Antietam Bible College/Seminary

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by Guest, Oct 9, 2003.

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  1. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I have never heard of this school. It has an unrecognized accreditor.
     
  2. jerryclick

    jerryclick New Member

    That Transworld Accrediting Association seems to show up on a lot of Fundamental oriented school sites. Transnational Association of Christian Colleges is the GAAP one, this one seems to be similar in name, but I'm not sure if work there would transfer to anywhere, or be accepted by any major Christian denomination to be a Pastor, Chaplain, or hold other church office. I know there are some Christian schools that are totally UNaccredited, but seem to be accepted within the realm of their denomination. (My impressions, I could be wrong.)
     
  3. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    It is not beyond the realm of possibility that this school's name change to "Antietam..." is an odd attempt to capitalize on the better-known outfit "Andersonville...". Civil War theme, geddit?

    All of it beneath belief.
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    The amount of "D.D.'s" on the "Faculty & Staff" page should send up some major warning signs. :rolleyes:
     
  5. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    The school uses a name that is common in the Hagerstown, Md. area because of the Antietam creek and the Antietam battlefield (Civil War). Before I moved to Baltimore, I lived about 15 minutes away from the school.

    When I contemplated becoming a chaplain in theArmy, I tried to enroll in the school. But the Army would not recognize its accreditation.

    Also, the school would not accept me into its M.Div. program because of my divorce. Yet, it could accept me for Christian Ed.

    The school has a lot of respect in the Hagerstown and Waynesboro, Greencastle (both in Pa.) area. It gets lots of good press -- on TV and in local newspapers.

    Roscoe
     
  6. Bill Grover

    Bill Grover New Member

    What I don't understand is why it would be difficult for a Bible school in an urban area to acquire part time instructors genuinely academically equipped to teach at least at the undergrad and possibly at the MDiv level.

    Accredited masters degrees in the appropriate areas would do for the undergrad stuff and very experienced pastors with MDivs/ThMs might serve for the MDiv portion of a program. I've had profs with just the ThM (from DTS) in grad classes at Western (RA/ATS).

    My hunch is that devoted church members and pastors might give their time gratuitously. I saw this happen twice in my earlier education and association with unaccredited Bible colleges.

    Of course, that alone without library, plant etc, would not gain the school even AABC or TRACS sanction. But it would somewhat make more believable what such as this school is doing.

    The dichotomy made between credible academics and evangelical faith is a false one made either by ignorance or by the intent to deceive.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2003
  7. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    I looked at the faculty list again (Thanks, Bruce). Two have Th.M.'s from Dallas; none has an earned doctorate from an accredited school. (Transworld is less-than-wonderful, in that time-honored phrase.) Most are in-house products. That's OK theologically, if and only if the school and its denomination are sufficiently distinct from others that in-house hiring is the only way to guarantee doctrinal conformity to the school's standards--NOT the case here.

    If these nice folks were running a little local Bible college, the poor faculty credentials would be of little concern. If they were working on AABC accreditation, so much the better. But that's not what's going on here. If piety is supposed to excuse academic shoddiness--what an awful idea!--that's one thing. Does piety excuse playing games with accreditation and (via Bruce's observation on D.D.'s) faculty credentials?

    It is possible that these nice folks are so clueless that they do not realize how deceptive they appear to be. It is also possible that they excuse their appearance of deceptiveness by a presumptive claim to overarching righteousness. If they are able to garner positive publicity in their local area, well, small-town papers and radio rarely want to be "anti-god" and be critical of a religious institution.

    In short, sometimes a church ought to stick to having a really fine Christian education program, including mentoring youth workers and other church personnel for like-minded sister churches (posts that don't require seminary or authentic college education). Folie de grandeur is still folie de grandeur, no matter how holy the folie.
     

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