faith seminary - lutheran???

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by brensiobhan, Dec 18, 2004.

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  1. brensiobhan

    brensiobhan New Member

    hello good board members. I am continuing my search to find an Mdiv or other accredited masters level program in theology/ministry. I greatly appreciated members responses to my last post.Since that time I have run down all of the recommended leads but have yet found the right fit. As one of my two denominational school intrests is within the lutheran tradition.Are any members familiar with the tracs accredited faith seminary and if so any reason why they dropped Lutheran from their school name.
    as always greatly appreciated
    John
     
  2. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Hello,

    I don't know about Faith (Uncle Janko may) but a few theological institutions have dropped denominational names to appeal to a broader audience of theological degree seekers.

    Have you looked at these two accredited schools offering reasonable tuitions rates for distance masters:

    http://www.jbc.edu/college

    http://www.templebaptistseminary.edu
     
  3. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    Hi, John. I remember that thread and the recommendations, therein; as well as your other threads.

    It might help if, knowing what we know about what was recommended, you could tell us precisely what it is that makes not a single one of them a "right fit." I realize you're citing that one of your two denominational interests is within the Lutheran tradition, but I was wondering if you could elaborate on just what you thought about the various recommendations that you were given.

    As for Faith Seminary and its having dropped "Lutheran" from its name, is that true? Oh... wait... here's an old listing for them and, sure enough, "Lutheran" is right there in the name. But no matter how far back one goes in the Internet Wayback Machine, it's only called "Faith Seminary" across the top of its web pages. But TRACS includes "Lutheran" in the name on its list of Accredited Institutions page. On the Faith Seminary Web Site it seems like "Lutheran" is only used in places like the page where its history is described.

    I think there's no question that it's decidedly Lutheran -- howsoever conservative. And... wait a minute... something's wiggling around in my memory: Did I read somewhere once, long ago, that "Lutheran" was still decidedly present there, but just de-emphasized because of something having to do with its sizable Korean program? Am I remembering that right or is this just the brain tumor acting-up again?

    Call the seminary, toll-free -- especially after hours -- at 1-888-777-7675 and press option 7. ;) [giggle]

    P.S. I PMed you a while back and you never replied. Was it something I said?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 18, 2004
  4. brensiobhan

    brensiobhan New Member

    thanks gregg and jimmy, It would take for ever to go into the issue of fit and I would be concerned about offending someones favourite school or alma mater.In general it often was an issue of cost or flexibility of courses scheduling. At the risk of flame I will say just as a totally unobjective observation that I was somewhat chagrinned at the differences I encountered between the more evangelical even funndie schools vs the ones that represent the places I have worshipped all my life. In short I found the seminaries in my general tradition to be well do I dare say arrogant/rigid with a were so good take us or leave it attitude( just a very personal observation, maybe not a fair one).
    Gregg sorry about the pm I have only been recently brought into this century and am ONE finger typing.
    I realize some of my questions may appear naive,. I am always very impressed and appreciative of the responses from board members.At the end of the day I am just a mid life guy , wife, 4 kids and a fat morgatge trying to move from a career to a calling and get the world of DL figured out.
    as always thanks
    John
     
  5. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Two Helpings of Lutefisk, Hold the Beer

    Faith Seminary is part of the small empire of Central Lutheran Church in Tacoma. Central is the um center of a very small Lutheran body called (I think) the World Confessional Lutheran Association. It was originally associated with a "conservative" lobby in The American Lutheran Church called Lutherans Alert-National.

    It comes out of the Scandinavian Pietist tradition and represents a kind of fusion between Lutheranism and American evangelicalism or fundamentalism. In other words, Faith Seminary might be closer to the most conservative element in the Evangelical Covenant Church and to some circles in the Evangelical Free Church than to many Lutherans. The same sort of tradition also finds variants in the AFLC, the TAALC, and the Lutheran Brethren.

    The borderland between Lutheranism and evangelicalism or fundamentalism may not be a bad place to be for some folks, but it's very remote from where yours truly floats around.

    Certainly Faith Seminary is not a degree mill by any stretch of the imagination. How good a school it is, I have no idea. Would it compare in quality to the more routine synodically-affiliated Lutheran seminaries? Good question. I'd be interested to see what you find out if you investigate further.
     
  6. boydston

    boydston New Member

    I'll skip the stink'in fish (thanks)

    Their current name is Conservative Lutheran Association .
     
  7. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    Thanks for the correction on the name of the Conservative Lutheran Association.

    Of course, from a midwestern "Eisenfresser" conservative conservative Lutheran viewpoint, assimilating to American fundamentalism is neither conservative nor Lutheran.

    Labeling oneself conservative is a cultural construct, not an index of confessional fidelity.

    This is no reflection, of course, on the piety or academic rigor of Faith Seminary.
     
  8. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    Now that's what I call a cogent comment!

    Very well said... er... written.
     
  9. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Very interesting how information changes over the years.

    According to J. Gordon Melton's book, Encyclopedia of American Religions (1993), page 325, under the heading "World Confessional Lutheran Association, one reads this
     
  10. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    I've always kind of liked the wacky wazoos at Faith Seminary - they're essentially a bunch of renegade Lutherans that have been doing their thing for many years. I've also been critical of Faith, but the school is, in fact, one of the few to make it out of the blatant degree mill chapter in an early edition of Name It & Frame It and into the chapter on legit non-accredited schools.

    Here's what I wrote about them in the 4th edition of NIFI:

    By the way, the noted Lutheran apologist John Warwick Montgomery "taught" for Faith for a short while back in the early 1990's. Monty had been given the "left foot of fellowship" by the Simon Greenleaf School of Law, of which he had been one of the founders and which is now the law school of Trinity International University. (Disclosure: I attended SGSL during the Fall Semester of 1987.) After the boot, Monty became affiliated with Faith, through which he continued to offer his popular summer program in Law and Theology at the University of Strasbourg in France. However, Faith committed the apparently unpardonable sin of revealing the source of JWM's alleged law degree (the defunct LaSalle Extension University in Chicago), the only time I have ever seen a reference to this in a school's literature. Monty (who was then somewhat persona non grata at many accredited U.S. schools) split for England, taught at what was then Luton College for a while, and ultimately became the "Dean of European Programs" for another Trinity - the ever-popular unaccredited one in Newburgh, Indiana (which many of us do consider a degree mill).

    For what it's worth - and although I recognize that only true degreeinfo.com "old timers" will know what I'm talking about here - a certain highly credentialed former newsgroup participant with the initials of D.H. (who, at one time, was one of Trinity/Newburgh's strongest critics) took a couple of courses from Faith several years ago, and he was somewhat impressed with them, noting that the courses adequately met his needs at that particular time. (If you're a newbie, don't ask me about this paragraph - just be a good boy or girl and continue to attend staff meetings. :D)

    Ultimately, do I recommend Faith? Nope. They are, as I said, a fun bunch of renegade Lutherans, and there has been some improvement in their program over the years, but they are far outside the mainstream of both Lutheranism and academe despite their recognition by TRACS (which, as y'all know, has never impressed me as an accreditor). Tread carefully.
     
  11. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    New Web Site

    Well... for what it's worth, Faith Seminary seems to have a brand, spankin' new web site...

    ...so new, in fact, that, as of this writing (3/20/2005), many of its pages are still "under construction."

    And even then the site looks infinitely better and more professional than any of its older versions -- including and perhaps especially the last one. I'm actually impressed...

    ...with the new site, I mean... not necessarily the school (although, for me, the jury's still kinda' out on that).

    SEE: http://www.faithseminary.edu/
     

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