# Any Seminaries offer M.Div or equivelant fully online?



## SwordoftheLord

I have a B.A Religion from Luther Rice, and currently in their M.Div program, wanting to switch to a more reformed Seminary for Fall... Any suggestions?


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## Covenant Joel

SwordoftheLord said:


> I have a B.A Religion from Luther Rice, and currently in their M.Div program, wanting to switch to a more reformed Seminary for Fall... Any suggestions?



Looks like RTS-Charlotte is about 3 hours or less from you. I would recommend doing as many classes as you can there and combining that with RTS-Virtual classes (which are run out of the Charlotte campus). You would likely be able to get your M.Div. combining intensives at Charlotte with virtual classes.


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## mjmacvey

SwordoftheLord said:


> I have a B.A Religion from Luther Rice, and currently in their M.Div program, wanting to switch to a more reformed Seminary for Fall... Any suggestions?



You won't find an Association of Theological Schools (ATS) accredited seminary that offers an M.Div. 100% online. If you must do the bulk of your degree online, I agree that RTS-Virtual/Charlotte (or another RTS campus) is probably your best option.


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## jogri17

Theological education separated from community is not an healthy idea. Even Secular institutions are hesitant to offer accrediated degrees 100% online. Many non-accredidated Seminaries feel the same way. Why not consider Greenville, South Carolina's Presbyterian Seminary? It is pretty good and they have some great teachers.


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## Bill The Baptist

I am not aware of any accredited schools other than Liberty or Luther Rice that offer an MDIV fully online. Midwestern Seminary offers an MA in Theological Studies completely online and RTS offers an MA in Religion completely online, but no MDIV. Columbia Evangelical Seminary, which is James White's seminary, does offer an MDIV completely online, but it is not accredited. If you really desire to get an MDiv from a reformed seminary, then I would consider enrolling at RTS Charlotte and doing as much as you can online and go to campus for the rest. If you really can't go to campus at all, the MA in Religion at RTS is very good. It is a 60 hour program that is very intensive. While it may not be quite as good as an MDIV, I would have to think that an MA in Religion from RTS would be a lot more impressive than an MDiv from Luther Rice. The only caveat would be the price. I think RTS runs about $450 a credit hour.


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## Covenant Joel

Bill The Baptist said:


> I am not aware of any accredited schools other than Liberty or Luther Rice that offer an MDIV fully online. Midwestern Seminary offers an MA in Theological Studies completely online and RTS offers an MA in Religion completely online, but no MDIV. Columbia Evangelical Seminary, which is James White's seminary, does offer an MDIV completely online, but it is not accredited. If you really desire to get an MDiv from a reformed seminary, then I would consider enrolling at RTS Charlotte and doing as much as you can online and go to campus for the rest. If you really can't go to campus at all, the MA in Religion at RTS is very good. It is a 60 hour program that is very intensive. While it may not be quite as good as an MDIV, I would have to think that an MA in Religion from RTS would be a lot more impressive than an MDiv from Luther Rice. The only caveat would be the price. I think RTS runs about $450 a credit hour.



RTS has a church sponsorship program in which if your church will support you at 1/3 of the cost of tuition, they will discount 1/3, leaving you having to pay only 1/3 of the tuition. That's huge, and is something I would definitely look into.

It looks like Greenville Presbyterian Seminary is also a little less than 3 hours from you, and I think they have some distance learning, so you might be able to do a similar thing there (though as said above, it is not accredited as RTS and others are).


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## Jon Groce

Calvin Theological Seminary is launching an entirely online MDiv, fully accredited. It does require a few intensives at the campus, and take 5 years to complete, but it is an entirely (well, almost entirely) online, fully accredited, MDiv program.


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## JML

Reformed Baptist Seminary is fully distance-ed.

Reformed Baptist Seminary - Home


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## Pilgrim

I think that something like 30 hours of an M.Div. must be on-site to meet the residency requirements of ATS. I had heard that NOBTS was fully online but apparently what that means is that all of the courses are available online but you can't take ALL of them online to qualify for the M.Div. The SBC seminaries also have the various extension centers around the country that may help fulfill this requirement, but I'm not sure about that. Liberty being regionally accredited and offering the M.Div online doesn't appear to be consistent with what other institutions have noted with regard to the residency requirements of ATS. 

Someone mentioned accreditation and Luther Rice. If it is regionally accredited by ATS then that's a very recent change. (There are other "national" accrediting agencies with looser requirements that are not recognized by many of the ATS accredited schools.) I've known of at least one pastor who got degrees there but turned around a few years later and started over at Southern, eventually getting his doctorate. If one wants to have the opportunity to get a more advanced degree in the future, accreditation might be important. If you want to leave the door open for that, I'd at least check with the schools and find out if they accept degrees/credits from the unaccredited school, should you choose to go that route. For example, I think Southern Seminary accepts credits from MCTS. If you're already in the M.Div. program at Luther Rice, those credits might not transfer to certain seminaries, unless there's been a recent change in their accreditation status. 

I have thought that the aforementioned Reformed Baptist Seminary program is interesting, particularly with the mentoring by your pastor/elders that it requires.


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## Bill The Baptist

Pilgrim said:


> I think that something like 30 hours of an M.Div. must be on-site to meet the residency requirements of ATS. I had heard that NOBTS was fully online but apparently what that means is that all of the courses are available online but you can't take ALL of them online to qualify for the M.Div. The SBC seminaries also have the various extension centers around the country that may help fulfill this requirement, but I'm not sure about that. Liberty being regionally accredited and offering the M.Div online doesn't appear to be consistent with what other institutions have noted with regard to the residency requirements of ATS.
> 
> Someone mentioned accreditation and Luther Rice. If it is regionally accredited by ATS then that's a very recent change. (There are other "national" accrediting agencies with looser requirements that are not recognized by many of the ATS accredited schools.) I've known of at least one pastor who got degrees there but turned around a few years later and started over at Southern, eventually getting his doctorate. If one wants to have the opportunity to get a more advanced degree in the future, accreditation might be important. If you want to leave the door open for that, I'd at least check with the schools and find out if they accept degrees/credits from the unaccredited school, should you choose to go that route. For example, I think Southern Seminary accepts credits from MCTS. If you're already in the M.Div. program at Luther Rice, those credits might not transfer to certain seminaries, unless there's been a recent change in their accreditation status.
> 
> I have thought that the aforementioned Reformed Baptist Seminary program is interesting, particularly with the mentoring by your pastor/elders that it requires.



Liberty and Luther Rice are accredited by the U.S. Dept. of Education to grant Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees, so in that sense they are accredited. They are not, however, accredited by ATS.


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## Damon Rambo

Bill The Baptist said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think that something like 30 hours of an M.Div. must be on-site to meet the residency requirements of ATS. I had heard that NOBTS was fully online but apparently what that means is that all of the courses are available online but you can't take ALL of them online to qualify for the M.Div. The SBC seminaries also have the various extension centers around the country that may help fulfill this requirement, but I'm not sure about that. Liberty being regionally accredited and offering the M.Div online doesn't appear to be consistent with what other institutions have noted with regard to the residency requirements of ATS.
> 
> Someone mentioned accreditation and Luther Rice. If it is regionally accredited by ATS then that's a very recent change. (There are other "national" accrediting agencies with looser requirements that are not recognized by many of the ATS accredited schools.) I've known of at least one pastor who got degrees there but turned around a few years later and started over at Southern, eventually getting his doctorate. If one wants to have the opportunity to get a more advanced degree in the future, accreditation might be important. If you want to leave the door open for that, I'd at least check with the schools and find out if they accept degrees/credits from the unaccredited school, should you choose to go that route. For example, I think Southern Seminary accepts credits from MCTS. If you're already in the M.Div. program at Luther Rice, those credits might not transfer to certain seminaries, unless there's been a recent change in their accreditation status.
> 
> I have thought that the aforementioned Reformed Baptist Seminary program is interesting, particularly with the mentoring by your pastor/elders that it requires.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Liberty and Luther Rice are accredited by the U.S. Dept. of Education to grant Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees, so in that sense they are accredited. They are not, however, accredited by ATS.
Click to expand...


ATS is not a regional accreditor. ATS is a national, secondary accreditor. There are only six Regional accrediting agencies. These six agencies accredit institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, Texas State (sorry, had to throw that in there). They are THE gold standard in accreditation. They are the ONLY bodies who are universally recognized, and whose credits are easily transferable to any other institution. 

One of them, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, is the accreditor that accredits Liberty University (Luther Rice is accredited by DETC, a national accreditor like ATS.) Liberty has top-notch accreditation. Now, their doctrinal problems are something else...

ATS is going the way of the dinosaur. They are an unnecessary, and even ridiculously unneeded institution. MOST schools that are accredited by the ATS, are PRIMARILY regionally accredited by one of the Big six. ATS is just an "extra." And quite frankly, a specialty religious accreditor that accredits Christian, Catholic, and Jewish schools, is an absurd concept anyway. ATS adds NOTHING to the quality of schools. All that it does, really, is add to the expense of a Theological degree, and bind institutions from being innovative in delivery methods. 

Mark my words: within ten years, ATS will either eliminate the residency requirement, or they will begin to be abandoned in droves.


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## Kevin

I was recently part of a skype call with 3 other men interested in Church Planting and Theological education. All of them were profs at theological seminaries (Canada, USA, GB).

One of them mentioned that he recently had eaten lunch with a couple of ATS board members. He told us that they said there were 2 main issues facing ATS. First, which brick and mortar seminary would still be open in 10 years. Second, how could they transition to accrediting "non-traditional" degree's. 

Interesting, n'est pas?


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## Pilgrim

Damon Rambo said:


> Bill The Baptist said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think that something like 30 hours of an M.Div. must be on-site to meet the residency requirements of ATS. I had heard that NOBTS was fully online but apparently what that means is that all of the courses are available online but you can't take ALL of them online to qualify for the M.Div. The SBC seminaries also have the various extension centers around the country that may help fulfill this requirement, but I'm not sure about that. Liberty being regionally accredited and offering the M.Div online doesn't appear to be consistent with what other institutions have noted with regard to the residency requirements of ATS.
> 
> Someone mentioned accreditation and Luther Rice. If it is regionally accredited by ATS then that's a very recent change. (There are other "national" accrediting agencies with looser requirements that are not recognized by many of the ATS accredited schools.) I've known of at least one pastor who got degrees there but turned around a few years later and started over at Southern, eventually getting his doctorate. If one wants to have the opportunity to get a more advanced degree in the future, accreditation might be important. If you want to leave the door open for that, I'd at least check with the schools and find out if they accept degrees/credits from the unaccredited school, should you choose to go that route. For example, I think Southern Seminary accepts credits from MCTS. If you're already in the M.Div. program at Luther Rice, those credits might not transfer to certain seminaries, unless there's been a recent change in their accreditation status.
> 
> I have thought that the aforementioned Reformed Baptist Seminary program is interesting, particularly with the mentoring by your pastor/elders that it requires.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Liberty and Luther Rice are accredited by the U.S. Dept. of Education to grant Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees, so in that sense they are accredited. They are not, however, accredited by ATS.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ATS is not a regional accreditor. ATS is a national, secondary accreditor. There are only six Regional accrediting agencies. These six agencies accredit institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, Texas State (sorry, had to throw that in there). They are THE gold standard in accreditation. They are the ONLY bodies who are universally recognized, and whose credits are easily transferable to any other institution.
> 
> One of them, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, is the accreditor that accredits Liberty University (Luther Rice is accredited by DETC, a national accreditor like ATS.) Liberty has top-notch accreditation. Now, their doctrinal problems are something else...
> 
> ATS is going the way of the dinosaur. They are an unnecessary, and even ridiculously unneeded institution. MOST schools that are accredited by the ATS, are PRIMARILY regionally accredited by one of the Big six. ATS is just an "extra." And quite frankly, a specialty religious accreditor that accredits Christian, Catholic, and Jewish schools, is an absurd concept anyway. ATS adds NOTHING to the quality of schools. All that it does, really, is add to the expense of a Theological degree, and bind institutions from being innovative in delivery methods.
> 
> Mark my words: within ten years, ATS will either eliminate the residency requirement, or they will begin to be abandoned in droves.
Click to expand...


Damon, 

Thanks for pointing out my error. I meant SACS, etc. but that's what I get for posting in haste. 

I was neither promoting nor denigrating ATS (or accreditation in general) but was merely pointing out the considerations that may need to be kept in mind with regard to the current situation. I think y'all are right with regard to the changes that are coming.


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## arapahoepark

If you're looking for accreditation, I can't help.
I can only offer Whitefield and Christ Theological Seminary who are unaccredited, but in some ways that might be good!


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## Ask Mr. Religion

Not accredited, but fully online and no tuition costs: TNARS

Trust me, you will work hard to earn the MDiv from TNARS.

AMR


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