2025 Best Religious Education Doctor's Degree Schools

When it comes to popularity, a doctor's degree in religious education sits in the middle of the road, ranking #126 out of 306 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Religious Education Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 114 doctor's degrees in religious education during the <nil> academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on religious education students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other religious education students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt religious education students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized religious education related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for religious education students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Religious Education Schools

The religious ed school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Religious Education Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Religious Education in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in religious education.

Top Schools for a Doctorate in Religious Ed

1

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Kansas City, MO

13 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in religious education has to check out Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Located in the city of Kansas City, MBTS is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in religious education from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

2

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

49 Annual Graduates

Liberty University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in religious education. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg.More information about a doctorate in religious education from Liberty University

Religious Education by Region

View the Best Religious Education Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Rankings in Majors Related to Religious Ed

One of 7 majors within the Theology & Religious Vocations area of study, Religious Education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Religious Ed Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Religious Education	114

Most Popular Majors Related to Religious Ed

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Theological & Ministerial Studies	1,871
Theology & Religious Vocations (Other)	273
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	245
Biblical Studies	97
Missionary Studies	85
Sacred Music	33

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to RichardF. More about our data sources and methodologies.