Ecclesiastical Law (E.J.D.)

Program Overview

The Executive Juris Doctor (E.J.D.) in Ecclesiastical Law gives church executives a working command of the law that governs their institutions. Diocesan staff, denominational officers, executive pastors, and church administrators handle property, employment, governance, and discipline every week under two kinds of law at once: the church's own constitution, canons, or book of order, and the civil law of the country where the church operates. After the program's foundations — legal systems and reasoning, contracts and liability, and regulation and governance — students study church polity and governing documents; the civil legal form of churches and the ways they hold property; the employment of clergy and lay staff, including the ministerial exception; and the procedures by which churches admit, discipline, and remove members and clergy. The program pays particular attention to the moments when a church's internal law and the civil law collide: divisions and disaffiliations, property held in trust for a denomination, and disputes over who holds authority. Graduates serve as chancery and judicatory staff, denominational and conference executives, executive pastors, and church administrators who can keep their institutions within both laws and who know when to call counsel. The executive capstone develops a governance, property, or discipline policy for a real church body. The E.J.D. is a professional credential for leaders; it does not qualify graduates for bar admission or the practice of law.

Core Courses

• EJD 501 — Legal Systems and Legal Reasoning for Executives (6 credits)
• EJD 510 — Contracts, Liability, and Risk (6 credits)
• EJD 520 — Regulation, Compliance, and Governance (6 credits)
• EJD 612 — Church Polity and Governing Documents (6 credits)
• EJD 622 — Church Property and Civil Legal Form (6 credits)
• EJD 632 — Clergy, Staff, and Discipline (6 credits)
• EJD 690 — Executive Legal Capstone in Ecclesiastical Law (12 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from a recognized institution
• At least five years of professional, executive, or ministry leadership experience
• Statement describing the legal questions the applicant’s work regularly raises
• Current résumé or ministry profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available
• Signed acknowledgment that the degree does not qualify the holder for bar admission or the practice of law