Saint Regis School of Apologetics

Here's another one: the SRU School of Apologetics. It is run by Professor John Sarber: PhD, MTh Saint Regis Univ, who has been an SRU prof for some time.

As I understand it, "Christian Apologetics" investigates ways in which one might argue that the Bible is literal truth, a factual, rather than allegorical (or mythological) document, even in the presence of indications (radiological dating, stuff like that) that a more self consistent explanation might be found elsewhere.

The idea of that subject (with no blasphemy intended) makes me wonder if there might be a "Saint Regis Apologetics" that could be put forward.

For example, in the face of a statement from the Liberian Ministry of Higher education declaring "null and void whataver documents St. Regis University may claim to possess..." we still see SRU claiming it is "a legal Institution of Higher Education incorporated and established in The Republic of Liberia, The Commonwealth of Dominica, and the Republic of India as a degree granting institution, providing educational opportunities to applicants worldwide." We still see the National Board of Education claiming it [NBOE] "is recognized by the Education Ministry of the Republic of Liberia." And we still see NBOE claiming it can provide accreditation through its MarkeTrends site to all sorts of degree-granting pomegranates.

Now, that does seem to fly in the face of the evidence and it would be helpful to my understanding if someone from Saint Regis could "apologize" for all this balderdash. Also, the founding date is a bit murky, isn't it? Kind of like the problem of the age of the dinosaur bones.

But back to the School of Christian Apologetics. There's not much more to it than that: an application, a list of subjects, and a reminder that John Sarber is also a Prof at World Chapel Ministries.

Feh.

G

 

Damn. I was hoping this was a thread about the poeple connected to St. Regis apologizing for it. Oh, well. Back to holding my breath....

 

I like your idea of a St. Regis Apologetic. It seems as though they are on constant apologetics mode anyhow.

The one good thing that I can say about this apologetics curriculum is that it appears to be based on defending the Christian faith, rather than upon attacks of other people's faith.

Tony

 

Grey area

Galanga,


My point of view is:

When sT Regis UNOTversity states they are registered in the Republic of Liberia as a degree granting institution, they are probably not lying.
Registering a company that clearly states in its charter, that it awards degrees is legal. The doozie comes when the degrees are not "recognized" by the Government. This is the doozie over the U.S.A. brand of accreditation and other parts of the world that have "recognition".

This might be why, all 'dem folks out there that use the title DOCTOR; can do so legally with a St. Regis UNOTversity degree and not run into legal "problemos".

 

It's not grey at all. Read the statement...

The legality of SRU depends on whether or not it is legal to issue Liberian academic degrees without government approval. Here is an analogy: one could imagine registering a business in the US named "Ointments R Us" that sells first aid creams and lotions. However, it would be operating illegally if it sold, without prescription, antibiotic creams that were prescription-only products.

In some (many? most? all?) US states it is illegal to provide clients with academic degrees unless the degree-issuing organization is licensed, approved, recognized,... as something actually empowered to ISSUE degrees.

It is likely that only the Liberian National Commission on Higher Education is empowered to authorize Liberian organizations to issue academic degrees. Unapproved entities that provide academic degrees will be in violation of Liberian law, even if they are registered as businesses.

See the statement from the Commission posted by the Liberian Embassy.

That is a clear, unambiguous statement. A summary:

1. Liberian Higher Education organizations must satisfy requirements specified by the Commission in order to operate legally.

2. Some entities do not do this, while others show invalid documents signed by people without legal authority to issue the documents.

3. SRU and St. Lukes are two entities that fall into the category described in my item 2.

4. SRU and St. Lukes falsely claim that they have achieved the legal status required to operate as Liberian institutions.

What could be clearer, except possibly the title of the statement? The title: "URGENT DISCLAIMER ON THE ILLEGAL ESTABLISHMENT AND RECOGNITION OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA"

SRU is in violation of Liberian law. Now it's an enforcement issue.

G

 

In light of SRU's new holy department, I'm growing very suspicious that St. Regis University may not be an institution holy dedicated to knowledge and learning.*

* Sorry for the bad pun, I sometimes lose control.

 

Not exactly.

Apologetics is the branch of theology, and of Christian practice more generally, concerned with providing a reasoned defence of Christianity. I think that it kind of blends into things like evangelism and missions, since one of the reasons why one would want to give a reasoned defense of Christianty is the attempt to persuade others to believe it.

Some Christians do believe that the Bible is literal inerrant truth, reject most allegorical interpretation, insist on young-earth theories and so on, but those are separate issues and apologists aren't necessarily bound to uphold them.

Liberal Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox apologists might make cases for very different and inconsistent things, all in the name of their own versions of Christian faith.

If there's one subject that SRU has real verifiable experience with, it's apologetics.

Though I guess that out here in the secular world, they usually call apologetics 'marketing'. SRU knows marketing, though we might question how reasoned, or how effective, it's been.

 

sorry marketing

Do you recall seeing something about a $1000 charitable donation made in SRU's name to an organization with a Liberian connection? If I recall a newsgroup post correctly, what actually happened is that Bob Stefaniak made a $1000 donation from his personal funds, with a promise of $1000 in matching funds to be provided by Saint Regis. I don't know the status of the delivery of the matching funds.

So the SRU marketing does seem to have convinced Mr. Stefaniak.

G

 

Doctoral level vocabulary?

 

No. Joke. Don't make me explain.

 

Deja Vu?

 

we are sorry to inform you...

It looks like the Mother Ship got the School of Apologetics in the ol' tractor beam and took it back to Tralfamador. It is no longer listed here on the SRU site. And the School of Natural Health Sciences still confuses Physics with Grief Counseling. Sloppy web work.

G