Looking for recommendations

Hi.

The schools you metioned.

Dallas Theological Seminary is a great choice if you wish to be a teacher. They have a strong ThM program. However it is expensive and it will require at least three or so years.

Liberty is a good school as well. However their distance programs offer no language courses. Therefore if you wish to go directly into a PhD program Liberty's distance program would not be a good choice. However you could go to their campus.

Have you looked into the requirements for a PhD? I assume you want a theological PhD? You need to look into this. Most theological PhD programs "require" a MDiv with a certain amount of Greek and Hebrew.

Two Examples...

Southeastern's PhD program.

Dallas Seminary's PhD.

Those two are rather typical. Make sure that any graduate degree program you enter meets the basic requirments for the PhD program you want. So you will need a MDiv if you want to go directly into a PhD program. That means you probably are going to be "forced" to take classes you are not interested in. Sorry but it happens to all of us. :laugh: I hated the ministry classes so I know how you feel.

Now, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary does offer a MA/Biblical Studies and a MA/Theology that would allow you to go directly into "their" PhD program. However you have to have at least 24hrs with a "B" average in theology, Biblical Studies, historical stuides, philosophy, and ethics. You also have to submit a theological research paper for admissions. So that is probably a no go, right?

My suggestion is simple:

A. Get the graduate degree that will get you into the PhD program you need. That means it may take longer than you wanted it to and you may have to take some classes you could live without. However if you want to get into the right PhD program that is just something you will need to do.

B. Earn very good scores in your graduate program. Most PhD programs have a minimum graduate GPA requirement.

C. Earn your graduate degree from a regionally accredited school. The Southern Baptist Seminaries are great choices, as is Dallas Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

 

I see Grand Rapids on your list. Isn't that GARBC affiliated? I know several people who have gone there and loved it. I don't know what their PhD requirements are, or what they offer. I'm surprised they are expensive, are they more than DTS?

 

Word on the street (well here at sebts, in my circles) has it that the D.Min. is for experienced pastors to come back after 6 or 8 years and get a doctoral degree in a ministry-related field, the PhD is for them dudes who want to teach and keep it more theoretical and "broad-based," not specific to ministry.

Incidentally, you can't go wrong coming here. Unless you're an atheist or lazy. I think I have conquered the former, and am always fighting the latter, so I feel you on not being "philosophically-bent." :laugh:

 

==You will find those "type" language requirements with alot of PhD programs. They do very on how many and exactly how the requirements are fulfilled.

==If it is a good school that would be fine (Dallas, Southeastern, Southwestern, etc).

==Any graduate level program "should" require a PhD for their teachers. You would "probably" be better going into the PhD program

==Any teaching experience you can get will help.

==You should have a general idea, yes. I would have several programs in mind just in case, for whatever reason, something does not work out with one of them.

Personally I "try" to take things one step at a time. A bit hard for me since I am famous for planning things out to the minute. Get your graduate degree from a good school, make sure you meet admission requirments for any PhD program(s) you are interested in, and trust the Lord to guide you where He wants you. Doing that I just don't see how you can go wrong.

 

A lot of the fellas on the board here feel it is a good idea to get the masters at one school and the PhD at another school. You have a good start with a secular degree.

If DTS still offers the ThM it is a 4 year degree.You will need to do a couple of years of Greek and at least a year od Hebrew I think to qualify for the Mastters program( otherwise you get to go to the greek and hebrew for dummies courses and get no credit).DTS does have a lot of financial aid and you can do some of the study by distance.I don't think you will do much better than DTS for language studies.

Depending on your ultimate goals you should take a very serious look at the big 6 SB seminaries. They are good.I think they are only 185 per semester hour and for teaching at the seminary level they are an excellant place for getting your ticket punched.I don't think you even want to consider not taking all of the language you can get, you will need it.

Talk to Dr. Bob about Maranatha(MBBC) , I think that is his alma mater and he seems very proud of thier programs and several others here seem to agree with him.

Good luck in your search.:thumbs:

 

Yes North Carolina is a great place to live. Wake Forest, where SEBTS is located, is just north (or so) of Raleigh. There are plenty of employment opportunities as well as nice places to live in the Raleigh area. The weather is usually nice though it can get cold in the winter and hot in the summer. You are also within two or so hours from the beach (if you take I40).

Southeastern is a great school and they have several great MDiv programs. For example they offer a MDiv in Ethics, Apologetics, and Advanced Biblical Studies. I would love the MDiv in Apologetics!

I attended SEBTS for about a year in the late nineties before I had to transfer to Liberty Seminary. There are some great professors at Southeastern.

 

I found that the best professors I had were those who were good students but had also pastored awhile. People in the pew will challenge your theology. Students are easy to deal with compared to the real world.

When a person has been in the real world there is a difference in their teaching. You know it and so do the students.

 

If I remember correctly, Wheaton did have a really nice fellowship program - but they did not take many people.

 

IMHO! Nothing personal, but if a tuition discount is your only reason for becoming SBC, I would ask you not to become SBC.

Maybe I am just old fashioned.

Then please don't 'work the system'.

 

Thank you for relieving me of my worries.

 

While I am not Martin,

Yes you can roll in an MA into an MDiv.

The rest of this is from memory - The usual allotment is up to one third of your hours can be reduced at a different institution (ATS guideline not always followed). ATS also allowed 1/2 of your MA to roll into your MDiv degree at the same school.

There is (was when I checked) some significant difference in how individual institutions applied these rules. Some will not consider non-ATS credit - they do have to accept ATS credit. Some will accept ATS credit, but not give you a one to one transfer (i.e., your school had 3 OT classes, so the 2 you took will not count as one of our 2 classes we require - these become electives*).

That said. I will give you my undivided advise in a second.


* This IMHO is probably the most painful part of the transfer experience. It does not stand to my reason that a mutually utilized course (the basic kinds of courses are required for all ATS institutions) would not transfer and eliminate a mutually required course.

 

Are you really going to teach? And I mean really? Are you really going to teach at a seminary?

Then decide which seminary you want to teach at. Decide what their theology is. Study at the schools they consider safe. While some will consider Liberty or Luther Rice safe, other schools will flame Liberty & flame Luther Rice. Kinda that academic snobbery we mentioned in a separate thread.

If you are really going to teach - be careful, but try to get a rounded education. I don't mean that you have to go to a liberal school, but do try to at least visit some liberal schools and events - these schools are also accredited by ATS. So you will associate as a professor with the academia that include those schools in the future. Maybe consider taking a summer school class for Greek at one.

Make certain that you start teaching as soon as you can - and please do not become a snob . . .

Thanks!

Wayne