SWBTS revises M.Div. curriculum

Why would you go to seminary and duck out on theology and languages?

 

You and I wouldn't, but I knew plenty of folks who did in order to get their "piece of paper".

I worked with a number of seminary students at one point and we often talked about seminary stuff.

I know some folks will think my biases are showing, but honestly all but one of the persons I knew who did it were "conservative resurgence" diehards. That's not to say all of them did it, some folks (on both sides of the issues) were very diligent in their studies, but a slight majority of them wanted to get through seminary as quickly and easily as possible because they knew that most people in the churches wouldn't know the difference.

A former pastor of mine who was the chairman of the Executive Committee a few years ago earned his "doctorate" shortly before
he came to our church. In our first meeting with him (I worked on staff at the church), he told all of us that he wanted to be addressed as "Dr. -----" because he had worked hard to earn his degree. I didn't mind too much since I assumed he had put in a lot of time and effort to work through a Ph.D program. It wasn't until I went to seminary that I discovered the nature of his degree. I couldn't find his dissertation in the usual places, so I did a search on the computerized catalog system and discovered that he decided to get a D.Min from the Religious Education department. I retrieved a copy of his "dissertation" and discovered that it was actually a preaching project on stewardship with a paper that analyzed the results of preaching on stewardship for (I think) 18 weeks. Reading through his sermon outlines and the paper, I realized that I had done better work for some of my college classes. His degree is, in my opinion, a sham degree designed to increase his standing among his peers and church members.

To his credit, he did take the language classes for his M.Div, but I strongly suspect he would have bailed on the language classes if he had the opportunity.

 

You would be pleasantly surprised by the excitement at SBTS over the languages. Of course you always have your guys that want a youth ministry or music degree, but most of the theology students take their Greek and Hebrew very seriously.

I definitely lose respect for anyone who tries to avoid taking languages, or theology classes.

 

Baptist Believer

The education department at SWBTS has never given out a DMin, they have only recently started giving out a DEdMin to ministers of education that wanted an equivilent degree to the DMin - that is a doctoral degree that is heavy in the applicaton, but not intended to be used to teach on a college or seminary level.

 

I definitely agree with you there... I always tried to get the more challenging professors -- it kept it interesting for me.

My favorites were:
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Keith Putt - Philosophy classes and biblical interpretation
Lorin Cranford - Greek
David Garland - Hebrew and New Testament
William Estep - Church history and Church and State
James L. Garrett - Theology of American Cults
James Spivey - Church History
Henry Smith - Missiology

 

Hmm... I checked his online resume and it lists a "Doctor of Ministry" degree from Southwestern. I know from looking it up that it was focused on "Religious Education". His project was devoted to a sermon series on stewardship. Perhaps it was managed through the School of Theology, but it certainly was not quality work or doctrinally sound.

Notable in one of his sermons was the idea that God loves people who are obedient with their money more than those who are less obedient.

 

I noticed that they added another semester of Hebrew. I certainly applaud them for this.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Nothing wrong with that... I had just started feeling comfortable with Hebrew toward the end of the second semester. A third semester would have been very helpful.

 

I was at Southwestern from Spring 1990 until Spring 1995, but I took one year and a couple of semesters off because of a major family crisis and some financial difficulties.

 

If I, being a current SWBTS student (and a particularly well established student in regards to my involvement with administration officials at this beloved school), might interject some information into the conversation I would appreciate you all hearing me out.

I am currently in my last year (Fall 04 last semester) of my MDiv work at SWBTS. I was fortunate to get on the Advanced Track MDiv program here at SWBTS because one of my majors in undergrad (Liberty U.) was religion. I believe firmly that to be called as a pastor is to be equipped to fully serve the saints and represent the Word of God accurately and completely. The worst thing that happened to the MDiv cirriculum at this seminary was track-2 (non-languages.) The whole theology faculty at this institution also hold my, and other students', position on this matter. It was a glorious day when we saw the revised MDiv cirriculum to do away with track-2 and require a third semester of Hebrew. There has been much rejoicing lately here on campus. A seminary student, regardless of their ministry emphasis (youth, evangelism, etc.) has no business graduating without proper language training. The third semester of Hebrew will be a class called Hebrew Exegetical Methods and will focus on taking the grammar and basic instruction of the first two semesters and put the rubber to the road in dealing with issues of syntax, verse construction, context, and how to properly interpret portions of the OT. The professors teaching this course are some of the best profs we have at SWBTS and I am fully confident in their abilities to train up the future pastor-theologians our seminary will be turning out.

Other good changes in the MDiv cirriculum will be the addition of the Women's Studies programme and the option of declaring a specific ministry emphasis (pastor, evangelist, etc.) which will allow for a concentration in that area. The establishment of the expository preaching center will be headed by our new Dean of Theology Dr. David Allen who is an excellent expositor and teacher. SWBTS saw the enrollment for this spring semester increase, which is unheard of at higher education insitutions. With the arrival of Drs. Patterson we are anticipating great things from this seminary and are excited to see these things beginning to happen. I really believe the best days are ahead of SWTBS as it continues to be the largest seminary in North America.

Now to mention something about the students who have opted to take the now destitute MDiv track-2 program. Some seminary students no matter the size of the school are at seminary to get a simple degree that will give them a cushy job failing God's calling in minstry. We as pastor-theologians are called to be excellent in our training and presentation of Christ, not only from a moral-spiritual aspect but also an academic-knowledge aspect. I know many a student who is on the track-2 program and most of them are at SWBTS for the reason that this will allow them to get a basic seminary degree, go out into the ministry field, and never really be stretched in their education. I believe it is a fair statement to make that most MDiv track-2 students are on easy street and don't really want to get off that street. Yet we cannot blame the seminary for this group of people. The track-2 program was not created for students entering the pastorate at any level. (I have personally been in favor of exit examinations from seminary that will have the students leaving show their adequate training and retention in the areas of the languages, theology, philosophy, history, pastoral ministry, preaching/teaching, and other ministry areas...but my view is a minority view around here and I recognize that.) When speaking to many of the students on the track-2 cirriculum and inquiring why they are on that track the basic reply is because all the tools are out there already and they need further training in that regard. Unfortuantely when presented with Vine's dictionary, BDB, BADG, or some other language tool in concert with a text these students have never been able to adequately handle the text or answer basic questions. We might as well write 007 on the back of their graduation gowns for they are going into ministry with a license to kill and will use it in that regard.

Great things are happening at SWBTS. I am excited to see how God continues to use this wonderful school for His Kingdom glory. Thanks for hearing me out.

 

Jimmy is right that the D.EdM. is relatively new. And BB is right that it would certainly have been possible to do a D.Min that looked like an RE project.

But the DMin program at SWBTS is currently in a stage of being rebuilt. In fact, a recent group of new D.Min students was specifically told NOT to look at any D.Min projects from the last decade as examples. There are genuine efforts being made to increase the theoogical reflection of projects and to improve the argumentation and writing level of projects.

The academic integrity of the program at SWBTS is improving. Unfortunately...in an era when one could basically buy a D.Min from any one of a dozen places, no amount of improvements will overcome some people's negative perception of the D.Min in general.