Jewish Studies and ATS

I noticed that the Jewish Theological Seminary (which has some very good distance ed master's level programs) and Hebrew Union College have RA accreditation, but they lack ATS accreditation. I was wondering if anyone knew why they have not pursued or attained ATS member status.

 

Dunno.

From looking at the ATS website, it's apparent that they accredit schools from an admirable range of theological positions. There are a couple of hundred Protestant schools from Berkeley's Starr King on one extreme to Dallas Theological Seminary on the other, plus many (but not all) Catholic theological schools and a few Orthodox seminaries.
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http://www.ats.edu/members/lists/denom.htm

But I also noticed that all of the ATS schools are Christian. The organization makes clear that it is open to schools from both the Christian and Jewish heritages, but apparently no Jewish schools have sought admittance.

Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College have fine academic reputations, so I doubt if they would have any trouble getting in. But those reputations also suggest that they may feel that they have no need to get in, either. ATS accreditation wouldn't really add anything that they don't already have.

Apparently schools from traditions outside the Judeo-Christian orbit are beyond the ATS scope and are not encouraged to apply, even if they teach something analogous to theology and prepare professional clergy.

I'm not sure how relevant ATS is to more academic students of religion either, those who take a comparative or phenomenological approach to the subject, or treat it as a social or psychological phenomenon. Although it accredits scholarly M.A. and Ph.D. programs, ATS' primary emphasis seems to be on programs that produce church leaders.

Hopefully C.L. or Steve can provide more information on ATS' historical relationships with Jewish schools.

 

The DOE also recognizes the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools (AARTS), which has no website. Neither school is associated with this agency, either. See http://www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/us/accred-recog_associations.html

Amusingly, the bogus The Association for Online Academic Excellence AOAEx lists both institutions. AOAEx simply adds legitimate schools to their list of recognized schools (without asking) to lend respectability to their "agency." A university that I attended tried to get their name removed from the list six months ago, but I see that it is still there.

 

I phoned these folks a year ago to see what's up, and they're a semi-small accreditor; they don't accredit JTSA or HUC because (if memory serves) they specialize in Orthodox yeshivas, and JTSA and HUC are Conservative and Reform, respectively.


Cheers,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning (Ten Speed Press)
co-author, Get Your IT Degree and Get Ahead (Osborne/McGraw-Hill)