GST - Greenwich School of Theology

Wondering if anyone here is familiar with GST for PhD work.
And, if so, can you compare with SATS?

 

bump......

 

There is no need to bump your post - it has been less than 24 hours and many of us are tied up with work, exams, Xmas, and family.

Anyway I would be most cautious about GST - their website shows several big buildings but if you do a Google search on their contact address you will see it is a house. The name Greenwich has been used by several degree mills in the past.

 

I have no experience with the school personally. The only person I know of who has graduated from the school is Dr Phil Fernandes. You can find out about him here:
Instutite of Biblical Defense | Staff | Institute of Biblical Defense

And contact him here:
Contact the Institute | Institute of Biblical Defense

I do recall seeing certain critics who have insinuated that Fernandes' degree isn't a "real" doctorate. So there is a perception, at least among some, that GST isn't a credible school.

 

GST had an undistinguished start, a better middle, and ended up remarkably good, in my opinion. In the 70s and 80s, it was essentially a one-man operation, although the adjunct faculty did require real work of the students. In the early 90s, the 'one man' died, and the school was foundering. At the time, I was the full-time president of Greenwich University in Hilo, Hawaii, and I offered them a safe haven so they could keep afloat until other arrangements were made. The arrangements they made were most impressive, indeed. Following a 'try out' period, they became affiliated with a large, old, and very traditional South African university, the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. Greenwich did the training, and Potchefstroom awarded the degree. A few years later (2004), "Potch" merged with a large and diverse non-religious university, and became the Potchefstroom campus of the University of North-West. Both South African schools are well-accepted, and listed in all the standard directories (International Handbook of Universities, Europa World of Learning, etc.). Thus GST offers one of the few opportunities to earn a PhD in religious studies from a 'GAAP' institution entirely by distance learning.

Further disclosure: I was one of two graduation speakers at the GST graduation ceremony a few years ago (the other was the Archbishop of Armagh), a most impressive event held at Westminster Abbey hall, and they made both of us 'honorary presidents' of the school.

John Bear, Ph.D.
Author or co-author of the first fifteen editions of
Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning

 

Thank you MZ and John.
Interesting, the contrasts in those posts.

Most helpful, John.
It seems you are saying it is reputable due to it's association with the established, recognized SA schools.
Would one, therefore, be better to just work with the SA school directly?
Why 'bother' with GST then? What's to be gained?

Lastly- due to the connection to SA, is this a case of 'only Reformed need apply'?

Any comparison with SATS?

Thanks again.

 

The last time I checked, 3 or 4 years ago, one had to do the North-West PhD in religion through their GST program; there was no other distance learning approach offered.

As for the Reformed thing . . . the only two people I know who completed the North-West/GST PhD are a Church of Christ minister in the US (Rick Walston of Columbia Theological Seminary) and a non-practicing Jew. Don't know if these are rare events or commonplace. And sorry, I don't know enough about these matters to compare with SATS.

 

Thanks again.
Perhaps someone will drop by who can chime in regarding SATS.

 

Isn't that Columbia Evangelical Seminary?

 

Yes.......