Bethany College/Seminary Called Legitimate by AL DoE

In correspondence to Dr. Ed Johnson of the Alabama State Dept. of Education ( www.alsde.edu ), the following question was asked: While Bethany Bible College/Seminary is not regionally accredited, their website claims licensure by the Alabama Dept. of Education. Are degrees from Bethany considered legitimate by the State of Alabama?

Dr. Johnson responded on 3-4-02 by stating:

Yes, [degrees] from Bethany are legitimate.

 

Russell I think your missing the obvious. Did you asked the Dr. what his definition of "is" is?

Kind Regards
Dave Hayden

 

Russell,
The degree is legimate in that as a degree issued by a religious college with little oversight the state issues a license to the school. It is not accredited, it carries no weight with any reformed denomination in my state (the state of alabama). As a matter of fact, they are rather the joke of most religious institutions. Run by a father/son duo they put out some impressive materials, but from a theological standpoint they are lacking. Better than a degree mill - not sure!

 

I posted this tidbit for the purpose of feedback regarding opinions on such institutions. Thanks, guys, for the responses.

 

Russell: Bethany is not by any means a diploma mill. They have some very solid faculty (New Orleans Baptist, Florida State, DTS, and other very much RA doctorate sources). The courses seem appropriate and reasonably well structured. The school addresses almost entirely established pastors in the Fundamental, Independent Baptist movement, among whom the degree is generally accepted. I have noticed however that I don't see many publications or even Bible school teaching faculty that reference any connection to Bethany. I think the characterization of the degree by Alabama authorities as legitimate is exactly accurate...legal, clearly requiring some effort on the part of the student, legitimate...but how far one can take the degree is not at all clear. As with any non RA degree, the applicability lies completely in the unique needs and circumstaces of the student. For a pastor of a small church, no problem; but I don't think anyone is getting hired at Baylor on the basis of a Bethany credential.

As always, blessings

Craig

 

Alabama has nearly automatic licensing, and a regulation, much disliked by more than a few people in state government (e.g., Dr. Elizabeth French of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education) that says that "licensing" = "approval." And so, for instance, American International University (a mail forwarding service campus), Barrington University (a mailbox service campus; run from Florida), University of the United States (campus is a mailbox service), Nasson University (run from Rhode Island), etc., are Alabama-licensed and thus Alabama-approved schools.

 

Dr. Bear: I did not know Alabama regulations were quite so lax. It is a shame that any "school" can consist of a mailbox service in the state in which they are registered. I think I first saw the phrase "there is a there there" in one of your books. That a school has some kind of reasonable physical location, with some reasonable number of faculty and administrative staff is the most basic manifestation of its being legitimate. Of course, a location and employees do not by any means preclude a school from being a mill, I know experience has long shown that, but it certainly is normally an indicator of some degree of sincerity. Perhaps not having a physical location in the state of registration precludes the school from being anything but a degree mill. My point was that Bethany is not a degree mill, as you have defined it over the years. The school does have a faculty, does require more than token work from its students, does have a clearly stated outcome objective for each pogram, does have a physical campus, on-campus seminars, and does offer on-campus instruction. How good the program is, I don't know. Rick Walston seems to like it. You have listed it as a possible choice of unaccredited schools in the "religious schools" section of some of your books. I only know that it would not be fair to call the school a degree mill. I am not suggesting that it is a school of choice--though it may be for some, only that it does offer reasonably coherent programs that appear to require some real effort. Because Alabama will apparently approve almost anything, that certainly is not going to help Bethany's reputation.

Thanks for the many hours of reading your books have provided me--yours are always among my favorites.

Craig