The Master of Arts: Theology and Peace Studies (MATPS) is a 60-credit-hour academic degree program that prepares students interested in careers and scholarship at the intersection of theology and transformative peacebuilding.
The program, which grows out of the Anabaptist tradition of Christian peace witness, is grounded in the assumption that Christ calls us to become part of a new community whose mission is to participate in God’s reconciling mission throughout the world. Our theological approach to peacebuilding brings Christian eschatologies undergirding transformative approaches to conflict together with a concern for embodying nonviolence in a pluralistic world.
In the program, students combine academic study with sustained engagement in the field. Through this integrated approach, students develop interdisciplinary knowledge that draws insights from theological, biblical and historical studies into conversation with social science analysis and peacebuilding practices. These peacebuilding practices address the structural roots of conflict and forge multilevel (personal, relational, hermeneutic, societal and international) initiatives to transform violence.