MA (Distance) Reformed Theological Seminary

Hi, I am currently looking into the MA program from Reformed Theological Seminary and in particular their MA in Religion offered from their virtual campus. Their accrediation with Association of Theological Schools appers to be in order (I called to verify) and have yet to call the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. According to their director of admissions the degree doesn't carry a virtual stigma.

My question is this, has anyone earned or know of anyone who has earned this degree and have they experienced problems with trying to use this degree either teaching in a college setting or for further graduate study ( at the doctorial level )?

CB

 

Hi Bryant. Welcome aboard. I have not done the RTS MA program, but have looked at it thoroughly. RTS is a well-regarded school in conservative Calvinist and generic evangelical circles. It is fully accredited (Southern RA and ATS). I do not believe that any stigma would attach to a distance degree from RTS for future study. Given the cost, it had better not!

You might also wish to consider some of the grad programs offered by the South African universities. Several have very distinguished and Reformed-oriented theological faculties, and the costs are much less due to the exchange rate between the rand and the dollar. There are a number of posters on this board pursuing this option, who I am sure would be happy to share information with you.

 

RTS is indeed a very solid school. It is also one of the few programs that offers Greek and Hebrew instruction via distance learning. In most other DL programs, you must take either limited original language components, or study the languages on your own for challenge tests. This language training will be of definite advantage to you if you pursue further study, i.e. the ThM or PhD.

 

Indeed!

Imagine applying for admission to a Ph.D. program at a RA/ATS school. When questioned regarding the methodology of earning the MA, the applicant states it was earned via DL. The admissions officer responds that because the MA was earned via DL, it is not acceptable for admission to the Ph.D. program. To which the applicant responds,

"What? I paid $325 per credit hour for this degree. It had better be acceptable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Let me refine the question a little more. How credible is this degree (or any earned in similar fasion) in the Academic community? I know that Reformed Theological has (and has had) several well respected authors/theologians however I have seen cases where certain members of the academic community do not respect a degree eared via distance education.

 

Try searching the site with a term like "acceptability". I know there has been some discussion of this. You might also consider contacting some school and asking them directly--let us know if you do this.

 

acceptability

IMHO,

For the acceptability of a theological education, I would not hesitate to utilize distance methods. If you don't have any background in "religion" or theology, it may not be as rich of an experience for you, or you would probably have to take time to acquire the skills for exegetical work (ie. hebrew, etc.). But as far as acceptability, I don't think you should anticipate any "across the board" rejections from higher research readers.

Suppose you want to go on for a PhD. If schools in the US don't accept you (and they will), then you can find a school overseas to read for you. To most, I don't think it will matter.

Chris

 

Suppose you want to go on for a PhD. If schools in the US don't accept you (and they will), then you can find a school overseas to read for you. To most, I don't think it will matter.

Does this imply that if I got a fully accredited MA in Religion from a accrediting body recognized by the Department of Ed (and RTS is RA and NA) that it would not be accepted by PhD programs in the US?

Seems that if I paid the same tuition and performed at the same level as a student in residence while being judged by the same standard then I don't see how the degree earned by DL is any different than one earned on campus.

 

Obviously, nobody here does either! Some schools may be too stodgy to recognize this, and the ATS is not exactly a beehive of progressivism. If you have some idea of where you eventually want to do a PhD, call them and ask them pointblank. Remember, too, that you are in the vanguard of history. By the time you finish your MA, more resisters will have been trampled by New Distance-Learning Man armed with Bearist dialectic. (See, there IS a Party line around here; we just don't let 'er rip too often.)

Seriously, the resistance to accepting accredited DL is declining, and DL may not be apparent from your transcript or diploma in any case. Don't let the idea of somebody somewhere squawking dissuade you. RTS offers a good program, and any school which refused to acknowledge that would likely not be too hospitable a place to be for any number of reasons unrelated to DL. Pigheadedness is not a virtue.

 

No, I said that if it was not accepted in the US, it would still be possible to find other PhD programs outside the US whose terminal degree would be of GAAP utility.

I'm just saying that there are other PhD programs outside the US to consider. That makes the negative perception of graduate DL work less unpleasant.

Also, Ditto Unk~

Chris