Theological Degrees: Vision University, Trinity Bible College, Columbia Evan. Seminar

I shouldn't do this when I first awaken. This should be United Reformed Churches of North America. The United Reformed Church is a UK group.

 

Which school is that Bill? I know the seminary in Philly offers that Ph.D. like that.....but I didn't know of one that offered a Th.D.

 

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I think it is a PhD. Bible Baptist?? I was surprised to get in the mail the description of Master's ThD since most US schools are phasing that out, as DTS.

 

Hi CMT:

As a Calvinist, you doubtless know that Herman Hoeksema and Anthony Hoekema have precisely nothing to do with one another, and that the various groups mentioned by another poster have little or nothing to do with either one.

You can get Herman's books from the Protestant Reformed publishing house in Grand Rapids. His dogmatics is very impressive and technically quite accomplished. Supralapsarians couldn't ask for a better scholarly representative. His sermons are a bit screamy for my taste.

To return this to DL matters: If you find out any good info on Bahnsen Seminary (or Westminster, for that matter) as it relates to DL, please share it. Given the poor level of several assiduously self-promoting seminaries (you fill in the names), it would be nice to see some tough-minded Reformed schools stepping up to the DL plate.

Thanks for any info you may find.

 

No, they are degree mills according to a very stringent set of criteria developed over several years. And most people would consider them mills if they were aware of what makes them such. The ones who would not consider them mills are those who have enrolled in them and are trying to defend their mistakes. Within academe, however, the schools are universally frowned upon.

Granted, those who wish to sit at home and masturbate on their diplomas may be fully satisfied with a degree from one of these schools, but if you were to apply to an RA or ATS school - whether for a faculty position or for admission to further graduate studies - you would be laughed right out.

(Yeah, yeah, it's a graphic illustration, but y'all get the point . . .)

By the way, the citation of James White as a credible graduate of Columbia Evangelical Seminary is a weak argument. I have often cited the photographs of CES' "campus," which you can find at this link. (They're a hoot. Kind of like Ricky Walston's little two-room schoolhouse.) The photos are actually on a site about White's anti-Moromon apologetics. And they are quite damning to his case, much in the same way that Mormon apologists were able to discredit the late Walter Martin for his degree from California Western (now California Coast). In other words, guys like Martin and White, who may have had a credible argument, blew it by "earning" mickey-mouse degrees. And, for better or worse, when you blow away a person's credentials, you blow away their argument. (Ditto John Warwick Montgomery, the otherwise distinguished evidential apologist with legitimate degrees out the gazoo, who blew it by earning his law "degree" from the defunct LaSalle Extension University. Of course, JWM is so persona non grata that he was relegated to working with, of all schools, Trinity of Newburgh.)

That's an easy one - Reformed Theological Seminary. While their main campus is in Jackson, Mississippi, their satelite campus in Maitland, Florida, was one of the early leaders in today's DL movement. RTS is accredited both regionally and by ATS. They are thoroughly Reformed and conservative, and the only difference between RTS and Westminster is that RTS subscribes to evidential apologetics (their faculty has included both R.C. Sproul and Ronald Nash) as opposed to the presuppositionalism of Van Til and Schaeffer.

 

While DegreeInfo debates are endless as to the definition of a degee mill, the utility of degrees, etc., pastors/ministers around the globe are enrolling in and completing degrees from schools such as Trinity, CES, Vision and myriad others. Some pastors/ministers have an affinity for higher education, i.e., in terms of using their degrees to teach, for a higher degree or for some type of professional credentialing. A great number of pastors/ministers, however, are looking for continuing their academic/biblical/ministerial studies for the enhancement and practice of their particular ministry, and will never serve in an academic setting. Degrees from substantive unaccredited religious schools, especially at the M and D level, have apparently met many of their individual needs.

I have alluded to Charles Stanley on several occasions as one such example, whose doctorate is from Luther Rice--years before it became TRACS accredited. Indeed, RA degrees will have the most utility, however, not all within ministry will be able to pursue this route.

 

Oh, I think we were all aware of RTS, especially since it does a K-W and shows up as a first entry when an internet search includes the word "seminary".