One of the roles of The Center for Theological Writing is to provide assistance with the formal written components of your coursework. For some of you, writing is a practice with which you are comfortable—you write with ease in either a personal or professional setting. But writing for a combined academic and theological audience may be something with which you are less familiar. This is why we are here to help.

How to Get Help

The first point of contact is Judith Heyhoe, director of the center:

• email: jheyhoe@div.duke.edu
• phone: 919-660-3541

Once I receive your request—and, ideally, a sentence or two outlining any specific concerns (“I can’t seem to put together a coherent argument,” “I don’t know how to write an exegesis,” etc.)—I will pass your information on to one of our tutors, who will then directly contact and assist you.


You may want to talk through a paper on the phone or email back and forth. Generally, if we are working with you via email, we like to use the “review” functions for a Microsoft Word document that allow us to “track changes” and make marginal comments on what you have written. (If you are not familiar with these functions in a Word document, I would be happy to assist you.)


If you feel you work well with your tutor and want to continue the relationship for future assignments, feel free to contact your tutor directly. If you would like to be referred to a different tutor, contact me.