agape seminary

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by pjm, Jan 31, 2002.

Loading...
  1. pjm

    pjm New Member

    just reviewed their web site, the school is very open re lack of accreditation and states a florida lic. the seminary claims to prepare old catholic members for holy orders. to the theologically inclined on this board i am wondering if they are a legitimate seminary OR ????. THANKS FOR THE USUAL SAGE ADVICE. JOHN.
     
  2. Guest

    Guest Guest

    What about "young" catholic members? [​IMG]

    Russell
     
  3. BruceP

    BruceP Member

    Depends on your definition of "legitimate." I guess it all boils down to what your theological "slant" is and what are you looking to do with what you learn.

    If you're looking to enter into ministry then you must determine if your faith/church group will accept their training, or convert. Old Catholics are not very common... They do make an interesting point in openly recruiting the retired for ministry, and they have a married priesthood. They also indicate that their priests serve without pay and that each priest builds their own ministry/congregation.

    One word of caution... the seminary grants traditional seminary degrees - bachelors, masters, and doctorates in sacred theology, ministry, divinity, etc... - and some degrees that are unique... such as a Scholar in Theology for completing a canonical "challenge" examination - the costs are low and the workload does not appear to be consistent with common RA standards... what I'm trying to politely state is that this seminary could be classified as a "less-than-wonderful" school... aka a degree mill...

    Reference: http://agapeseminary.com/degree.html

    So is this a "legitimate" seminary? It's your decision... Theology... Faith... Personal goal(s)... weighed against... a non-RA school that issues academic theological degrees who's workload does not appear to inspire confidence in the final product...

    I personally would feel better about this version of the Old Catholic Church (there are many Old Catholic jurisdictions claiming decsendency from the original Dutch church) if they were to offer the seminary training and culminate with something like a certificate or diploma in ministry (or something)...

    Bruce
     
  4. rmwuspo

    rmwuspo New Member

    If you get a degree from Agape you must earn it. They do not give them away. However, they do not have any regional accreditation. The school was originally in the Tampa, Florida area and licensed by the state of Florida to grant religious degree. They changed a year or two ago and now are mostly internet. You must complete courses by ordering text book, reading them and taking an exam for each course. The exams are hard and graded by a traditional (brick & mortar class room) professor.
     

Share This Page