I spend almost 8 years in a very good Seminary & Bible College. I am greatly blessed by the correct information I received. But when I look back there was some dangerous lessons that never made the official syllabus.
- Who I am supposed to admire…
- What I am supposed to believe…
- Where I am supposed to find answers …
- Why I am supposed to think a certain way …
- How I am supposed to deal with impossible questions…
I had very good training for a ministry without risk. I’ve got heroes to emulate, mantras to disseminate, the right books to mediate, theological systems to propagate, and clichés to perpetuate.
Who knew a good Seminary could become so dangerous. You trade off self-confidence and the courage to be creative.
You might lose the essential impulse to listen to real people. You could even forgot that Jesus is calling you to be yourself .
Great post Tony.
I am extremely grateful for my time at Boyce College and I am doing my MDiv at Southern’s Nashville campus. Both help me grow a ton, but there are definitely pit falls.
When I first left Boyce College I had definitely grown a significant amount since I got there. The bad part was there was about a year and a half detox for me as well.
Seminary has a serious problem in that it only targets the mind and rarely ventures to the heart. Character needs to not merely be demanded by a Seminary, but also cultivated while in Seminary.
Seminaries have 1 primary goal: theological knowledge.
Pastors need much more than that.
As a guy currently going to bible college, I can affirm everything you have said. I’m surrounded by a good mix of seminary and non-seminary people/families. It helps me a lot to not get so ivory tower. You have reminded me of how much I owe to my church family.
My buddy and I once postulated that a Seminary should be less white-ivory tower instruction and more hand’s on action. I know that is difficult to do on subjects like the Council of Calcedon in 451 or Vatican II, but it could be instructive to try and conduct a church council in class rather than just read about one. Also, we thought that there should be classes not just on history and theology but also church budgeting, how to confort the hurting, and how to deal with difficult people. There is definitely more to being a pastor than preaching (public speaking), translating Greek, and knowing the definitions of soteriology, eschatology, & ecclesiology.
It seems that Seminary should be more of a trade-school than a purely academic institute.
Good observations. That’s one reason I am glad I never went to Bible college, etc. Although I’m not against using all the brains I can borrow, what I’ve learned hasn’t been somebody else’s conclusions.
I’m just sorry there aren’t more biblically “uneducated” yet vocal laymen.
I know what you mean. I long for that day, when churches will train their next pastor through years of faithful service to the LORD. But for all the negatives, I am still very blessed to be at seminary.
Another pitfall of seminary is the arrogance of intellectualism. I’ve been on staff with guys who believed that they ought to get paid more than the pastor did simpy because they had a higher degree, never mind that the pastor had been preaching since these guys were kids.
True, but anti-intellectualism can produce the same kind of arrogance. I’ve known some to boast because they don’t have a degree. They like to think of themselves as more spiritual because of it.
Arrogance is something every minister/pastor/child of God needs to be mindful of.
“…but anti-intellectualism can produce the same kind of arrogance.”
reformedsteve,
You are right. Years ago at a weekly pastors’ conference for pastors of all stripes in the county in which I served, a local pastor was called upon to pray in the beginning of the meeting. I will never forget the beginning of his rather long “prayer” condemning pastors who preached “wrote down sermons” and prayed “wrote down prayers.”
The prayer began thusly:
“Lord, I thank you that I am ignorant and I ask you to keep me this way.”
Chilling how your story echoes Luke 18:9-14.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:9-14&version=NASB
Concerning all the ivory tower stuff I got with my M. Div., I could not agree with you more. It was helpful but not very practical. However, my D. Min. degree focused on the practice of ministry, leadership, and applying biblical truth in real life situations. It was just what I needed after all the theoretical stuff.
Frankly, I think the D. Min. gets a bad rap as a “Ph. D. Lite” but there is value in getting together with others who are actually doing ministry and talking about real issues. Fellow students said things during those seminars that I have never forgotten.
I’m at Southwestern Baptist Seminary’s extension campus in Houston. I’ve heard from other missionaries that “seminary ruins missionaries” and all that ivory tower learning does little for real workers. I don’t see it.
My professors tell me their job is to give me the tools to figure things out as I minister. One of them goes out of his way to tell us, repeatedly, that a test or a paper is only an academic task and does not reflect (good or bad) on our ministerial abilities. They demand that I think, that I defend my positions using the Bible, that I exegete faithfully. Not one of my professors teaches us Calvinism, or Arminianism.
They push us to pray, to be accountable to one another, to serve each other and our churches. Two of my profs regularly go off on lines of tangential discussions that directly address the reality of daily church ministry.
I hate my Hebrew class, but other than that i think this seminary experience is great.
It is crucial for seminary students to be involved in a local church while in school. Preferably a church that isn’t a “seminary church” so students are around non-academic people, and can serve and minister and disciple and be discipled in such an environment.
Seminaries are what they are. There is no need to minimize their importance or place in the life of the church. It isn’t perfect, but it is what it is. Seminaries are not holistic, and they are not designed to be. No need to criticize them for not doing something they were never designed to do.
I think seminary students should be encouraged to work in some type of secular employment during at least one year of their seminary training (maybe more). This is especially beneficial for those who have never worked for a living a day in their lives.
Most do. Or at least the folks I know do. Those people need to because they have families to support. Forty hours a week building computers for the gas and electric company, that’s where I’m at. Because of that I can only take two or three classes a seminster (four year program becomes six or eight real quick). And then you have the student who is riding around in daddy’s BMW, while going to school on daddy’s dollar. Not complaining, just telling it straight.
But yeah, I know what you’re saying. For churches looking for a pastor, it might be helpful to ask the canidate about his seminary experience. Assuming of course he went.
reformedsteve,
It may take you longer, but you shall be the better for it. You’ll have a strength and “sticking power” that will be greatly needed when you are on the field full time.
Also, if you go back to seminary as a professor or administrator, you will have a pathos and an understanding of student life that others do not possess.
Amen, CB. That’s true.
I graduated from Mid America in Memphis. They emphasized on the practical aspect very strongly, but I always wished they would’ve done even more in that area. I have always felt that I learned about half of what I needed to know about being a Pastor from seminary, and the other half I learned from actually being one….doing the work.
BTW, while I was in seminary, I worked 2 part time jobs while attending. I worked at Fed Ex at night, and I was on staff, part-time at the Leawood Baptist Church under Dr. Jerry Glisson. It took me 41/2 years to finish, due to this; plus my wife had 2 children while we were there…during this same time. I always felt like I needed a nap! lol
David
I was at MABTS as well, 1985-87 David. When were you there?
I was there from 1984-1988.