We all know of many seminaries that teach one faith, but here is one seminary which teaches many faiths. It teaches them all: Buddhism and Baptists, Goddess Religions and Church of God, Wicca and Wesleyanism, Jesus and Judaism, and more! For a mere $2000 a year, for two years, and DL too, one becomes an "interfaith minister." Talk about large churches! see www.newseminary.org
Rabbinical Seminary International is the alma mater of the director. NIFI...it's not just for fundies anymore???????
This looks a little cheap (in terms of requirements, not cost), but I wish someone would go whole-hog and do an accredited M.Div. along these lines; I'd sign on for it in a heartbeat. Back when I was considering Union, what I basically wanted to do was an interfaith Ph.D. that included ministry components for every major world religion. Cheers,
============================ It's a worthy notion, Tom. But I don't know about the utility as it may spread one too thin. Maybe teaching undergrad ? There's just so much in the area of religion to grasp. Today was looking over "jobs" in Religion , but these all seemed to require docs in one speciality , eg Islam. But for personal learning, it would be great if one had the time. By way of example of how much there is to know, an intrafaith one, I recall a prof in New Testament exegesis (ThD-Dallas) who was so expert in the original languages, but was inept at the theology of Chas hodge. So very much to know....... =================================
These people don't pretend to be an academic institution or to grant degrees. (Perhaps they legally can't.) Rather... Considering that the government can't involve itself in determining churches' legitimacy (the establishment and free-exercise clauses again), I suspect that anyone could legally do this. I can probably grant ministerial credentials to myself or to anyone else that I choose. But more fundamentally, how can *anyone* decide what legitimately is and isn't a church, or who is and isn't a minister? I realize that each faith-tradition has a lot to say about this, but step outside those traditions and who is left to judge? People can legitimately say that it's nothing that my denomination would recognize, but can they speak for everyone else? This is one of those things that's best left between the people involved and God, I guess. My point is that I see a big difference between ordination and education.
======================================== I cannot make such a distinction between "ordination" and "education." Sure no degrees are mentioned. But, teachers, classes, reading assignments, independent study, written assignments, oral exams and so forth are mentioned. So is "graduation from the seminary." This all sounds to me like education. In my dictionary the first definition of 'education' is "the development of knowledge by teaching." And the first definition of 'seminary' (as in New Seminary) is "A school." ==========================================
I'm not clear what an interfaith minister would look like. If you didn't attach yourself to one particular religious tradition, but instead treated them all as valid alternative paths or something, then I think that you would probably resemble a spiritual counselor more than a traditional-style Christian clergyman. So perhaps the way to approach this thing would be through a degree program in transpersonal psychology or transpersonal studies. The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology's DL programs might be a way to do it. http://www.itp.edu/about/index.html Although perhaps you could pull off something interfaith through Starr King and GTU as well. http://www.gtu.edu/page.php?nav=11
Tsk, tsk . . . People, it sounds like we need some brushing up on our investigative skills. First, did you notice a word that is somewhat obviously missing from their web site? Degree - they don't offer one. C'mon, gang, the school is in New York, and the New York regents would be on their non-kosher butts in a second if they purported to offer one. But there's an easier way to expose their little venture: Reverse the phone number. It is listed as The New Seminary-Registrar-Bursar, and traces to 230 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10025. Ah, yes . . . Riverside Drive, a lovely little spot full of churches and apartment buildings. Which, of course, demands that we then reverse the address - and find out that it is, indeed, an apartment building, with 216 tenants listed in the phone book. And one of those 216 tenants is Roger Ross, the head honch-huckster of The New Seminary, whose home phone number of 212-864-0261 has the same telephone exchange as the school's fax number. In short, this so-called professional institute with a "long history of preparing graduates" is being operated from the director's apartment. Any questions? (Don't ask. It was rhetorical.)
I really didn't make myself clear. Go look at the Rabbinical Seminary International website. That's what I was talking about.
Re: Tsk, tsk . . . ======================================== Oh NO! And I was planning to enroll!! ======================================-..
