Sewanee announces M.A. concentration in liturgy and church music

The Chapel of the Apostles at the School of Theology

A new concentration in liturgy and church music joins four other concentrations available within the Master of Arts in Theology program at the School of Theology of the University of the South.

The new concentration expands upon and combines the School’s long-established strengths in both liturgy and church music, creating a broadened yet practical context for the study of both disciplines. Core courses in liturgics and church music offer a rigorous foundation in historical and theoretical developments of the Christian liturgical and musical traditions, with a particular focus on those developments in Anglicanism. Electives enrich this core, allowing students to deepen their knowledge of both disciplines and how the two disciplines relate in practice.

In addition to academics, students in this residential program are immersed in the School of Theology’s rich worship life in the Chapel of the Apostles. “As the study of theology increasingly moves to remote and hybrid learning models, there remain disciplines that are simply best studied in person and in community,” says Assistant Professor of Liturgy the Rev. Dr. Hilary Bogert-Winkler. “This combination of liturgy and church music meets an important need within the Episcopal Church and the School of Theology is an ideal place to do this work.”

A Master of Arts in Theology 

The Master of Arts program is designed for students who seek advanced study of theological disciplines in a church-related setting. This two-year residential program follows either a general program or a concentration in a particular discipline such as the Bible, church history, theology, religion, and environment, or  liturgy and church music. A tuition waiver applies to this program and there are no musical prerequisites.

Through participation in the chapel rota as officiants in the daily office, as readers and lay assistants, and through participation in liturgy planning meetings in their final year, students gain practical experience in various liturgical ministries beyond their coursework. This includes the opportunity to both participate in and work with the seminary choir and Schola Cantorum chamber choir in Sewanee’s beautiful worship spaces.

“I am excited to work with students who are seeking a deeper dive into the liturgical life of Anglicanism, as well as those contemplating a vocation in church music,” says Assistant Professor of Church Music Dr. Mark Ardrey-Graves.

“We anticipate the new concentration will attract a wide range of applicants—including liturgical scholars, new musicians, and those with musical experience—who seek to deepen theological imagination and their understanding of prayer book liturgy,” says Director of Recruitment and Admissions Walker Adams. “I am also excited that this program qualifies for the tuition waiver, a further sign of Sewanee’s investment in the next generation of leadership, both lay and ordained, for the Episcopal Church.”

About the University of the South

The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee, comprises a nationally recognized College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a School of Letters, and a distinguished School of Theology serving the Episcopal Church. Located on 13,000 acres atop Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, Sewanee enrolls 1,750 undergraduates and approximately 145 seminarians in master’s and doctoral programs annually. Sewanee is the only institution of higher education governed by more than two dozen dioceses of the Episcopal Church.