SWBTS

That is a broad question.

What are you going to do with your M.Div.?

 

There is not a strong feeling of controversy at the seminary. However, there is a strong feeling of resentment among some very conservative churches in the area [I am from here, and I do not really understand all of it]. More than one SBT* church has asked me to move to Truett if they called me to pastor.

The School of Theology is pretty good and getting better. The biggest draw back is that so many professors are new. The second drawback is that some professors have never been anything other than students.

I hear calvinism is more tolerant at SWBTS than at SBTS, but I think that is just talk. The people that I have interacted with from SBTS seem to be mildly calvinistic and not "6 pointers", that would make the two schools about the same.

God bless!


* Southern Baptists of Texas

 

A small number of churches had problems with SWBTS.

I don't know. It is not something you can discuss with a search committee without leaving a bad feeling with them, so I ignore the comments and move on.

 

I think that El Guero is a bit off in his assesment.

Most churches in TX consider themselves conservative regardless of their affiliation with the SBTC or BGCT. I have never heard of an SBTC church that would prefer a Truett graduate to a SWBTS graduate. Truett is a BGCT seminary and the BGCT would not even allow SWBTS to exhibit at their convention a couple weeks ago.

ONe of my concerns with SWBTS is that they seem to be trying to hire more "names" in the theology school and have gotten away from the more practical theological education they were famous for. Names are nice - but not if they are never in the classroom, or the class size is so large there is not much interaction.

By the way, if you go, get ready for the back to the 50s chapel services - all hymns all the time. Chapel attendance is required, but the students save their chapel cuts to the end of the semester, not many attending right now!

 

During the turmoil a number of conservative churches had members leaving the SBC to attend other churches which were not SBC. This meant it impacted their financial situation and other areas of ministry.

 

No problem. My background is that I graduated from SWBTS with an MDiv in 2004. I was there during the transition from Hemphill to Patterson (an extremely difficult time.) I was there during the time when we lost 20 professors in the theology department alone. I knew many of these professors and will say that with one or two expections all were conservative evangelicals who held the Bible in its proper esteem.

That said I would suggest maybe checking into some other seminaries for MDiv work. SWBTS just isn't up to par anymore where it once was. I was fairly disappointed with my time at SWBTS and it did not meet my expectations. If you're mobile enough there are better seminaries that will offer a more coherent seminary experience.

One major issue that I encountered at SWBTS was the lack of community involvement (which thankfully got better towards the end of my time there) and just general bitterness on the part of the students. I was a well involved student who did well and stayed connected but I have stronger relationships from my undergrad days than my seminary days.

There are some good things going on at SWBTS. The whole SBT v. BGCT thing isn't an issue and students aren't affected anymore. The MDiv requires a robust digest of the biblical languages. It is still one of the best seminaries to go to (price being a major consideration) if you are SBC and want to be exposed to as many ministry models as possible.