Tyndale Theological Seminary

[IveyLeaguer]

Anyone familiar with Tyndale Theological Seminary in Ft.Worth?

Could you describe their beliefs/teachings? Is there a Baptist affiliation?

Thanks.

 

[bobbyd]

A yahoo search said this, "strong systematic theology and deep Puritan related teaching of the truth."

If you look at the staff and faculty page you see a lot of Dallas Seminary as well as a lot of references to Louisiana Baptist Seminary. A few degrees from places like Regent and Liberty too.
Paige Patterson is also listed as a guest lecturer, so that is about as Southern Baptist as you can get.

I'm not sure if there is any official baptist affiliation though.

They do have a website you can check out.

 

[Dave G.]

They're at www.tyndale.edu. The school is non-denominational, primarily serving independent Bible churches.

 

[Brother Ian]

I did a quick check. They look to have very strong degree requirements and a solid faculty. They are reasonably priced too.

Accredidation is by the Association of Christian Colleges and Theological Schools (ACCTS) which is not recognized by the Department of Education.

 

[Broadus]

My quite fallible memory says that it is quite dispensational, in the classical sense. BTW, has the case by the State of Texas against Tyndale's granting academic degrees been settled? It's been a long time (a couple of years) since I've heard anything about it.

Bill

 

[preachinjesus]

Personally I'd suggest for anyone to stay away from Tyndale if given the chance. You can find far better theological and pastoral education at other instutions (DTS, SWBTS, DBU, etc.) in the DFW area. Aside from being unaccredited, the school has been on the losing end of a very problematic lawsuit brought by the State of Texas.

 

[preachinjesus]

Originally posted by Broadus:
BTW, has the case by the State of Texas against Tyndale's granting academic degrees been settled? It's been a long time (a couple of years) since I've heard anything about it.

as my equally fallible memory serves me they lost.

here's a link to the written opinion Click Here!

 

[Rhetorician]

IL,

Go back and look at their web page again. I could not find the word "degree" used anywhere.

Does that cause a "red flag" to go up? Should it?

Just one observation and caution.

sdg!

rd

 

[Plain Old Bill]

They are 6 to 8 months away from a final decision from the Texas Supreme court as of today. I just spoke to someone down there.

I also went through thier catalog and they do have some pretty heavy wieght people on thier faculty with intentions of getting better.
Of all of the online schools I have researched so far this school offers up 20 hours of greek and 20 hours of hebrew as well as 8 hours of latin. It is also pretty heavy in the theokogy and apologetics(practicle theology) areas of study.
As for it being a dispensational school ,some may find that an attractive feature.It is also pre-trib,Pre-Mill,OSAS. Which can be found in it's doctrinal statement.A very attractive feature is it is NOT KJVO.
This school is certainly several steps above the Andersonville and Bethany levels of education.They also do not award degrees they issue diplomas.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Also related to the court case when I spoke to the gentleman I forgot to get his name,I apologize.They were told by the lawyer who took the case that thier case would take 7 to 8 years to complete and that they would probably lose all of thier lower court cases so in thier view this is right on track. The lawyer they hired successfully won a case in Texas regarding home schooling that was pretty big down there so the case seems to be in good hands.
Thier goal is to improve thier faculty that is on hand and to improve thier faculty in other ways also.
I think it would be worth domebody's time to go through thier site and catalog and learn more about them.

 

[Broadus]

I agree with POB that they are several steps above Andersonville, Bethany, and, I add, Covington.

The reason they do not offer degrees, if I remember correctly, is that the State of Texas has forbidden them to do so. They would probably be found in contempt of court were they to do so.

I don't remember the details of the case, but Texas has high standards which institutions of higher education must meet. Tyndale probably believes some of the standards are unnecessary and cumbersome. It will be interesting to see how the case ends up.

Nevertheless, I think one has other opportunities in our day for quality theological education. I would recommend looking at Whitefield Theological Seminary (though unaccredited, it appears sound and rigorous), Luther Rice Seminary , and Liberty Theological Seminary , and Oregon Theological Seminary for distance education.

Bill

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Whitefield is a reformed seminary which would appeal to some and repel others.
From my converstion with the gentleman from Tyndale yesterday they have never offered degrees.They are also a young school and on thier way up the academic ladder.In the meantime thier tuition is only about 65$ pr semester hour.They also begin at the freshman level and go through seminary level.In addition several people of note (house,Tan,Ice,Couch)are involved in the school. It seems it is a school on the rise.

 

[gb93433]

I have a friend who did classes by correspondencem through Tyndale. I could tell that he did not receive near the education I did from SWBTS.

I think many of their professors come from DTS. From what I could tell they are dispensational.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Read thier statement of faith. They are dispensational,they are also pre-mill,pre-trib,OSAS.Until I came on this board I thought these were commonly held Baptist beliefs.They are not KJVO though which I think is good.Much of the faculty is from DTS.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

How long has SWBTS been around? Do they have an undergraduate program?How much is thier tuition per demester hour? Are they dispensational?Are they pre-trib?Are they OSAS?What is thier stand on the innerancy of the Bible?
It would be easy to recognize that Tyndale is not an Ivey League Bible College or Seminary but I think there is a place for it and Messiah! as well.Not everybody can afford $225 per semester hour or be on campus.
I like both of thier statements of faith or essentials.I also like the fact they have a lot of DTS grads on thier staffs.I would not attend a college or seminary which was not pre-trib,pre-mill,OSAS,or somewhat dispensational.My funds are also very limited.
How would you be able to do an actual valid comparison between SWBTS and Tyndale?I would have to think you would want to do it on a course for course basis.Without going over the course or taking a course yourself all you have is conjecture.It is not valid to say I know someone who went there and they are not the brightest bulb in the pack and blame it on the school.Some people do very well when taking a course and the value of that course drops right out of thier head as soon as the move on to the next course.You also cannot devalue a course because it disagrees with your theology unless it is outright heretical.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

I guess my whole point is that for some only those schools on thier list would ever be good enough to be considered for a valid education and that is fine as long as they are up front about thier point of view and make it known.We all have our own criteria and our own point of view.
I personally would have no time for an amill school or a reformed school or a liberal school or a covenant theology school or a mid or post-trib school or a KJVO school, so who's left?

 

[Plain Old Bill]

I guess the closer I look at Tyndale and the closer I look at some of the schools being recommended here ,the better I like Tyndale.
West Coast Baptist is heavy with HAC and Bethany teachers. Crown College has 25 people on thier staff of 64 who have thier degrees from Crown. 12 of them are admin people and it does'nt mention where they went to school.Crown only offers 1 year of greek and 1 year of hebrew and that is only at the seminary level.
I have also looked at Andersonville,Bethany, Louisiana Baptist,Gulf Coast, Trinity,and New England Baptist Institute.It is also certainly better then Hyles-Anderson , West Coast, or Covington.

All of that being said I think there is a legitimate place for Tyndale in Christian education which is a few steps up the ladder from the afore mentioned schools.

 

[John Ellwood Taylor]

Others are correct that they are not accredited and did get into some hot water for offering 'degrees'.

I did my extension study through them in the mid-90s knowing full well it wasn't accredited. Great classes by extension, I was able to get my hermeneutics, theology, aand two years of Greek there that has served me very well.

I have become concerned recently that their doctrinal statement 'repudiates Lordship salvation'.
It seems that even with Dr. Couch's love of Reformation theology and exegises you just can't take his Dallas Seminary background away from him ( note: almost all of the DTS grads are 'Chaferites' when it come to the no Lordship view of salvation i.e. Hodges and Ryrie)

I do find it ironic that our exegetical teaching class used MacArthur's Rediscovering Expository Preaching book when MacArthur is tperhaps the most vocal proponent of the Lordship (read biblical) view of salvation.

I was happy with my training/results however, with my two cent you should also cointact them and ask some tough questions.

Best Wishes...

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Now I would agree more with Ryrie,Thiessen,Evans,Walvoord,and Pentecost,so I don't think that would be a huge problem for me.The training is what concerns me and it appears at least on the surface that it is high quality.I understand they are not accredited.

 

[EVChris]

I notice the last post is dated 2006. In 2007, Tyndale won their case and Texas returned the fine. Does anybody have any updated thoughts on Tyndale Theological Seminary?