Question about research at Dallas Theo. Sem.

There seems to be a lot of DTS papers that focus on specific churches, communities and groups. Is this being done in the interest of "original contribution"?

Is it a trend?

A lot of research work is listed at the Theological Research Exchange Network (http://www.tren.com) They also publish a pretty good enewsletter, through which the theses/dissertations can be purchased.

Does anyone here ever use this service?

Roscoe

 

Roscoe,

This is a good question. I would venture to guess that the majority of the dissertations to which you refer were written by DMin candidates. The DMin dissertation, as I'm sure you're aware, customarily consists of a project of a practical and contextual nature. Thus, a great many DMin dissertations focus upon concerns specific to a particular church, community, para-church ministry, etc.

Cory Seibel

 

I would concur with Cory, it's likely that you're looking at D.Min. dissertations rather than Ph.D. dissertations. Using the Theological Research Exchange Network and the UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations database, I pulled up recent dissertations for comparison. Here are the first titles that appeared in the list of 2002 dissertations in each database:

D.Min.

Assessing Curriculum Needs For A M.A./CE Degree Program At Central American Theological Seminary

'Do Everything In Love': A Long-Term Sermon Plan For Spiritual Growth From 1 Corinthians

Economic Aid and The Convert In Islamic Societies

Essential Elements of Relevant Application In Preaching

Growth Challenges And Principles For Churches With A Christian School

Ph.D.

City names as memorials in Old Testament theology

The rhetorical arrangement and function of OT citations in the Book of Hebrews: Uncovering their role in the paraenetic discourse of access

Unio mystica and Imitatio Christi: The two-dimensional nature of John Calvin's spirituality

Spiritual theology of the Lord's Prayer according to Maximus the Confessor

Simon Episcopius's doctrine of original sin

As you can see, the focus of each degree program begets a different type of dissertation. The D.Min. is really a professional program for those in ministry while the Ph.D. is a research program for emerging scholars.

Jason D. Baker
http://www.bakersguide.com

 

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You'll find at TREN my ThM thesis Roscoe. It's $45, but i'll sell you a copy for $10!

 

Roscoe: I used it to track down doctoral papers by some faculty at a school I was investigating. Money well spent.