On Wednesdays, I will be running a Substack series all about choosing the right seminary for you. More and more interested students are looking for an online/distance opportunity to study, so that will be our focus, but much of the advice that I offer will be relevant for general matters related to choosing a good place to study.
How Do I Choose Among My Top Seminary Picks?
A seminary is a many things, but when it comes down to it, a seminary boils down to (1) faculty, (2) programs/offerings, (3) platform, and (4) culture. There is also (5) prestige/reputation, that can be important especially if you want to do a PhD later, but we will focus on prospective seminary students who are mostly interested in education for ministry in the church.
We have already talked about (3) platform in this series, but just a reminder that it is crucial to understand how the seminary offers its courses (in-person vs. online; if only: Synchronous or Asynchronous? Intensive format? Weekend intensive model? Other?).
Faculty. The faculty aren’t the only factor in choosing a seminary, but they are clearly important. There are different kinds of professors. Some are primarily ivory-tower: they write expensive, academic monographs, and make very intellectual contributions to knowledge, geared towards other academics. There are other seminary professors who don’t write much, but they have good experience with the church and are good teachers. Your desires will correspond to your calling and your needs, but I would encourage you to look for faculty who are “active” in their discipline but are attentive (“ears to the ground”) to the state of the church today.
Programs. You will want to look carefully at the degree programs, and especially the courses. Is there balance? Do these courses contribute comprehensively to your learning needs?
Culture and Student Experience. A key factor in choosing a seminary is really understanding the culture and student experience. Of course, that’s hard to do from the outside. So, I have a few important recommendations.
Recommendations
#1: Sit in on a course. If it is in-person, go to visit the seminary, if it is online, ask to sit in on a course. Observe, get a sense for the culture, and “try it out” to see if it fits you.
#2: Ask to talk to current students: Ask the admissions rep to connect you to some current students or recent grads. Then, over email or Zoom, ask those students to talk honestly about their experience, what they like, what they don’t like.
#3: Meet with a professor. If you can, meet (in person or over Zoom) with a professor in the preferred degree program. If you are going to be taught and mentored by this person at the grad level, there are obviously lots of benefits to having a chat and learning more.
All this stuff takes time and effort, but for the $$$ you are going to shell out, trust me, it’s worth it!
If you are interested in seminary, come study with me at Northern Seminary where we have degrees in ministry, Scripture, and theology. www.seminary.edu. We offer excellent distance programs that accommodate students wherever they live and allow you to work and stay in your preferred context while getting your degree. We are blessed with an incredible faculty including Dr. Beth Felker Jones, Dr. David Fitch, Dr. Matthew W. Bates, Dr. Ingrid Faro, Dr. Wayne Gordon, Dr. Marshall Hatch, and more!