Washington Theological Consortium

The Washington Theological Consortium is an ecumenical organization of Christian theological schools and interfaith partners located in Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Members cooperate to deepen ecumenical unity in theological education and to broaden interfaith dialogue and understanding and to prepare both clergy and laity with skills they need to minister in a diverse church and society. The Consortium is one of the most diverse of its kind in the nation, as it includes Roman and Byzantine Catholic traditions, mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, and Historic Black Divinity schools; with partners in spiritual formation, Jewish, and Islamic education.^[1]

A student enrolled at the master's level or above at a member institution may cross-register into courses offered by other member schools. In addition, a student or faculty member of one member institution may use and borrow from other institutions' libraries. Students (and members of the public) may also enroll in one of four Certificates of Study through the Consortium: Ecumenism, Muslim-Christian Studies, Ecology and Theology, and Criminal Justice and Reconciliation. Events for faculty development, student dialogue, and public education are held throughout the year.^[2]

In 2004, the Consortium became the first group of its kind in the United States to include an Islamic graduate school, the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS), as an affiliate.^[3] The Consortium does shared programming with GSISS--now an institute, and with the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, the Paulist Father's House of Mission and Studies, and the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. In 2020, it welcomed the Washington, D.C.-based Museum of the Bible as its first member under the category of "public educational institution."^[4]