# TGC Asks: What one thing would you change about seminary?



## BJClark (Aug 16, 2010)

Richard Pratt posted this on his blog, and thought I would pass it along in case others haven't seen it.



TGC Asks: What one thing would you change about seminary? – The Gospel Coalition Blog


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## jjraby (Aug 16, 2010)

I love what Richard Pratt has to say. I think he is right on. For me, here are RTS, my study is almost 90-95% academic. Sitting a library until i gain 40 pounds from inactivity, reading until my eyes bleed, and writing papers until i have carpel tunnel. and then we have one semester of field education. Until the feild placement, you are 100% responsible for finding an internship position. and since most at this seminary are PCA, if you are PCA and don't have a connection, you probably won't get one until later. Unless you preach on the circuit, you hardly preach outside of class.

Another thing, I'm surprised no one mentioned that extremely high cost of seminary. A Minister is seen as a profession because it cost your first born to attend. At least an arm, and maybe the leg below the knee.


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## Romans922 (Aug 16, 2010)

J.R. 

If you get involved with a Church, which all students should, this really shouldn't be that hard. There are a number of EPC churches in the Jackson area. If you join or tell the session you are a seminary student they should be willing to partner with you in testing your gifts, etc. While I was going full time to RTS Jackson a few years ago, I had four odd end jobs, note again going full time to seminary and had an internship at a church where I served Wednesdays and Sundays. I think you just need to be more proactive and disciplined in your studies and service. 

Seminaries are academic institutions. They are there to educate you and prepare your minds/hearts for service. You go to seminary for that purpose. You are part of the Church. There you use/test your gifts for the glory of God.

Also, as it has to do with cost of seminary. RTS Jackson is one of the cheapest around. All your tuition and other students does not cover the expenses of the institution. Many people give to the seminary so you can be educated.


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## jjraby (Aug 16, 2010)

Romans922 said:


> J.R.
> 
> If you get involved with a Church, which all students should, this really shouldn't be that hard. There are a number of EPC churches in the Jackson area. If you join or tell the session you are a seminary student they should be willing to partner with you in testing your gifts, etc. While I was going full time to RTS Jackson a few years ago, I had four odd end jobs, note again going full time to seminary and had an internship at a church where I served Wednesdays and Sundays. I think you just need to be more proactive and disciplined in your studies and service.
> 
> ...


 
I agree with everything you've said. And I am involved in a Local Church and have been given and will be given opportunities for Ministry. My wife works full time and I work part-time outside the Church where i volunteer often. I was simply stating some thing can can be wrong with the way we in the reformed tradition do seminary. I realize its academic. I love the academic side, learning more about Christ, The Trinity, Covenants, etc... I was simply stating where a Seminary education maybe falls short. Another response in that article was how so many people think of a seminary degree as a professional degree. With the extreme academic and classroom focus (all of which i am not knocking, simply saying that I feel that there is a extreme emphasis on this) It is not surprising that students feel this way, coupled with the high cost and the fact that there are many who leave seminary with debt, maybe people who leave are looking for a paycheck so the can pay them back.

Its just my . I love seminary. I love studying, debating, ministering and all that stuff. Where it not for the fact that my wife works at the church that i have the these opportunities in, It might be another set of circumstance. But like i said. Just my  rant


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## Romans922 (Aug 16, 2010)

I can agree with that.

I wish education on preaching wouldn't lead students to preach exegesis papers (basically) when they come out of seminary.


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## BJClark (Aug 16, 2010)

If you read through the comments it was noted by more than a few folks about the cost of seminary.


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## Semper Fidelis (Aug 16, 2010)

1. Mohler's comments are spot on. We need a vocational approach to the calling of ministry vice a professional one. That includes apprenticeship and experience. Our culture prizes degrees in specialization over wisdom that has been formed over decades of experience and tested in the furnace of adversity. Give a fellow a degree in marriage counseling and the public flocks to the degree - never mind that he has no experience in the issues or the wisdom it takes to apply knowledge in a prudent manner.

2. Amen to D.A. Carson. Specialization is atomizing Christian Truth. Scholarship in our culture pits systematics against exegesis and those that are theologically "cute" and "cutting edge" are prized.

3. I agree in part with Richard Pratt but his analogy breaks down because Basic Training is, at best, Basic. No Officer is entrusted with the lives of many men until he has been tested for years. We do not give Battalion Command to men until they have at least 15 years of observed leadership and performance. Leadership is granted in smaller measure but always with supervision and mentorship. What Dr. Pratt should have noted is the need for a Church environment that uses the Seminary for one aspect of basic training but all the "battle hardening" needs to be under the supervision of the Church. If we're talking "utopia", I'd love to see Churches begin to take their responsibility seriously and not put a man in a pulpit until he has had years of supervision where he's proven himself excellent in small things before he's entrusted with the souls of men, women, and children.


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## SemperEruditio (Aug 16, 2010)

The debt.


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