A PhD in Biblical and Theological Studies:
What Is It Good For?
Charlie Trimm and Brittany Kim
Updated January 2023
“Absolutely nothing!” might be the answer some recent PhD graduates would give to this question. The dream of many PhD students in biblical and theological studies programs is to get a full-time tenure-track teaching job, and some are able to achieve this goal. However, the number of PhD graduates far exceeds the number of positions available, which leaves many qualified candidates working in other fields or underemployed in academia. Various books have been written to help graduates find work outside of their field, such as Christopher L. Catherine’s Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide. However, books like this are often wide-ranging and not specific to biblical and theological studies. We have compiled a list of several options for careers that are linked to this field, and we would like to introduce you to some people with PhDs in biblical and theological studies who are working in these areas. Our hope is that the job search narrative would revolve not around the scarcity of tenure-track teaching positions but instead around the abundance of opportunities to serve God’s kingdom with the particular knowledge and skills gained in a PhD in biblical and theological studies.
You can click on each link below to see the testimonies from each category or you can download the entire document as a pdf by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.