Friends,

I'm trying to cull together a short list of seminaries and divinity schools to apply to. To date, my list consists of Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Duke, ITC, Payne, Union and Eastern Baptist. If any of you has attended any of these schools, knows someone who has, or would like to put in a plug for the seminary or divinity school you attended, I would appreciate the input.

Peace and blessings!

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Answers

Yahoo! I am proud of you and the new rule that a Seminary degree is now needed to obtain elders orders is now in effect in our denomination. I received my M.Div from Princeton Seminary. I love my seminary for the education I received. I will not lie, Princeton is very hard. Now that I have said that, being a minister is very hard!! And we need to be trained exceedingly well. The emphasis at Princeton is classical theological training, strong emphasis, on the Old and new testament, church history, theology, ethics and languages. It is a Presbyterian Seminary, so the emphasis is on reform theology. The president of Payne Theological Seminary Rev. Dr. Hendricks received his PH.D from Princeton. You will meet many A.M.E's. I graduated nine years ago and I still stay in touch with my professors. Write me privately and I will see what I can do to help. Princeton is always asking the alums to recommend potential students. It would be great to discuss this with you. My new email address is deniserogers@minister.com Blessings to you and I promise to help in any way I can. You definitely can do this!!!

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Dear Rev. Rogers,

Some of those high class ivy league seminaries require their candidates for M.Div to be able to pass a written examination in two or three different languages. I would like to learn how to read Greek so that I can read the new testament in its original language. Can you recommend a good Greek textbook? I am also curious about the other courses they teach in the seminary. Do they teach ministers about nonprofit management?

JazzMan

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Jazzman Princeton only requires Greek and Hebrew if you are presbyterian. For the Presbyterian denomination requires that for their candidates. At the time I went to Princeton I was a United Methodist candidate and they did not have language requirements. So I did not take greek or hebrew. My interest was and is Patristics the study of the early church, so latin was the language I began to study on my own. In the area that you live contact the universities to seek if they offer greek. In terms of Princeton, we had classes in Pastoral counseling, church administration, and evangelism classes, mission and church growth. One of the advantages of attending Princeton is the access to an incredible library. Plus the quality of the professors is incredible. The text books that other seminarians are reading are written by proffessors that are teaching at Princeton. Princeton is EXTREMELY competitive. You will spend all of your time reading, writing papers and studying. In addition students are required to have two years of field education. Which is great for you are working, and preaching in a church with a mentor who teaches the daily mechanics of the everyday running of the church. Our new "temporary Presiding Elder Rev. Dr. John Hunter in the Pacific Northwest Conference is also an alum of Princeton. So there are two of us in my conference. There is definitely a bond among Princeton alums. Check out the Princeton web page www.ptsem.edu and ask for a catalog. Most of the students who are admitted to Princeton have a grade point average of 3.5 and above. Plus they want an essay and excellent references. So ask an undergrad professor. Bishop Bryant has made it clear that everyone who wants elders orders has to have a seminary degree. It is now a requirement in our denomination. I laughed when you called the Ivy league schools high class! Remember the only reason we should be going to seminary is so we can glorify God!! Not the name of the seminary, for it is God who opens the doors so that we can go and learn and share that knowledge with our laity. Princeton has a strong history of admitting A.M.E students.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Praise the Lord, I am current a full-time student at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary pursuing a Master of Divinity and Master of Science in Community Economic Development. the MS courses will be taken through the urban center of Eastern College. This is a wonderful program and I am glad that I am a student. There are plenty of methodist at this baptist institution! there is a good number of AME's attending also. some us have been wondering why Payne does not connect with Eastern or other Seminaries through distant learning to offer AME Polity, History, etc. From what I am hearing it is not a complicated process. This would open Payne up to a vast number of potential clergy students and lay which means $$$. EBTS has a new curriculum and it is very exciting, I wish I was coming in now, but I am thankful to be almost finished! I am enjoying this journey. EBTS is very culturally diverse, which appealled to me. For more information contact EBTS at www.ebts.edu EBTS is looking for professors of the African heritage background.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Congratulations of your journey Rev. Wheatley. One of my classmates who graduated from Princeton with me, went on to Eastern Baptist to get his doctorate. He loved his experience and the quality of the education. By the way he was presbyterian.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001