University of Chicago Divinity School

09/01/2026

Applications for graduate study at the University of Chicago Divinity School open today for the AMRS, MA, MDiv, and PhD.

The Divinity School curriculum is organized by method rather than by religious tradition; students take courses across methodologies and areas of study, learning how to approach their research questions from multiple angles. Master’s students build a course of study with a faculty advisor around their own questions. MDiv students complete fieldwork at placements across the city of Chicago.

Scholarship information is included in the application. Applying by the priority deadline of January 5, 2027 means being considered for the full range of scholarship support.

apply-divinity.uchicago.edu/apply

08/05/2026

Divinity School student Lilia Ellis has a new essay in the Christian Century on physician-assisted su***de, and it asks a question that usually gets skipped: why are people in so much pain to begin with, and why do their illnesses stay untreated?

Drawing on her own experience with a poorly understood chronic illness, Ellis argues that a lot of what looks like a "compassionate" choice is really a failure of research funding, disability support, and community, and that Christian ethics has something specific to say about it.

Read it here:

Why are people in pain? Why are their illnesses incurable? Neither advocates nor opponents of PAS tend to ask these...

08/03/2026

Quick question: if you've seen Nolan's "Odyssey," did you catch that Calypso offers Odysseus immortality?

The film keeps it vague that she's a goddess, so that choice barely registers on screen. But it's the whole point of the scene in Homer's epic.

In the latest entry to the Div School's Pop Religion series, Carolina López-Ruiz, who teaches ancient Mediterranean religion at the Divinity School and chairs the University's Department of Classics, breaks down that moment, the ancient law of hospitality behind "the stranger who might be a god," and what a 2,700-year-old poem still gets right.

Read more: https://divinity.uchicago.edu/news/pop-religion-theme-generations-hereafter-professor-carolina-lopez-ruiz-nolans-odyssey-faith
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📸 Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

07/17/2026

In Homer, the gods don't simply receive prayers from a distance. They argue, take sides, show up in person, and change the plot.

With Nolan's "The Odyssey" opening this weekend, Carolina López-Ruiz, Associate Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Mythologies and Chair of the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago, explains the choice every adaptation has to make: keep the gods abstract and modern, or put them on screen the way the poems have them. She has a reason for her preference. Watch the full video at the Div School YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/BpMuxLA2eF0

The full "Pop Religion" interview with Carolina will be published the week of July 27.

07/15/2026

"The world cannot be justified."

Those words from Susan Taubes anchor the lead article in the newest issue of the "Journal of Religion," which traces her refusal of theodicy and her enduring engagement with suffering and meaning.

The issue also features new scholarship on Kant's understanding of God and the politics of the "Zhuangzi," continuing the Journal's long tradition of publishing innovative research in the study of religion.

We'll also highlight the new issue in tonight's edition of Criteria, together with the latest news and stories from across the University of Chicago Divinity School. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jr/2026/106/3

07/13/2026

What does a Divinity School education prepare students for in an age of artificial intelligence and information overload?

In her 2026 convocation address, Professor Angie Heo reflects on why the academic study of religion and the humanities remains essential for cultivating curiosity, discernment, and deep understanding.

Watch the full address on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7Z8CSvAobro?si=6m5Qx6rkCbuGBkw7

07/08/2026

A team of scientists has built the first synthetic cell that can feed, grow, and reproduce, and the Div School's own Laurie Zoloth weighed in on what comes next. Zoloth, Margaret E. Burton Professor of Religion Ethics, spoke with CNN about the ethical questions raised by this kind of breakthrough and the new nonprofit created to help answer them. Read more on CNN.

Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time that feeds, grows and replicates like a natural cell, a breakthrough in synthetic biology.

06/29/2026

June 30 is the last day of our fiscal year, and we're marking it with a small thank-you: donors who give before midnight receive a commemorative poster of Swift Hall, created by artist Steve Shanabruch.

Make a gift before the deadline here: givetoday.uchicago.edu/campaigns/80382/donations/new?designation=Swift+100&utm_source=ang-fy26&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fye26&utm_content=31S2606AA

06/22/2026

What does holiness smell like?

That's the question perfume influencer Audrey Robinovitz put to a room of parishioners, perfume devotees, and the spiritually curious at a Gold Coast church last month, tracing scent from scripture straight into a collection of glass bottles passed around a table.

The Chicago Reader covered the event, and the Div School's own Angie Heo, Associate Professor of the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, contributed a perspective rooted in her research on Coptic Orthodoxy and saint veneration. Heo explained how smell functions as a form of contact, not just a symbol, capable of transmitting blessing and bodily presence across time and distance.

It's a fascinating piece on fragrance, faith, and what it means to carry a sacred experience home. Full article linked below.

At Ascension Chicago, Audrey Robinovitz opened a small reliquary of scent, guiding attendees through the fragrant history of anointing.