In the last two decades, the wily old PhD has been challenged by a feisty upstart, the Doctor of Ministry. High-achieving individuals dedicated to some field of theology, biblical studies, or pastoral ministry often hop back and forth between the two, wondering which better fits their needs and life situation.
First, some terminology. Let’s begin with the Doctor of Philosophy. In North America, this research degree is usually abbreviated Ph.D, while in Great Britain PhD is more common. There are variants, of course. Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School, for example, offer both a Ph.D. and a Th.D. The latter abbreviates Doctor of Theology. Although there are fierce debates inside Harvard regarding the equivalence (or not) of the two degrees, people on the outside generally regard them as two variants of the same course of study. On the other side of the Atlantic, Oxford University offers the DPhil.
For our purposes, we’ll group these variations together and refer to them collectively as the PhD. This is a research degree with a book-length thesis serving as one of its anchors. In effect, one hones one’s research skills either after a course of doctoral classes (the common scheme in North America) or by way of the research and ‘writing up’ itself (a distinctive of the British PhD, which requires little or no formal coursework).
A conventional distinction that still serves as a point of departure holds that the PhD is an academic or research degree in contrast to the D.Min, which is a professional degree.
Let’s get into that: the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) has flourished among clergy and related professionals during the past twenty-five years. Seminaries that never imagined themselves offering a doctorate now have active D.Min. programs whose enrollment sometimes rivals or even exceeds its coterie of Master’s Degrees.
Clarity on one point is essential: the PhD and the D.Min. are not variations on a common theme. They are completely different programs of study. This reality alone should ease the angst of the aspiring student who cannot decide which fork in the road makes the best sense. In truth, they are two completely different roads traversing the same theological-ministerial terrain.
It stand to reason, then, that the D.Min. is neither a mini-PhD nor a PhD lite. It is something else altogether.
Let’s talk about how that works.
The PhD in theology or biblical studies is intended to hone the intellectual skills required to form thought leaders in these fields. In the right hands, it can provide immense benefit in pastoral or other ecclesial situations, but that is a side effect rather than a principal objective. In biblical studies, for example, one typically masters a range of ancient and modern languages and achieves control over the scholarly literature in question. Since the thesis or dissertation is a kind of first book written by the student on his particular field of endeavor, the PhD (I use the term now of the person who has earned one) is already in theory a publishing scholar. This dissertation, written under the guidance of one or more mature scholars in the field, is defended before a committee, panel, or small group of fellow scholars whose job is to insure their constituencies that its author possesses the skills required of the guild.
There are of course very good thinkers with PhDs. There are also very bad ones. The difference is measured not only in lucidity of thought but also in the contribution one makes over a career to advancing the scholarly argument and teaching or mentoring others who will do so in turn.
PhDs in theology often serve outside the academic world (‘the academy’) with stellar results, though this demands formidable powers of translation in order to move beyond the intellectual habits and the native vocabulary of the academy.
The D.Min. developed in order to fill a vacuum of learning opportunity that was perceived to exist in the lives of clergy who had earned a conventional Master’s Degree (usually the Master of Divinity or M.Div.) and then accrued five or more years of vocational service. What was to be done with such a promising, experienced, teachable professional who did not desire to leave his ministerial employment or whose life circumstances precluded such a move?
The D.Min. was touted as the answer. Usually undertaken as a part-time course of study intended to mesh with the student’s ongoing professional concerns, the D.Min. often has minimal residence requirements (some of the best meet once a year for two weeks over three years). One of the emerging trends that has proven most useful is the ‘cohort system’, whereby professionals enroll and make their way through the D.Min. curriculum as fellow travelers. Veterans of the program often cite the learning that takes place among cohort peers to be a most valuable part of the experience.
As with the PhD, the D.Min. is usually shepherded by one or two respected mentors. In addition to completing the coursework—usually a premium is placed on the integration of the theoretical work with one’s life and professional situation—the student completes a thesis-like project.
Typically, one graduates not to a new position in an institution that has recruited the student but rather to enhanced performance in the place one is already laboring. The D.Min. is not usually seen as a credential that opens the door to a teaching position in the academy, though countless D.Min.’s add value to the seminary process by serving as adjunct professors or lecturers in their area of expertise.
Both the ancient PhD and the relatively novel D.Min. are moving targets. Readers of this post who know one or both of the programs well will already have cringed at some egregious generalization I’ve made in this brief sketch. Perhaps others will have gained some clarity in the distinctions that make these two doctoral programs completely different courses of study. Each one stands on its own merits. Each one can be done well and done badly, depending on the competence of the host institution and the efforts of its professors, mentors, and students.
Both demand time and money, though the PhD asks for more of both. In the experience of the student, each can be a thing of beauty or a spectacular train wreck.
You decide.
Canter Bridge 
Appreciate the analysis. I’m going through that decision-making process right now. But I think I will be going with the D.Min.
I thank you for the insight. I am leaning towards the PH.D.
¡Vaya con Dios!
Hi, David,
I have been reflecting on your comments in this post, as well as, on your past post, “Who should (and should not) pursue a PhD in theology…” Thank you for your words.
I have two or three years left to complete my MDiv., but would like to begin preparing for Ph.D studies as I finish the MDiv. This fall term- 09 I will also be in a 9 month church internship with the possibility of a longer term. Are there steps that I can take now to better organize my course work in order to help me with taking comps? How can I best use my MDiv journey to assist my doctoral work?
I appreciate any assistance, thank you David!
Dear Angela,
Congratulations on your diligence and forward-looking approach to your studies!
I think the answer to your questions depends quite a lot on the kind of PhD you envisage. If you want to tell me more about those middle- and long-term plans (either here or off-line), I’ll do my best to reply helpfully.
Thanks for reading canterbridge!
David
Hello David: My name is Tony Harris and I am currently a second year student in a M.Div program. I would like to continue towards a Ph.D. Being that a D.Min requires a three year gap before applying for the D.Min I would like to continue moving forward without putting off my education for three additional years, which is a total of six years actually. Would the best route be to prepare for the GRE and pursue the Ph.D?
Dear Tony,
Thanks for your question.
Knowing only the details that you have included in your comment, I would encourage you to choose the degree program on its merits. Unless unique circumstances dictate otherwise, it is seldom wise to choose on time criteria alone. I hope this helps.
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I am seriously contemplating doing a DMin. I have a few years of ministry experience and plan to stay in the ministry. However, I would like to keep my doors open to teaching in the future–possibly in a bible college or seminary. I know the chances of ever teaching with a DMin are slimmer or much slimmer. I’ve also toyed with the idea of a PhD (it’s a dream) but the reality of the cost and time in doing a PhD scares me.
Are there any important factors I need to consider to weigh out my decision-making–DMin vs PhD?
Dear Kevin,
Thanks for your post.
It sounds to me as though you are well familiar with the lay of the land and weighting all the relevant factors.
Since you might want to teach in an academic setting, don’t give up on the PhD before exploring emerging trends towards non-residence and part-time PhD work. You might be able to have the best of both worlds, which—given your aspirations—could be a worthwhile thing to pursue.
Thanks again.
David
Thank you, Professor, for laying this out. You helped me clarify my intentions, and given me some thoughts to share with my family, whose support I need and want in this process.
I have an MDiv and have pastored for ten years. It has become who I am and, I believe, what God has made of me. I believe I should cooperate with this work, thus making the DMin the more likely option.
Again, my sincere thanks!
Hi Barb,
Thanks for your very warm post. Are you the Barb Kenley who serves Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne? If so, I’m a fellow (transplanted) Hoosier.
David
David,
Thanks for your review of these two degrees. When looking at seminary faculty, I notice that some professors have both a D.Min and a Ph.D. Which would be considered the terminal degree?
Dear Helen,
Thanks for your post. Both the D.Min. and the Ph.D. are considered terminal degrees in that they do not ordinarily lead on to subsequent formal studies along the same track.
On seminary faculties, profs who hold the D.Min. have normally (but not always) placed their own emphasis on the practice of ministry. Profs holding the Ph.D. have normally (but, again, not always) placed the accent upon research. This is a very rough distinction, of course.
David
Hi David,
Thanks for your short essay. I like your comments and appreciate your objectivity in refusing to appaud one by denigrating the other. Yes, one is older and has a fine pedigree. The other – your “feisty upstart” – is intended to fill a practioner’s lacuna. The 2 are quite different animals and you’re right in refusing to term one as “mini” or “lite.” I found an article by Rodney J Hunter – “Really Great D Min Programs – and Why They Are Critically Important Today” – very well-thought out and persuasive. I haven’t read your other pieces but would you like to tell us more of your choice? I’ve 2 masters’ degrees and have started on a DMin but I’m finding it tough holding a full-time job while doing doctoral-level work. The answer, I suspect, lies in reducing the amount of work.
All the best.
Richard
Thanks very much for the essay regarding the D.Min and PhD. After 25 years in full-time missions in restricted access nations I am now completing my second year M.Th. I would like a future in teaching, specifically in missions. Most of the professors I have met in the USA and UK are western males. Beyond the sense of personal achievement I wonder if the PhD would be worth it for a Majority World woman.
Dear Usha,
Thanks for your post. I’m sure I can’t answer the ‘worth it’ question, since there are so many local and personal variables in play. Nor is it clear to me from your post whether your reference to professors in the USA and UK means you would be looking to use doctoral credentials in the West.
I *do* know of a significant number of ‘western’ institutions that are aggressively diversifying their faculty. Some of them are well down the road in doing so.
All best,
David
Dear David,
Yes I am looking at studying in the UK and teaching in the US and/or UK. Most likely teaching in the US as my husband is American. Although I am a Hindu background believer, I was born and raised in the UK. As far as education goes, for Asians, it is always worth it. I want to make the most of my education and experience of working amongst Muslims for future Christian service.
I do not have a network that connects me to western institutions as yet, but I do have a few more years. Hopefully the that will change in the future.
Thanks so much for your answering my question and giving me something to aim towards.
Sincerely,
Usha
David,…well written, general comparison of both programs. Indeed, it’s what you “make” of your program of study and your overall ministry objectives. Much can be said about the critical factors you identified: the candidate’s motivation, the assigned mentor(s) and the institution’s credentials and program’s rigor. I’m now completing my DMin (homiletics) which has a solid research base accompanied by a practical application and resulting metrics.
Well, well…
I see this thread is couple of years old and still going.
First, let me say a big thanks David, for taking on such an endeavor as to offer some clarification of one degree over the other – Good job on that.
Secondly, and this is obviously my personal opinion coming out – as one who has an M.Div degree from a very well respected seminary in the country…
Anyone, who puts Dr. by their name and has a D.Min should ask themselves why they honestly, got their degree. What pursuits do they have in mind while entering the ministry? I know that as time goes by, often goals and dreams of pastors change and morph into other interests, but nonetheless, the question still needs to be asked and answered why did he/she enter the ministry.
David, unfortunately, I think there is one critical point that may have not been brought up or overlooked regarding the requirements of either degree. The Ph.D is usually accepted into a program and given a stipend of some sort, and their Ph.D is usually paid for by the university or college. In addition, there are only a number of positions available for that pariticular program in that academic year. Also, in a Ph.D program, one is reviewed every year, and if one does not do well, one’s stipend is taken away and one is left now to pay for it on their own (it is at this point, your walking papers are pretty much being handed to you). Now, I realize there are some Ph.D’s that do not fall into the category, nor follow this paradigm. Yet, it is an honest assessment of what a true Ph.D is.
Whereas, the D.Min student is usually accepted into a program and none of the aforementioned Ph.D criteria is applied to them. Basically, if you can afford it, most pastors with a D.Min can get into one if they have the time, desire and money. Thus, in my humble opinion, it is in these requirement differences that someone is truly permitted to put Dr. in front of his/her name. Ouch…
Lastly, as a parting thought, anyone who is thinking about an M.Div or even a D.min should be mindful of my lame analogy, as poor as it might be. The analogy is taken from, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – when after Indiana and one of the lead protectors of the Grail almost get chopped up by a giant size “Steven Spielberg” boat propeller – The Grails protector asks Indiana “why do seek out the Grail, is it for His glory or yours?”
Why do you seek out the “Degree,” is it for His glory or yours.” Ouch, again…
I am a minister who wishes to develop my understanding, challenge my spirituality and develop into a better minister, both for the purposes of God and for the benefit of the community that I serve… A DMin seems to be the best way of serving that purpose while in post, and so becomes a form of continual professional development which carries structure and communal accountability. Plus – for most of the institutions that I have looked at, I need a good Masters Degree and at least 3 years professional experience.
Are you saying then that I should not use “Rev. Dr.” if I take this course of action? Can’t quite make out your point…
Wow, DC 10, that is one of the most condescending comments about DMin’s I’ve ever read. I also hold the MDiv from one of the top university-related divinity schools where I held a fellowship. I am finishing a DMin right now, with my final project well underway. I signed up for the degree because I was placed in a really tough pastoral setting that was filled with strife and infighting. I was able to recognize that what I learned in my MDiv was good, but left gaps. Doing the DMin has helped me and helped the church I serve. Most people I have met in the program are very bright and able pastors who are doing th e degree for the good of the ministries they serve, and not so they can be called “doctor.” Most DMin degree holders I know still simply go by “Pastor” or “Reverend” or other such titles and only break out “Dr.” for signs, letterhead, or for formal communications, a practice no one should begrudge.
If we follow your argument, then no one with a professional doctorate should be called “doctor,” including MD’s, dentists, chiropractors, or faculty members who hold EdD’s, DBA’s, DMA’s or any other number of people who hold terminal degrees in their fields.
Dear hibee_rye,
Thanks for for post. You’ve described the DMin in a way that I think most providers of the Doctor of/in Ministry would find welcome. I believe your final question is directed at poster DC 10, so I’ll not attempt to respond to it myself.
Thanks for your post.
David
Dear David,
I really enjoyed reading your post, which is still getting hits 4 years later! I am preparing to enter an MDiv program and hope to enter the pastorate after that in preaching. However, I do sense a higher calling of study and am definitely considering the DMin but am curious of the PhD. My favorite Christian scholars all have PhDs and are full-time in their respective ministries as pastors & directors with no DMin.
Have you noticed, and is the trend changing more to the “feisty upstarts” of DMins to also publish works and be considered scholars in their field.
PS – Thanks Richard Ang for referencing Rodney J Hunter’s “Really Great D.Min. Programs—and Why They Are Critically Important Today” essay. It’s a really neat read!
Thanks, D.C., for your post! I’m surprised too that this little piece is still getting hits after all these years.
I don’t have any particular insight into your question about ‘feisty upstarts’. On the one hand, it’s all about what a person does with his or her education, not what the credential itself might appear to suggest about the holder’s ability. On the other hand, the PhD typically focuses on research in a different way than the D.Min. does. I’d anticipate that, in theology and biblical studies, the PhD will continue to be the path that will produce more scholarship and publication. But I have no data, just the sense that ‘scholar/PhD’ and ‘reflective practitioner/DMin’ continue to be useful points of reference, although not fixed categories.
I wish you all the best in your MDiv studies and your ambition to pastor and preach!
David
Hi David, your post is very helpful. I am a Senior Pastor of a 500 member Pentecostal church in UK, which means I am very time poor. I started a part degree course which was meant to last for 6 years, but changed to full time and completed it within 3years. I then started a full time (1 year) Masters, which I am due to finish soon. To be honest I am amazed that I have got this far! I am wondering whether I should quit or pursue further studies? the PhD sounds like incredibly hard work and I suspect the DMin is more applicable to my circumstance, because it is ministry based, part time and a lower word count (50k-60k)? However I have been told that a Dmin takes just as long as PhD about 4years either way, but is less prestigious (possibly?). Is the quality of work required the same for both?
Dear Pst C,
Congratulations on the progress you’ve achieved in your learning process while shepherding 500 UK Pentecostals! Although not British myself, I spent three and a half wonderful years in your country and feel an enduring debt in consequence.
You ask some good questions. Yes, the PhD is ‘incredibly hard work’. You may or may not be correct that the DMin is more (immediately) applicable to your work, although I say this with only the scarce details about your circumstances that I have in hand. So very much depends on the nature and quality of the program in question (whether PhD or DMin) and of the student himself/herself. Quite often the DMin does, as you observe, take ‘just as long’ in terms of the calendar. However, it is just as predictably less intense in terms of the week-on-week dedication of time, energy, and research that it requires. In fact, it is *designed* to synch up with the student’s ongoing work in a way that the PhD is not.
As with most things of enduring value, the vital question is not ‘which one demands more’ or ‘which one asks less’, but rather ‘which one meets the need’. I would encourage you to do some initial research on doctorates of both kinds and then to engage teachers/mentors of a handful of key programs by email, phone, or face-to-face conversation. An educated guess would be that a person of your experience would rather quickly discern where the real value lies for you. A very large part of the equation resides in with *whom* you’d be working and to what degree that individual and his or her colleagues are prepared to invest their experience, wisdom, time, and capacity in you.
I hope this helps, if only a little!
David, for Canter Bridge
Thank David very helpful.
I suppose my concern about ‘hard work’ is because if I decide to go further, it will be in additional to my current work / responsibilities as a Senior pastor.
I have had several chats with course leaders of both programs and unsurprisingly they all espouse their own doctorates. I have a PhD supervisor who is encouraging me to sign up and an equally enthusiastic local DMin supervisor who is encouraging me to do likewise.
I also come from a Classical Pentecostal background that is wary of bible schools, therefore academic qualifications count for little in the context that I am in. Which is the only context I have ministered in since coming to faith.
It appears to me that what I am being told is that PhD’s are more suited to those who wish to get into academic teaching, writing, research etc. Whereas the DMin is for those who are more church based?
To further complicate things, the new principal of my old bible college does not have a PhD but a DMIn??!!
Dear Pastor C,
I’m reading your most recent post with a smile, mostly because I recognize the reality and ironies in much of what you write.
First, you’re to be congratulated for the courage it takes to combine study with the deep demands of pastoral work. My own work involves theological education in the Majority World, where the prevalent profile is that of the ‘bivocational pastor’. As I suspect you know well, for such people two jobs are the norm, one involving shepherding a church. Study then comes in—when it does—on top of those already multiple responsibilities. Also, my own biography involves multiple commitments. So without knowing details, I ‘get’ the challenging situation you describe, at least from my considerable distance.
And then you note that people tend to ‘espouse their own doctorates’. Without doubt! In a historical moment that tends to disparage ‘formal education’, I actually consider this good news. Such people appear to believe that the seminary and/or the university did not ‘fail them’. As a person whose life has been immensely enriched by studying in, teaching in, and leading in the context of seminaries, it’s good to meet such ‘satisfied customers’. Contrary to much popular opinion, I think they are legion.
I agree that the PhD is more suited to the academy and the DMin is more church based. However, I long for (and in Canter Bridge have advocated for) the PhD whose main venue of service is the church rather than the academy. I think that, for the right individual and then for his or her community, it can be a powerful circumstance. In my country, there was a historical period when the pastor was the intellectual and community leader in his sphere. Those days are long gone, and not to be longed for too strenuously. But I think there is a variant of that profile in our own time that is too seldom pursued.
I wish you every blessing as you sort this out. Should you ever want to take this conversation off line, do note hesitate to let me know.
David, for Canter Bridge
Thanks David, appreciate your comments. It is also very insightful that your article is still very relevant several years after posting. I’ll let you know what I eventually decide.
Hello David,
I finished by M.Div. three decades ago and have been in full-time pastoral ministry since then. Within eight years of my completion of my M.Div., I became completely riveted in the field of American Studies, a comparatively new interdisciplinary study. The end would be a Ph.D. I was surprised at how many hours of my M.Div. applied to my course work requirements. For my own sense of ministry in America, I believed I needed a better understanding in the social context for the American experience; ergo, a Ph.D. in American Studies was a joy to pursue and broadened my analysis of the very culture in which I pastor.
Thank you for your article!
Robert
Dear Robert,
I don’t think I ever thanked you for your post. I’ve had less time in recent months for maintaining Canter Bridge and so have been neither responsive nor productive! But I do thank you now, and am happy to read about how well the PhD in American Studies has served you.
David
Dear Robert B Walker,
I am and have been considering pursuing a degree in American Studies, i would like to know where you completed your course work. I also have a M.Div form a Virginia seminary.
Vernon
Thank you, David for very helpful information. I too am in the quandary of deciding which track to pursue and have not decided as yet. Robert B. Walker brings up a question I have. If I elected to pursue a DMin and later elected to pursue a PhD, how much of the actual course work transfers … if at all?
Chaplain
Dear Howard,
Thank you for the comment you’ve posted to Canter Bridge. I’m sorry it’s taken me until now to catch up with it.
I think you’d find that how much credit a DMin would afford you if you chose subsequently to pursue a PhD would vary from one institution to another. You might also find that it would not involve a huge number of credits.
Other than that, it would be be risky and probably misleading for me to venture a guess. These credit-transfer decisions have a great deal of subjectivity to them, and are seldom very predictable. In principle, academic administrators consider both of these doctoral projects to be terminal degrees along different tracks, one professional and the other academic. One great road leads to Boston, so to speak, while a different but equally effective road leads to Philadelphia. They may not cross over each other very much or even at all. But each one takes you to its intended destination.
You can always argue your case during an application process!
I wish I could offer more help.
David
Dear David,
Currently I am finishing the DMin. in Preaching degree. I have served as a pastor for 25 years. I have heard that some colleges and universities accept the DMin. Preaching degree. First, is this true? Second, do you think I will be able to find a teaching position with the DMin. in this field?
Thank you.
Michael
Dear Michael,
Thanks for reading Canter Bridge and for your comment/question.
Most of my experience with the kinds of educational institutions you mention comes from outside the USA, so I’d encourage you to dig into how things actually stand in the US, which I assume (but on no real evidence!) is your base of operations.
Without doubt, educational institutions favor the PhD over the DMin. However, seminaries should in my view be seeking to teach preaching via preachers who can truly preach, and this is quite often a person who has not followed the educational trajectory that leads to the PhD. If I were in your shoes, I would choose about five seminaries that are the kinds places you’d see yourself making your contribution. Then, check online to see who teaches preaching at those seminaries and what their academic and other credentials are. You’d pretty soon have a clear picture of who is being recruited to the kind of important work that you do and/or want to do. I hope this helps.
Thanks again.
David
Dear David ,
Thanks for your reply with valuable comments.
Furthermore, I want to share that I came to know that Wales Evangelical School of Theology has Phd program. Could you guide me to join in counselling branch in this respective college.
Thanks
Michel
Dear brother Michelraj. I have no connection with the school you mention and so am not in a position to assist.
Thank you.
David
HI David,
I know this is an old article but still relevant as discussions are still being had about the Dmin/PhD debate. I am a M.Div student who has given thought to both degree. Teaching and Ministry is my passion, would you suggest the Th.M for those who would possible like to teach in the “academy”?
Thank you, Chris, for your post.
I’d say that the important things is your passion for teaching and ministry. The ‘academy’ is one venue for that passion to find its legs, but only one. There are far more PhDs in the market than there are jobs for people with PhDs. So nearly any institution of the kind I believe you have in mind is going to fill an open academic positions with a person who has the PhD.
Matters of personal and professional alignment are, of course, very complex. There are many factors to consider. And many places to deploy a gifting for persuasive teaching.
Thanks again.
David
Dear Chris,
I looked back through this thread and saw my post of three years ago. Since then I did begin PhD. I am really glad I did. It has increased and expanded my passion for ministry no doubt, but that was a byproduct.
My husband (whose passion is ministry and teaching) has also decided to study since then.
So far, so good.
Usha
(Oxford Centre for Mission Studies)
[…] is a professional degree – as opposed to an academic degree – which means that the focus of the curriculum is geared more towards practical application […]
[…] for not honoring DMins with the title of doctor is that the DMin is really just a fluff degree, ‘PhD Lite’, or a watered-down doctorate (as we saw last time, the fact of the matter is that it’s just […]
M.A. 36 hours + Ph.D. 60 hours = 96 hours
M.Div. 96 hours + D.Min. 36 hours = 132 hours
The D.Min. is not fluff
It is awesome that this thread is still relevant – years after being written – bless you.
Thread still going on – well done.
Hey David and others,
It is great to see this thing still going and the discussion is still moving forward and/or at least being carried on for the most part…
Honestly, I should have taken the time to reply back to the postings regarding my initial post. I think it is great that people want to get a D.Min for the sake of furthering their learning. I honestly think a counseling degree or a Th.M would make better sense for pastors who have an M.Div and want to further their studies. But that is my opinion. Most schools that are rigorous (and I could be wrong here) do not allow anything to be transferred in when it comes to a Ph.D. If anyone wants to know in general what makes a Ph.D, they should look at my earlier post, although it is not entirely comprehensive, I feel that it is pretty accurate to say the least.
In my earlier post, I was simply stating a fact to what a standard Ph.D requirement is in the US and of course interjecting my opinion along the way. Maybe some pastors are not simply satisfied with their studies and feel that another degree by their name would not necessarily be a bad thing… Who knows?
However, if you look at some of the posters here, many of them wanted to know how they could earn a D.Min in the least amount of time. True academia is not necessarily concerned with time in as much as it infers both a qualitative and quantitative approach towards an area of particular study.
At the end of the day, I would like to think that my lame aforementioned “Grail” analogy still holds true. And, just as hopeful, I would be delighted if it caused some true and genuine introspection, rather than simply railing against my observations. After all, a little introspection via the Holy Spirit is good for the soul… Wouldn’t you agree?
Hello and thank you for the very informing article. Do you know of any online accredited Ph.D. programs in apologetics and or theology that do not require languages, Greek, Hebrew, German, French or Latin? I am aware that many unaccredited schools offer those degrees, but i don’t think they will carry much weight when it comes to getting a good teaching job at a seminary. Your thoughts? thanks!
Dear John,
Thanks for your post.
I’m afraid I don’t know enough about programs in your specific areas of interest in order to offer a helpful opinion. I do think that nearly any PhD program in apologetics or theology is going to want you to work in literature beyond English, so language study is a likely component. But look around and see what you find.
I wish I could be more helpful.
David, for Canter Bridge