Reformation Pulpit

Protestant reformers like Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin championed the Bible’s authority over the church, even reconfiguring church architecture around the pulpit to center faith and practice on the preaching of God’s Word. An oft overlooked aspect of this era is how religious sea change occurred alongside significant social upheaval involving unprecedented intra-Christian violence, migration, and political exile for countless Europeans. Featuring examples of preaching, this course sets Reformation theology in context, examining how social and cultural realities shaped preachers, their message, and the imaginations of millions.

Romans Through the Ages

Paul’s Letter to the Romans has captured the Christian imagination for millennia, though the variety ways the church has read this text has been largely obscured by Reformation era theological interpretations and their more recent reassessment in biblically studies. This course introduces students to diverse pre- and early modern interpretations in the history of exegesis by focusing on select portions of the letter as read by interpreters such as Origen, Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, Pelagius, Chrysostom, Bede, Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, and Calvin. Through close reading of primary sources students will engage a multifaceted, vigorous conversation about Paul’s theology that spans centuries. This course includes opportunities to workshop sermons on Romans and teaching materials for review and feedback.

The American Experience

Historical survey of preachers and preaching in American history, with special regard for the contributions of women preachers and the African American homiletical tradition. The course will take a comparative approach to illumine the diverse concerns, practices, and rhetorical forms that have characterized Christian proclamation from the colonial era to the present day, reassessing received accounts of “the American experience” and standards of homiletical excellence. Students will situate their own ministries at the confluence of various theological and cultural streams that have formed their communities and their own preaching.

Historicizing the Congregation

The task of embedding present day communities of faith in continuing historical narratives requires situating the congregation in a particular time and place, at the intersection of personal, local, societal, and global histories. This introduction tools of contextual analysis will enable students to excavate and carefully describe these realities that inform how and why a particular community expresses its faith as it does, as those whose formation in the present never fully escapes their individual and collective pasts. Students will experiment with different forms of proclamation that forge meaningful connection between these histories and the contemporary moment, with opportunities to workshop sermons and teaching materials for review and feedback.

Tradition, Memory, and Theological Imagination

Tradition plays a powerful role in individual and communal self-perception, memory, and sense of connection to others. This class examines the nature of tradition and belonging to traditions. Historical and contemporary sources will illumine “tradition” as a cultural and theological construct, including its uses and abuses in shaping Christian identity and practice.

The Art of Psychobiography

The interior contexts of a person’s life—including their self-perception, psychological makeup, and emotional responses—are notoriously difficult terrain for historians to illumine from external sources. Yet history involves stories of complex, whole persons. This course examines the interplay of external and internal dynamics that shaped persons and their contexts in the past to better narrate their experiences and relate them to diverse situations today, while avoiding anachronism and respecting the limitations of sources. This course includes opportunities to workshop sermons and teaching materials for review and feedback.