Cheapest Master of Divinity

The sad reality is that the US educational system does a terrible job of teaching its own economic system to its young. The sad reality is that too many religiously-inclined individuals do not understand what the Bible says about money.

 

Yes, you are correct; that's basically what I meant.

And you make a good point about religious schools.

 

Interesting and certainly affordable, but I believe I need an entire degree. Thanks for the information, though. I need all the info I can get on what's available.

 

No hornet's nest stirring with me.

I'm beginning to think maybe the best way to prepare for the ministry is some type of apprenticeship/mentoring done through the local church, or a local minister, supplemented by formal study, when possible.

 

I think I've made my decision. I'll post later on about that.

 

Completely off-topic, but I'm dying to ask how it works. Will other denominations be OK with a "catholic" Bishop ministering to their congregation? Will a "catholic" Bishop be OK doing so?

 

I'd be okay doing so, but I don't know about other denominations.

One thing I find rather sad is how "territorial" most denominations are. You'd think that a church without a pastor would accept the Gospel message whoever was delivering it. But many times that isn't so. I think it is often forgotten or disregarded that we all have one thing in common, and that is allegiance to Jesus Christ. That should be enough for Christians with traditional values, but it isn't.

 

Also non-accredited - Jacksoville Theological Seminary (www.jts.edu). How do you think they stack up, they seem somewhat affordable?

 

How can you say that? They hold prestigious ACI accreditation! RA is not the only way, but it's a good rule of thumb to avoid getting bitten if you don't know the schools in a particular field.

If all you want is a cheap piece of paper to hang on the wall, they're wonderful - albeit somewhat more expensive than printing it yourself. If you want quality or credibility, you need to look elsewhere.

 

The reality, sad or otherwise, is that any organization, whether it is for-profit or non-profit, needs to cause more money to come in than is going out. The sad reality is that this country's educational system has been destroyed by a bunch of hippie and socialist professors with PhDs from the 1960s and 1970s who think that profit is a dirty word (and other professors who are their proteges were brainwashed by said 1960s/1970s professors). Anyone who has taken a basic economics course (and somehow managed not to sleep through it) should know that there are four factors of production and four methods of compensation. The four factors of production are labor, land, capital, and entrepreneurial skills and the four methods of compensation are wages, rent, interest, and profit. Those who contribute their labor power to the economy get paid wages. Those who contribute their land to the economy get paid rent. Those who contribute their capital to the economy get paid interest. Those who contribute their entrepreneurial skills to the economy get paid profits. Profit is nothing more than revenues in excess of expenses. To say that one should not be making a profit is to say that one should have expenses that exceed one's income. Try going to a church council meeting and suggesting that they should incur expenses that are greater than revenues and see what they say about that!

 

Say what you will, there are Old Catholic, Independent Anglican, Independent Catholic, and Baptist institutions where a person can train for ministry and not come out $50,000 in debt. Some of these are accredited by recognized accreditors, and some are not.

My brother-in-law went into the United Methodist ministry and came out $30,000 in debt, and that was after he had half of his education paid for by the UMC! Something about that is just not right.

 

Errr... but you did seek ordination, and with apostolic succession no less, i presume? May I ask why, if by your own opinion it is unnecessary?

I am ready to believe that an Independent Catholic/Anglican/Protestant (and Roman Catholic, for that matter) minister is a wonderful preacher and a servant of our Lord - many certainly are. I might even accept their Orders as valid (under conditions). But I just can't see one serving the Divine Liturgy and administering Sacrament in my church, for reasons of both ecclesiology and doctrine. I know my Bishop feel the same. I wouldn't call that "being territorial".

 

Say what you will, it is indicative of a very sad state of economic illiteracy when someone can say that some other person or organization should not be making a profit and not even realize that they are saying that said other person/organization ought to have expenses in excess of revenues.

 

Ted, I like knowing there is another Capitalist in the room. While I agree with what you are saying, most colleges and universities are not-for-profit institutions and not in the business of making a profit. That said, that doesn't mean that Divinity schools have the means to subsidize every student's tuition bill. They have expenses that have to be covered and that is where tuition comes in. Endowments are normally grown through alumni donations (for the most part), but Divinity alumni likely don't have a large sum of money that they can donate, as such the endowment tends to be smaller making it more difficult for Divinity schools to supply scholarships to their students.

There is a new government program that might interest the OP. If you intend to work for a non-profit (this includes religious organizations) then under this new program your monthly student loan payment will be adjusted based on income and after 10 years of payments the remainder of your debt will be forgiven. This might make attaining your graduate education more doable. I've attached a link for you that can provide some more info on the program.

http://www.ibrinfo.org/can.vp.html

 

Any organization, regardless of whether it calls itself for-profit or non-profit, should be in the business of making revenues in excess of expenses. Otherwise, if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall.

 

Didn't say that, and I don't appreciate the insult. One of my concentrations in undergrad school was social science.

There is a difference in having income exceed expenses, and robbery. I believe Jesus cleansed the temple of the money-changers.

 

You did too say that, and it was a simple statement of the truth (whether you wish to take it as an insult is up to you). You may have majored in social science, but saying that others shouldn't be making a profit and not realizing that you are advocating the robbery of others is showing off your economic illiteracy.

 

Show me where I said others shouldn't be making a profit.

If I charge you, say, $1000 for something that I should have only charged $500 for, that is robbery.

That's what Big Pharma does all the time. Christian institutions shouldn't be doing that.

 

Michael, do you have any evidence that any seminaries or divinity schools are doing this? I'm not attacking you, it's just that your statement seems to be accusitorial in nature. My advice would be that if you know of institutions that are doing this you should stay away from those programs, but I can't believe that ALL of these programs are doing this. They have overhead and need to bring in revenue to cover their expenses. While their students most likely won't ever become wealthy, I imagine their operation costs don't differ all that much from any other institution of higher education.

 

Your words were: Theology and ministry should not be a business, in my opinion --- that's a distortion of the Gospel. But the obvious implication of that stement is that profit is (supposedly) evil and any religious organization ought to be giving everything away for free, regardless of costs. And who are you to determine what somebody else "ought to" have charged someone for a given product/service? Robbery is when one person arrogantly declares that someone else has "too much," declares that he who has "too much" is unworthy of compensation ("he shouldn't be making a profit"), and then simply takes without compensation from him who has "too much."