Jewish Theological Seminary of America Announces Low-Residency Master's Programs

A little on the expensive side, but it just doesn't get any better than this:
http://www.jtsa.edu/applying/online/


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)

 

Well, a D/L program from Hebrew Union College would be nice, too. Of course, they both print their diplomas backwards...
I note that you can't get the M.H.L. degree by D/L. I wonder why not? Am I right in thinking that it is possible to get a decent D/L Christian Ministry degree?
Nosborne

 

I once heard a rumor that HUC was going to put its MA in Jewish Studies online, but when I called HUC, the response was something along the lines of "Where in the world did you hear that?" HUC does offer a few online courses, but I suspect the online master's, though likely (especially now that JTSA has entered the field), may be a few years off.

The only Jewish studies program proper that JTSA offers online is the MA in interdepartmental studies (there's the master's in Jewish education, but that's diff'rent); it might be possible to do an interdepartmental MA with extra credit and turn it into a de facto MHL (even if it's still, well, an MA).

My suspicion is that JTSA's administration rightly assumes that it's one of the best-known rabbinical schools in the world, and is settling for the interdepartmental MA as an experiment. This way if it does flop, it won't take the MHL down with it. (See also: Harvard and the ALM.)

I think it should be possible, at least in theory; some folks will disagree with me, which is fine. I think this all boils down to what should constitute a ministerial degree.

But I would rank the MHL as comparable to a ThM, not an MDiv; and I think we all agree that a ThM, at least, can be done externally.


Cheers,

------------------
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)