My Academic Plans / Luther Rice

[Peter James]

Hello again; I wanted to run something by everyone briefly.

I love theological education and recently earned a Masters of Christian Studies from Luther Rice Seminary (which was purely a theological degree). I was considering pursuing a Masters of Divinity and/or a PhD in Christian Scripture. My goals include potentially being ready to be an interim pastor and teaching theology, Old Testament, or New Testament courses at some point. I’ve discussed this with both LRS and my undergraduate alma mater, Boston Baptist College. I teach an Adult Sunday School class every Sunday morning for the past 15 years, I'm a deacon at the church, and I am completely able to fill in for Pastor any morning he needs me for preaching, worship leading, etc.

Luther Rice suggests I pursue the MDIV (90 credit hours) as my MACS would be totally transferable into the program. I would need to take within that program 18 credits in languages for future PhD work. My alma mater advises me skipping the MDIV due to my extensive church service already and just take the language credits to be eligible for the PhD directly and go for it. (Side note: I'm okay with writing papers, but have no long term goals of writing theological books or dissertations; I'm a nerd of theology UP TO A POINT. I learn best visually, if that helps at all. And I'm a SLOW reader, which I don't care about.)

I’ve contemplated this decision and have some additional thoughts:

#1) I might be underestimating my MACS; it could be sufficient for teaching online courses for High School or College or taking on a pastoral role.

#2) Independent Baptist Churches I serve in don’t require accredited MDIVs or PhDs, so I could prepare for interim pastoring through resources like SeminaryNow or Zondervan MasterClass.

#3) I might not need the MDIV since I can access quality pastoral theology and/or beginner counseling courses elsewhere.

#4) Teaching at a Bible College seems unlikely as it’s very competitive, and I’d be approaching retirement age soon. (I'm 48; but by the time I'm finished with education, I'd probably be closer to 58 or 60 since I go so slow due to finances and speed of reading.)

However, if I feel led by the Holy Spirit to really pursue professorship at a Bible College, I’d consider taking the 18 hours of languages and pursuing the PhD at Luther Rice at that point.

Therefore - I think the best course of action for me to do now is - nothing except sign up for the afore mentioned webinar platforms to fill in some gaps or my further theological or language studies.

At this moment, I feel I understand my situation but welcome any insights or advice like "have you considered" or "you are wrong about", etc. I appreciate your support. God Bless - Peter J. Markavage

 

[Dr. Bob]

Blessings on your work and vision. Old Sam Jones (Black preacher of a hundred years ago) said "Get all the education you can, even if all you do is drive a mule. It makes more difference between you and the mule." It is hard enough to begin school "older", but then to realize the limitations that will come by the time you finish is paramount.

Note: on-line training does NOT mean a good on-line teacher. Much of teaching development comes from interaction with teachers and with students. I have done in-person learning and distance learning. For undergrad, the face-to-face and focused years are much better. Upper level MDiv et al can often be as thorough and valuable in distance instruction.

BUT language is ALWAYS best face-to-face. Cannot imagine Greek, Hebrew, or Latin mastered by books/correspondence or even computer. It is a different learning curve than theology or biblical studies.

 

[Marooncat79]

Exactly