Doctor of Divinity Doctor of Theology Doctor of Ministry Doctor of Sacred Music

Dr. Lauri, one of our Doctor of Divinity alumni, appeared on Good Morning America and more recently on CNN with Sanjay Gupta to discuss dream interpretation counseling.

By giving credit for your life experience and current spiritual work, the Esoteric Theological Seminary offers you a Doctorate degree in Divinity or Theology, thus enabling you to immediately expand your spiritual horizons to spiritually counsel and/or teach others. Legally attach Dr. to your name, enhance your pastoral counseling or spiritual healing practice with this respected religious degree. You decide on your focus, based on your spirituality or religious preference. When you receive a degree, you gain leverage in the field yes, but more importantly you inspire confidence in your clients, the spiritual seekers who come to you for guidance and enrichment.

Doctor of Divinity is the title to choose if you are a seeker of the Divine presence, a mystic, a counselor or teacher, healer, or earth-based practitioner.  

D.Div. (or in Europe, D.D.) is written at the end of your name.
For example:
Rev. Jane Allen, D.Div.
or Jane Allen, D.Div.
                    Dr. or Rev. Dr. may be written at the front of your name.
For example:
Rev. Dr. Jane Allen or Dr. Jane Allen

Doctor of Theology, also called the Th.D. (religious equivalent of the academic Ph.D.),  is for the scholar-seeker, a lover of the written word, ancient scripture, lore, symbols, alphabets, and languages.

Th.D. is written at the end of your name.  
For example:
 Rev. Jane Allen, ThD
         Dr. or Rev. Dr. may be written at the front of your name.  
For example:  
Rev. Dr. Jane Allen or Dr. Jane Allen.

Doctor of Ministry, the D.Min. is for working clergy, ministers, missionaries, evangelists, church leaders, who have completed a spiritual or ministerial project then write a thesis based on that project.

Our Ph.D. programs are separate from the D.Div. and Th.D. programs above. Click here to read about our Ph.D. degrees

Click here for information on our Bachelors and Masters Degree Programs in Religion, Theology and Metaphysics

Requirements for a Doctorate Degree You must be ordained as a minister by us, the Esoteric Interfaith Church, or by any other recognized church or seminary. (The ordination fee is completely waived if you are applying for a Doctorate Degree. Be sure to fill out and submit an Ordained Minister's Application) You must write a 4000 word thesis/dissertation on any topic of a spiritual nature that appeals to you. Which can be emailed to us or snail-mailed. Don't stress over the thesis paper. Just write about something you love and it will flow out of you. Many of our alumni (at least a dozen) have turned their thesis papers into books by simply expanding them into a larger document after graduation. So remind yourself as you're writing, that you are authoring that book you always wanted to write! You must write a one to three page spiritual history, telling the story of religion and spirituality in your life from your childhood to the present. Send to . Complete the Doctorate Degree Application Pay the one-time only tuition fee of $600 (you will be directed to payment page after submitting the application above)

We are not accredited by any state agency, and don't want to be. See our FAQ page for the reasons why, but it has to do with entanglements and the Separation of Church & State. We have legal degree granting authority (called DGA) which we must renew annually with our state government. The Seminary must annually show that we continue to meet the requirements for religious exemption.

Collecting written work from you is one of several factors making the religious Degree legal and legitimate, as opposed to being merely honorary. We have been a religious degree-granting institution since 1989, and began ordaining ministers even earlier, in 1987. We are not an online diploma mill. We went online in 1999 to make the application process and lesson delivery easier. Diploma mills are out to scam you and then disappear. They offer only honorary degrees, or degrees for "entertainment" purposes only. A diploma mill diploma is not signed by a real person and looks shoddy, photo-copied in many cases. A diploma mill is not a legally incorporated non-profit religious organization (church) whose by-laws allow them to grant religious degrees (as we are).  Our degrees are bonafide legitimate religious Doctorate Degrees because we are a recognized organization that exists not just on the Internet, but in the brick and mortar realm. And because we require the written work listed above, require an application screening process, give spiritual training courses where needed and credit for your life experience / work, offer transcripts, and keep a real hard-copy file of each and every degree holder and minister. We can issue transcripts, offer references and letters of recommendation whenever you need them -- for the rest of your life*.  

The written work we require consists of the thesis and biography mentioned above and may be submitted via email to We have over 400 spiritual training lessons online which are free to doctoral candidates who pay the one-time tuition fee ($600). You may receive credit for your life and field experience, or take the courses depending on your experience.

You receive a legal religious doctorate degree diploma with beautiful gold raised seal, very suitable for framing.  We have been complimented by attorneys and medical doctors who say our diplomas look better than their Juris Doctor or Medical School diplomas.  Included at no extra charge is a wallet ID card showing your credential status, and of course our lifetime reference service*.  You also become part of our network with all its benefits, such as linking with others and free listing of your practice in our website's Practitioners Directory.

Not fake degrees, not a diploma mill
The Internet has brought about vast changes to correspondence schools, once the only "distance learning" institutions available. An unfortunate by-product of the internet revolution has been the appearance of hundreds of phony diploma mills pretending to be schools.  They take your money and print you out a worthless piece of paper they call a "diploma".  In the realm of public perception, legitimate schools and religious degree-granting institutions like ours have sometimes been improperly lumped in with the diploma mills. The Esoteric Theological Seminary is unaccredited yes, (because no Christian accrediting agencies approve of our theology, see our FAQ for more about this), but we are certainly not illegal, nor issuing phony degrees.

Furthermore, unlike diploma mills, we offer our graduates and Ordaineds the benefits one normally expects to find in a higher education setting. Many of our graduates and ordaineds are still very active with the Seminary and serve in such capacities as members of the Board of Directors, Ordaining Council, regional senior ministers or bishops, advisors to the staff and faculty, and more. We further offer the networking and connections normally associated with a stone and mortar university through our active e-groups and alumni services.

One-time only tuition cost to you:
Total tuition for a Doctorate Degree is $600. Ordination as a minister is free with a degree.
(If you want two Doctorate Degrees, the second is half-tuition, $300)

If you have a question, feel free to ask.  And be sure to check out our FAQ page to see what others have asked.

On CNN, Dr. Lauri appeared with Sanjay Gupta.  Watch the five minute clip here.  Lauri Quinn Loewenberg received her Doctor of Divinity degree from the Esoteric Theological Seminary and later used her minister ordination from us to perform her sister's wedding in Tennessee. Dr. Lauri's website is www.thedreamzone.com where you can view her TV appearances (she also appeared on ABC's The View) and on CNN with Anderson Cooper 360 and was on Good Morning America (ABC), pictured right.