Theological Schools in NC

SaggyWoman,
Don't know if your asking about a college or a seminary. For a bible college, the best in NC (and probably the world, though I may be biased) is Piedmont Baptist College in Winston-Salem, NC. Check them out at www.pbc.edu
I really am not familiar with seminaries in NC so I can't answer.

 

Bill Leonard is the dean of the new seminary at Wake Forest. They have a top notch faculty, an innovative curriculum, and a real commitment to excellence. I've talked to Bill several times since the school opened, and I think they will be making a significant contribution to ministerial education in the coming years.

Joshua

 

Isn't the seminary at Wake Forest SEBTS??? Is there a new one??

 

I am not sure which one Rev. Joshua is referring to. The one in Wake Forest, NC is SEBTS. The seminary at Wake Forest University is VERY liberal. WFU is in Winston-Salem, NC. WFU used to be in Wake Forest, NC but moved to Winston-Salem, NC back in the 50's.

 

Believe me, I would never be referring to SEBTS.

Bill Leonard is the Dean of the new seminary at Wake Forest University.

Here's the link to the school:

Wake Forest University - Divinity School

Joshua

 

Joshua,

I just looked at the page you listed to see what the seminary and program were like.

1. I read the message on the home page there by the professor Kimball. I was stunned by the lack of Scripture in it. Is this typical of the preaching in the circles that you run in or is this an anomaly? He cited a text and then proceed to completely ignore it. In fact, I did not see one further reference to it or any other verse. I preached my message last Sunday on a similar topic (Where was God in National Tragedy and what should our response be) and found no trouble incorporating Scripture in my message. It seemed he simply read a few verses and then proceeded to say whatever he wanted. I guess in that sense it reminds of much fundamental baptist preaching ... "Take a text and depart therefrom."

2. Are you concerned with the curriculum there? I looked at the course requirements as listed and saw only 6 hours of biblical language (what can you learn in six hours and why waste your time). YOu cannot even find your way around a lexicon in six hours much less talk about any kind of usage. Six hours seems enough to get someone in trouble but certainly not out of it. (Unless they were hours from those days in Gen 1 )Furthermore, there is no theology required at all -- no systematic theology, integrative theology, biblical theology. That would be of great concern to me. The eductional classes on methods seem relatively minor in that by ten years out of graduation methods will have changed and everything one learns will be useless. Theology never changes (at least in our circles it doesn't). It seems like a good curriculum would be heavy on the language, theology, and exposition and exegesis since those are the unchanging necessities for ministry.

Interested in your opinion.

 

Josh,

I think I have to agree at least with part of Pastor Larry's objections to the curriculum. 6 Hours is definitely not enough for Biblical Languages. When I went to Southwestern, I took 6 hours of just Hebrew...and that was cramming at that. They had 12 hours of Greek. Do you really think that 3 hours of Hebrew and 3 hours of Greek is enough to do any good at all? Or am I reading the curiculum incorrectly? We didn't even start translating out of the Hebrew Bible until the second semester...

Joseph Botwinick

 

I agree that the required curriculum is weak on languages, although I know they have the faculty resources for students who want to do additional work.

Personally, I think an M.Div. should require one year of Greek and one year of Hebrew, and integrate additional language work with the upper-level exegetical courses.

I'm surprised that there is no systematic theology in the core curriculum. I could have sworn that was one of the things Bill mentioned when we talked about the things they were doing there. I'll check on that.

As for preaching, I'll look at the sermon tomorrow. (Thank goodness I'm not preaching myself in the morning.) One of the trends in contemporary preaching (across the denominational spectrum - I'm thinking of Tom Long (Methodist), Fred Craddock (Disciples), and Barbara Taylor (Episcopal) here - is to avoid proof-texting. The preacher generally focuses on one pericope of Scripture, and explores that one text fully. I'll have to look in the morning and see if that was the sermon's intent.

Joshua

 

This may be the conservative in me, but I was taught in hermeneutics that one should interpret scripture with other scripture. If you take one little pericope and exegete it apart from the rest of the Bible, you might get a good historical feel for it, but your theological basis might be a little skewed. Just a thought....

Joseph Botwinick

PS: This might show my bias, but I think (IMHO) there ought to be two years of both languages. One year of learning the basic grammer and then a year of learning practical exegetical applications of the languages.

[ September 23, 2001: Message edited by: Joseph Botwinick ]

 

I think a couple of years of both language is good. In seminary, for MDiv I had 14 hours of Hebrew and 12 hours of Greek. (I did skip the first year (8 hours) of Greek because of my undergraduate training.

As for preaching, I totally agree that we should avoid proof-texting. I believe and practice expository exegetical preaching -- taking a text and boring a hole through it. However, in that sermon, he didn't even mention the text after its appearance or make any apparent attempt to apply it, much less exegete it. He may well have extemporized on it outside of his manuscript.

It is important not only to bore a hole in the text but also to relate it to the broader discipline of analogia fidei and analogia Scriptura -- in other words, every exegete must practice systematic theology.

 

Larry,

Go get your calendar. Mark this down. We agree.

I'm stunned.



Joshua

 

OK,

I just read the "sermon." It's an excellent classroom lecture on Dr. Kimball's area of expertise. It is a lousy sermon, and has about as much to do with the Jeremiah text as my phone bill.

It is not, thankfully, representative of the sermons I have heard from their faculty or other faculty at the CBF schools; nor is it consistent with the hermeneutic that is being taught in those schools.

Ack.

I wish they hadn't put that up there.

I'll post a link on the Sermons forum to a couple of my recent sermons. They aren't stunning examples of the homiletic art, but they are consistent with the general principles that my liberal colleagues and I consider essential to text-based preaching. I doubt you'll agree with the underlying theology, but the sermons are centered on the texts.

Joshua

 

Here's the link to the thread with the sermons:

Sermon Thread

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rev. Joshua Villines:
Larry,

Go get your calendar. Mark this down. We agree.

I'm stunned.



Joshua<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yikes ... now I am frightened ... am I really that wrong???? ... Of course I am only kidding.

 

Greetings to everyone I am new but have been reading and was wondering if anyone had heard
of Ambassador Baptist College in NC. Dr. Ron Comfort is the President. I will be honest I did graduate from there and have my own thoughts, but am curious what others may think. I am not trying to set anyone up, and I will not reply with any scathing remarks to anyone who may say something unfavorable. I have some positives and negatives myself.
Thank You

 

A very good Bible College/Seminary in North Carolina is Piedmont Baptist(Bible) College, located in Winston-Salem, NC at 716 Franklin Street. It located right across the street from Salem Baptist Church.

 

Amen, witness, Amen!
PBC class of '88!

 

Look at the web site for Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute. www.fruitland.edu

 

Bill Leonard's Wake Forest Seminary is very good and building a quality staff/program.

But no one has meioned Duke Seminary. I know this is a Baptist board but Duke has what they call a HOuse of Baptists within the seminary.

Both are excellent for all brands of Christian thought (conservative to liberals accepted). I visited both with my son last spring along with Princteon and Vanderbilt. He choose Princeton. WF Sem was a joy to visit - if I wet to Sem (which I might after a possible early retirment) I would choose Wake Forest because of fidelity to the orioginal Baptist principles (like priesthood believer, separation of church and state, inclusion, real biblical authority over tradition). It also had a strong sense of community probably coming from the attacks they have had to bear. Students actually invited us ot to dinner the night before my son visited.

Duke I'm sure is great educationally however.
Richard Hays at Duke one of the great thinkers of our time - Read his Moral Vision of the Nestament.

Now if your a conservative who just can't stand any divergent thought you better go to that other seminary in the city of Wake Forest.