The main mission of Beeson Divinity School is ?to prepare God-called individuals to serve as ministers in the church of Jesus Christ. Thus, Beeson Divinity School focuses on the Master of Divinity degree (M.Div.), the most-recognized broad-based preparatory degree for professional ministry. However, the M.Div. degree does not fit the objectives of a smaller number of students the divinity school faculty wishes to serve. The faculty of the divinity school have designed the M.A.T.S. degree program for individuals such as these. Applicants must state in the admission application that they are not seeking to prepare for traditional church ministry. The faculty does not consider the M.A.T.S. program adequate preparation for Ph.D. studies, so students wishing to use the M.A.T.S. for this purpose will not be admitted. Students in the M.A.T.S. program may not take DVPM courses, DVML courses, or DVHD 701 without permission of the associate dean. Students in the M.A.T.S. program may take language courses as electives but should be advised that the faculty have set the biblical languages curriculum in a building, sequential manner. Thus, if students take fewer than four courses in an individual language, they may not gain the facility they desire in that language.