Foreign Seminaries/ATS equivalent?

Do you know if there are any divinity/theology degrees offered by foreign universities that are viewed as equivalent to ATS degrees offered by American universities?

In other words, do you know of any foreign degrees that could be used for ordination in the Episcopalian/Anglican denomination or other main denominations?

P.S. I am of the evangelical/orthodox bent in the Anglican tradition (ie, AMIA or AAC in the ECUSA).

Thanks a bunch,
Travis

 

Trinity College / Baker's Guide

Try Trinity College. (of Bristol, not Newburgh)

http://www.trinity-bris.ac.uk/


Baker's Guide is an excellent place to read up on international theological distance learning.

http://www.gospelcom.net/bakersguide/international.php

 

Dear Travis:

Just so. Any theological degree offered by a government-run Australian or South African university should be accepted here as equally accredited as an ATS-sanctioned degree. However, there may be differences in nomenclature and degree content. (Doktorand Bill Grover has pointed this out on other threads.) As to equal academic legitimacy and acceptance, I would anticipate no problem, at least not on the basis of Australian or SA provenance. What your particular denomination would do in response to it, you owe it to yourself to determine in advance and in writing from the appropriate authorities. Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Janko the Mad Priest

 

oops. I forgot to mention that the foreign degree would need to be dl or at least mostly dl.

Travis

 

Um, I guessed that part. Welcome aboard, BTW.

 

e.g. some of the MDiv's I've seen in SA schools are only two year degrees -- if that. And the focus isn't as broad.

 

Coming from you, knowing the ordination candidates you've interviewed and of whose credentials you've sat in judgement, I'd say that's relevant and deserves some expansion. Are you saying that, therefore, such an SA MDiv would, then, not be acceptable, as a practical matter?

 

In all likelihood it would be accepted as partial fulfillment of the educational requirement. The candidate would be expected to complete an education equivalent to that of an ATS MDiv. We would do an evaluation and then help that person craft a list of classes to make up the “deficiencies”.

Even though we would have to deal with these cases on an individual basis we would be predisposed to look quite favorably upon them – realizing that influences from outside our primary cultural context add flavor to the stew. It certainly would not be seen as a negative.

 

In other words, the question is not academic legitimacy but equivalency (or not) of degree content?

 

Right. ATS is the standard-- the norm. But if someone does equivalent academic preparation, that works in our book. However, we get to decide what constitutes equivalent.

 

Thanks, Brad. It's OK by me. That's partly why (fears of ecclesiastical perfidy being the rest of it) I urged Travis to check this stuff out with his church authorities and then get it in writing.


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PS. Sorry. The mailbox is sort of cleared out. You know who you are.

 

Very well put... as usual.

Thank you.

And notarized!

Okay, thanks. Er... oh... wait...