The Great Seminary Debate

I have two more posts to do before I am done with the introduction stage of this blog. At the completion of this post when I am asked, "Why do you go to two seminaries?!" or "You are doing two degrees?!" I will simply tell them to go to the blog. I am about to write the least interesting entry and will be surprised if I get any comments. Most will nicely start into this post, get swirly eyes out of boredom, fall asleep with their forehead on the screen, and then never actually finish this article. Most don't really know what a seminary is, or how a denomination works, nor do they care. For those of you who really want to know why I attend two seminaries and why I am working on two degrees at the same time, here we go.

Seminaries are like all academic institutions, some are better and some are worse. In reality they are simply better at different things. For instance, overall my experience as an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas was very average. Growing up in Denton I swore I would never go to school there and always thought that it was a very subpar school. I found that in many ways and in many of the colleges UNT is very mediocre but if you ever met a 20 year old in Denton who is from Maine then you know that he is in the UNT College of Music. The UNT football team might remain in the Sun Belt conference, but the College of Music is nationally and even internationally known. It is a bit of a power-move to say that I have a buddy in the One O'Clock Lab Band. There is no place better to study Jazz than at UNT. Seminaries are like universities, they are better at different things.

I started at Dallas Theological Seminary during the fall of 2001 because I wanted to study the Bible. One might think that is all they do at seminary, but it really isn't. DTS was built on the value that they wanted all of there students to study each book of the Bible and that the Bible would be the primary textbook. DTS was started in the mid 1920's during the middle of the classic fundamentalist v.s. old liberal debates. Lewis Chaffer was tired of seeing seminaries like Princeton focus more on other books and disciplines and less on the Bible and the traditional Christian doctrines of faith. If you want to understand, teach, and preach the Bible I really do believe that there is no place better to attend than DTS.

I began at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during the fall of 2002. I had moved from the Baptist tradition into the independent Bible church tradition like many other people. I had my life changed and was fed by the expository preaching in the Bible church and liked to proudly drop to people that my church was "non-denominational" (you see, most believe that denominations are something to be embarrassed by). I felt called to plant a church and when I started to understand how independent churches worked and did missions, I started remembering what I had learned as a child in RA's (Baptist Boyscouts). I realized that there was a better way to do missions. I started studying what a denomination was, what the Southern Baptist Convention really is about, and the history of the SBC. I had always thought of Baptist churches as being more "liberal" or less Biblical than Bible churches, which is true to a large degree, but saw something special in the recent history of the SBC. I learned that denominations are largely a thing of the past because the old mainline denominations are declining at a remarkable rate, but this is not the trend with the SBC. There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is that even though the SBC started down the liberal and neo-orthodox paths of the Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbytarians; the SBC changed their course.

The "Thirty Years War" over the SBC has left blood on both sides and many wounded souls. There are people I love and admire on both sides of the aisle, but the reality of it is that the war needed to happen and the SBC is better of because the "conservatives" won out. Sadly, here in Texas most of the people who claim to be "moderate" Southern Baptists are actually "conservatives" if you get past the politics with them and discuss the issues. With those people I want to lovingly (in a Christian sort of way) place my hands on their shoulders, look them deep into their eyes, and say IF YOU ARE A CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN THEN BE A CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN! I would follow that with a Christian "holy kiss" on the cheek to let them know that I love them, but we don't do that in Texas.

So there I was in the Spring of 2002 feeling used and abused by Greek verbs, whipped by the idea of doing a ThM (120 masters degree) at the independant DTS (DTS is the only seminary I know of that does not offer the normal 90 hour MDiv program); and at the same time knew I wanted to plant a church, and was becoming proud of the Conservative Resurgance of the SBC.

What should I do? I was wary of walking across the street to SWBTS because I felt it was not conservative enough nor did it focus on Biblical and Theological studies enough. I had known many to attend SWBTS but none of them had a great experience there. They might not of had a bad experience, but I had never heard of SWBTS radically changing someone's life for the better. I had heard of these experiences from almost everyone at DTS.

I visited the campus and sat in on a Systematic Theology class (wasn't that impressed) then had a life-changing meeting with Dr. Dan Morgan in the School of Missions. Dr. Morgan is the main church planting professor at SWBTS. I got extremely excited about what the SBC was doing in the area of church planting, especially at the seminary level. I found that I could get a degree in church planting. Dr. Morgan is why I am at SWBTS.

Well what are the differences between the two schools. In my humble opinion I believe that DTS is better in the areas of Biblical and Theological studies, I believe that SWBTS better equips you in the area of Pastoral Ministries. From where I am sitting, all three of these areas are vital to successful ministry, thus I am at both schools. Unexpectantly, I have found Historical Theology to be my favorite part of seminary. I have begun to think seriously about doing a PhD in Historical Theology. Both schools are great in this area. Dr. Hannah is legendary at DTS, but Dr. Bingham at DTS and Dr. Yarnell at SWBTS are the type of scholars and men that I would love to study under. Both seminaries are great in this area.

I know that this article is going onto the internet for the world to read so I am a bit scared about this next part. What do I not like about the schools?

First, DTS does not offer a MDiv which they take a lot of pride in. The reality is that the ThM is to be an additional degree focused completly on a particular area of study. What ends up happening at DTS is that your ThM is not as strong as other ThM's but is better than the average MDiv. It is sort of inbetween. My focus at DTS is Historical Theology and Pastoral Ministries. I would be less equipped to do a PhD in Historical Theology with a ThM from DTS than if I did a normal MDiv and then a normal ThM.

Second, DTS teaches every book of the Bible in their program. This looks great on an advertising flyer, but in reality we have to rush through so many of them in order to fulfill the battle cry of "studying every book of the Bible" that we don't study them well enough. I wish they would cut out certain books in order to focus more on a certain genre in order to understand it better.

Third, the feel of DTS (to me) borders on too academic. I have heard the saying that DTS grads are either the worst or the best pastors. I can totally see this as being the case based on the unhealthy balance between academic menuia with actual spiritual life and ministry training. Please understand that I am painting a broad stroke. There are so many exceptions and I have so grown in the Lord at DTS and love so many people there. I am also very proud of DTS. I have grown to apprieciate DTS by accepting it for what it is. DTS is not the city on the hill that some make it out to be, but it is a fine institution that I am very proud of.

Concerning SWBTS, I feel that there is too much of an "unacademic" attitude on campus. Many don't see the imporatance of study, they just want to wing it. The wrong attitude of many in Fort Worth is that ministry is putting on a cool youth event and study is not important. In the long run this makes for shallow ministry that prevades many of our SBC churches. Again, like my criticisms of DTS this is a very broad stroke.

Second, SWBTS does not emphasize the importance of Biblical or Theological studies enough. Honestly it kind of scares me to think that most of our SBC pastors only had two semesters in Systematic Theology during their MDiv program. Two semesters is simply not enough and is leaving our pastors with a very scary and unhealthy understanding and appreciation of Theology. Remember brothers, without Biblical Theology we are nothing.

I would also like to add that seminary is not for someone who just wants to learn more about the Bible. In my eyes that is a selfishly motivated reason for attending seminary. The seminaries primary purpose should be to produce pastors. Don't come and just hang out at seminary for a few years, only come it you feel a call by God to serve Him through His church. If you come for any other reason than to serve God in His Church then you run the danger of becoming too focused on the majoring in the minors.

If you are in seminary and not LEADING in a church someone where then I honestly believe that you are in sin. With a seminary degree you are better equipped than 90% of pastors in the world. Don't go to seminary and then choose to be webdesigner over a minister. If you want to be webdesigner, Great; then be a godly webdesigner who does kingdom ministry in a local church and reads good books.

Well it is easy to throw stones, so what do I think should happen at semianry. If you are looking for a seminary to attend and you feel called to be a pastor then find a conservative evangelical seminary, enroll in the MDiv program, make sure you get at least 18 hours of Bible, at least three semesters of Greek, at least two semesters of Hebrew, at lest nine hours of Systematic (preferably 12), and two semesters of Church History that is taught by people who are not just throwing dates at you but is interpreting history and applying it to today.

SWBTS has made some great changes over the last two years. These have been brought about by our new president Paige Patterson. I feel SWBTS has a better hope of becoming the vision of what I think a seminary should be than DTS. I don't think that either are quite there yet and I feel that it would not be a mistake to attend either. If you feel called to be a pastor I am recommending people to SWBTS, but I have also had a great experience at DTS.

I am very thankful for my seminary years and love both DTS and SWBTS. I would also like to mention the best professors that I have studied under in seminary. Dr. Howard Hendricks, Dr. Scott Horrell, Dr. Stan Toussaint, Dr. Buist Fanning, Dr. Jeff Bingham, and Dr. Lanier Burns at DTS; and Dr. Dan Morgan, Dr. Richard Land, Dr. Scott Swain, and Dr. Malcolm Yarnell at SWBTS. Bingham and Yarnell are particularly greatness in my book. Other greats that I have not taken are Dr. Wallace and Bock at DTS and Dr. Blount and Patterson at SWBTS.

Well if you are not asleep than I am pretty impressed. These are my reasonings for attending both seminaries.

In His Grace

P.S. The pic is my DTS id photo, it is funny to me because I was wearing the same shirt over a year later in my SWBTS id photo

P.S.S. I know that my wife is going to kill me, but I am choosing not to proof read or spell check this, this topic has taken the wind out of my sails and I must move on with my life