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Doctor of Divinity (D.D., Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects.

In the United Kingdom, D.D. has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In descending order of seniority, the D.D. degree is followed by LL.D. (or D.C.L.) for law, M.D. (or D.M.) for medicine, Litt.D. (or D.Litt.) for letters, and D.Sc. (or Sc.D.) for science. The high status of the D.D. qualification in British universities owed to their traditional affiliation with the Christian church. As universities became increasingly secular in the 20th century, the D.D. degree lost much of its preeminence in practice, though officially it is still the most senior qualification at the English universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham, as well as at the Scottish universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh.

In the United States the D.D. is only awarded as an honorary degree. There is no system of "higher degrees" in the U.S., so the highest earned degrees in academic Theology are the Ph.D., Th.D. or S.T.D., and the highest degree in applied Theology is the D.Min..

Contemporary usage

Today, a D.D. degree is usually granted as an honorary doctorate upon a distinguished individual whose work has been connected with religion. In most English-speaking universities, a graduate student who has completed a doctoral course of study and research in religion will usually receive a Ph.D. or a Th.D, rather than a D.D. However, a number of universities still confer the D.D., upon supplication, in recognition of the scholarly contributions to theology made by a person's published work.

In literature

A well-known piece of humorous doggerel runs

A young theologian named Fiddle

refused to accept his degree

"It's bad enough being named Fiddle,

Without being Fiddle, D.D."

In another instance of D.D. being used in literature for humorous purposes, Kurt Vonnegut's novel Mother Night features the character of a deranged neo-Nazi dentist, the Rev. Dr. Lionel Jones, D.D.S., D.D. In William Faulkner's novel Light in August, the Rev. Hightower's designation as a "D.D." is said by the townspeople to mean "done damned".

An additional famous occurrence is in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Pirates of Penzance, nearing the end of Act I, where Major-General Stanley's daughters are captured by the clumsy corsairs:

Here's a first-rate opportunity

To get married with impunity

And indulge in the felicity

Of unbounded domesticity

You shall quickly be parsonified

Conjugally matrimonified

By a Doctor of Divinity

Who resides in this vicinity

See also

• Doctor of Theology
• Doctor of Sacred Theology
• Doctor of Ministry

External links

• The Rise and Fall of the Earned Doctorate of Divinity in the Presbyterian Church in Canada..., a PDF paper by Dan Shute, retrieved July 30, 2006.

• Doctoral degrees
• Academic degrees
• Religious degrees
• Honorary degrees