I need Help selecting a Seminary
Comments
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If a foreign missionary, you can also order a number of scholarships that could reduce costs in order to qualify for inclusion in a famous seminary. I'm waiting for a response from the admissions committee at Fuller Theological Seminary, and I know it is a fairly robust online curriculum. Gordon-Conwell is another that comes to mind. If money is the biggest problem I'm sure there are ways to make it happen.
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DMB said:
And regarding 'compassionate' help. Wow.
Really? So it is more compassionate to affirm a brother's choice of what is at best a less-than-credible seminary? I'm being charitable. Examining its website, it looks more like a diploma mill.
Really? Amazing.
Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Clinton, SC
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You've substituted your own pecking-order for his; he told you what he sought. Neither of us know his path, but obviously a 'famous seminary' isn't it. But chewing on him, after he gave his decision wasn't good.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Pecking order? This has nothing to do with a "famous seminary." What is that? I've never insinuated such. I've not even used the word "accredited." Credible, though, is a different story. There are very credible distance education seminaries that have not chosen accreditation.
Since you are surely aware how many fraudulent "seminaries" there are, and since you checked the site of the one our friend began this thread with, you must realize that the place is less than credible. If someone is seeking a formal education, then such a place as is the focus of this thread is certainly not it. There are solid, credible distant-education seminaries, many of which have generous scholarships depending upon need.
And "chewing on him"? Pointing out the deficiency of the place he has chosen is hardly "chewing on him," whatever that means. I am trying to help him not make a mistake. Surely you know of pastors who have degrees from such a place on their resume and it came back to haunt them. So yes, I will try to keep our friend from making a mistake, and if he's started the process, I will try to convince him to stop the process and look elsewhere. I only wish I had had someone do that for me during my early stages of getting a theological education. It would have saved me a lot of time and money.
DMB, whoever you are, if you want the last word, have at it. I've nothing else to add.
Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Clinton, SC
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DMB said:
Francis ... I actually agree with your main points. I've never understood what connected higher education with teaching believers. I assume the practice got started in the 1700-1800s? Strictly guessing. I'm just reluctant to deny 'Christ-like' from participants in all walks of life, no matter how they got there.
As I understand it, much of this emphasis was a result of the Reformation conflicts in the 1500's. The university system had been growing during most of the middle ages, but Luther himself was famously a university professor. And he trained people in an academic setting and sent them out into the world. As some people have pointed out, this unfortunately meant the local pastor had upper-class backgrounds and desires instead of being a man of the people.
But the advantages were obvious enough that the Council of Trent required the setting up of Seminaries to train future priests.
SDG,
Ken McGuire
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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