Religious Studies Resource

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Kizmet, Oct 17, 2015.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I always like it when I run across a list of DL programs. Because it's not really my thing, I can't tellhow comprehensive or even accurate it might be but I saw a lot of familiar names and so I thought I'd throw it out to you all.

    Wabash Center
     
  2. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    It's a pretty good list. Though I would have also included Gratz College and Hebrew College for online Jewish studies and Jewish Education courses/degrees. Probably also the Spertus Institute which also has doctoral programs in the subject.

    Still, very good list and I learned about one or two that I didn't know about before. Good find!
     
  3. graymatter

    graymatter Member

  4. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Luther Rice is ABHE and TRACS.

    While I was looking at some of the schools on the list I also noticed that Maranatha University had one of the best written (by a university) explanations of NA vs RA which, I feel, handled it in a very reasonable and balanced way.

    Also, some of these programs are not academic and thus do not have accreditation at all. I was a bit surprised to find St. Andrews on there which is unaccredited and offers a doctoral program. Their FAQ handles the question of accreditation thusly:

    And there appear to be a few others as well.

    On the one hand I think we can all recognize that one can obtain theological education, of varying levels, through unaccredited programs I am a bit surprised to see them included alongside accredited programs. Just a lesson in doing your research before you enroll in a program.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2015
  5. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    Ah. Ironic that only one of the 68 schools listed is accredited with the Association for Biblical Higher Education.

    As someone who works for multiple schools (8 that are RA and 1 that is NA), I found the Maranatha article to be snobbish.
     
  6. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I can see that. I suppose I read it with a tone I can best describe as "honest." They evidently have someone working there who has an NA and an RA degree and they rightly address some of the limitations that come with an NA degree.

    I did wince a bit at some of their "gold standard" stuff and I really think it should be illegal for a school to market themselves as having a "higher level" of accreditation than others. There is nothing that makes RA "higher" than NA in a legal sense. USDOE doesn't recognize it "more" or elevate it above the others. The general utility is greater but that is a different thing than saying "higher."

    Still, I did find it interesting, as you noted that only one of 68 schools were ABHE while at least a handful were unaccredited. Then again, I suspect the reason is that not more ABHE accredited schools clicked on that "Submit a link" button and added themselves to the list.

    There are a handful of ABHE/RA or ABHE/ATS schools that I think would make an interesting addition. But, I'm also not about to build someone's link page for them (wow, that sounded so 1998).
     
  7. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    I consulted with the NA school today. I questioned one of their curriculum strategies as being of poor academic quality. The response was, "well, we got the idea from a RA school - so it must be good."

    "Nope. Apparently RA schools make poor curriculum choices as well."
     

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