Golden State School of Theology

The website has degree mill written all over it.

 

Maybe just a smidgeon or two higher than degree mill?

Bill

 

Ok, maybe not degree mill.

How about...Discipleship Training academy?

 

A guy I know with several accredited degrees has one (Masters) from there. Says it had more rigor than his accredited Masters.

Having said, that....it has limited utility. So many good accredited US and foreign options (South African Theological Seminary for example.....inexpensive and equivalent of accredited).

North

 

Thanks, Nord, for the input.

Bill

 

Thanks Broadus! I think you hit the nail on the head in the Anderson thread (?).

If someone is going to spend the money and all things being equal..chose an accredited program. Even well respected schools grads (like Pensacola Christian School) encounter problems. For instance, I work for a large employer who will take degrees from Regional or National accreditors but not unaccredited schools.

My advice is that if for whatever reason an unaccredited degree is your most desirable option then aks questions. First, check to see whether the degree will be useful for whatver its intended purpose is (eg ordination). Does the school have a track record of its graduates going on to accredited graduate schools. Are tehdegrees acceptable to the US military chaplaincy. This means there have to have been seminaries (accredited) willing to say that the school is equivalent to theirs and acceptable for admission.

Lastly, as Dr. J. Bear (PhD U of Michigan) points out there is very little reason to earn and unaccredited undergrad degree with so many affordable options. Even if money was a big obstacle, as I mention above you have South African Theological Seminary that charges less than many unaccredited programs.

For degree programs with distance learning components check out http://www.bakersguide.com
He hearned his PhD through Regents (non traditionally) and is now a prof there. Covers domestic and foreign programs (I believe he does not put Catholic prgrams in).

Lastly, I have a virtual friend (pastor) whose first degree was from what he now considers a diploma mill. He later (as he matured) decided to do another undergrad program and mailed back the diploma from the school because he was embarrassed. He has since gone on to earn three acredited degrees (one a doctorate) and another doctorate from a credible unaccredited program.

Nord

 

I have an M.Div. from Golden State. It is definitely not a degree mill. I hold several accredited degrees (undergraduate and graduate) and am currently working on an accredited master's in theology.

GSST is solid and the work is substantial.

 

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Hi Jimmy . Are you a Baptist now?

 

Old men may have weak memories, BUT:

Unless my memory fails me re this school , about a year ago on degreeinfo.com I had a dialogue with "Kenny R." who then was an administrator at GSST. Kenny claimed that Western Bap College (now Corban) accepted at full value GSST undergrad work. As I live near Corban, I contacted the registrar who said he knew nothing aboutr that arrangement. Kenny R. went on to administrate at a bogus (IMO) seminary with headquarters in India.

As I recall, this also was the school which awarded a doc for a dissertation of 80 pages which was no more than a simple minded coomentary on Eph or Phil... The "dissertation" was available online then. . This also was discussed on degreeinfo.com at length before I stopped posting there.

Let's be clear, it is not impossible that an unaccredited seminary could equal the academic rigor of an accredited one. BUT, if this so, then the evidence of that is the academic utility of that UA degree .

So, put the academic utlity of the GSST masters to the test: Name ONE GSST alumni who finished an accredited PhD/ThD in the area of the GSST masters...JUST ONE!

Put the academic utility of the GSST doc to the test. Name JUST ONE who teaches at an accredited seminary because of his/her GSST doc...JUST ONE!

None of what I say should imply that GSST study cannot at all be helpful . But IMO there are much better schools offering DE degrees.

 

Jimmy,

Thanks for letting us hear about your experience.

So now that I've chimed in . . . Jimmy has always spoken highly of GSST, but he also has accredited degrees to accompany it. I don't remember you saying what degree(s) you already have Martin -- just that you've been looking. For myself, I'd steer clear of a school that says they are seeking accreditation. Seeking doesn't equal getting. Accreditation (for whatever anyone thinks of it) does carry weight. If I were to chose an unaccredited degree, it would be because the degree was of great interest to me (I was not intending to list it on my resume) and I couldn't get it anywhere else. JMHO as a distance learner

 

I heard that this school is attempting to achieve accreditation with AHBE (formerly AABC) which would give it National Accreditation status. Any truth to this?

 

Tom, I had heard that too and made the assumption that was what they hoped to have in five years. Right now they claim recognition.

From ABHE site:

GSST's site is a bit ambiguous about whether or not they'll pursue accreditation.

 

Docs By Grace

It's my understanding that ABHE requires little or no criteria be met by a school to be "associated" with that accreditational agency. It is soley by GRACE! Only when candidacy is desired must a school be able to demonstrate its quality, ie, WORKS.

But if that unearned, by substance, association brings unsuspecting or unmotivated or unprepared students into the GSST programs, then, GSST achieves much by little effort.

In fact, GRACE permeates GSST:

I've always wondered if Graves, the pres, is not the receiver of much GRACE to have finished , as I recall, the ThM, ThD and PhD in a total of two years when those programs at accredited schools would have taken, perhaps, 10-12 years to do. Perhaps that experience of GRACE sets the standard for the GSST grad programs.

If one looks at the doc programs of GSST, one may be puzzled why such courses as Bible Survey are part of the doctoral curriculum. But then, if the bar is so low to enter the GSST doc programs( ie, no accredited masters or academic thesis, or languages, or entry exams needed, ie it is entered by GRACE) , then the actual doctoral curricula must be kept basic, I suppose.

If it is all kept simple ,ie, by GRACE, just look at the advantages:

(1) GSST gets lots more tuition because the school needs to turn few down for doc work, ie, it exercises GRACE, so, God's work of GSST is benefitted by all that income, and,

(2),profs who have not endured the painful rigor of genuine accredited graduate studies can easily meet the simple demands of "instructing" the doc curricula, so GSST can be more, um, lin tune with GRACE, in hiring, and,

(3) a lot more folks can achieve the desired qualification of "DR" by GRACE. Just think of all the churches and para church organizations that will be blessed because their valiant leaders are called "Dr." Think of the huge increment in the quality of ministry obtained by the virtues garnered by obtaining the title "Dr."

This is looking more and more like evangelism. Does it not appear that some of the GSST faculty just about, in terms of having to do rigorous study to teach in their fields, freely (ie by GRACE) received their qualifications? So, let them just about freely give others qualifications too! ?

Is it not unchristian to criticize acts of GRACE in "higher" Christian education just because a school does not "lower" itself to meet academic standards for that education?