# Harvard or Yale



## jawyman (Jan 19, 2009)

If your only two choices were Harvard or Yale to study Religion and Classics, which one would you choose and why.


----------



## Zenas (Jan 19, 2009)

Harvard, because at least their law school is conservative


----------



## Ex Nihilo (Jan 19, 2009)

Yale, because Mike Horton studied there, so maybe there is something worthwhile going on at the school. And New Haven has amazing Thai food.

-----Added 1/19/2009 at 01:04:17 EST-----



Zenas said:


> Harvard, because at least their law school is conservative



Yale Law School is so elite that it isn't even really a law school.


----------



## ColdSilverMoon (Jan 19, 2009)

I would say Harvard simply because I believe their methods of education are second to none. Liberal, yes, but they do educate well. Plus, your roots would go back to the Puritan days of the 17th century. Quite a legacy, despite the many flaws the school has today...


----------



## Ex Nihilo (Jan 19, 2009)

ColdSilverMoon said:


> I would say Harvard simply because I believe their methods of education are second to none. Liberal, yes, but they do educate well. *Plus, your roots would go back to the Puritans days of the 17th century. *Quite a legacy, despite the many flaws the school has today...



I think it's interesting that both Harvard and Yale still have daily morning prayer services. I don't know that they are particularly Christian, though. 

Edit: Actually, I thought a friend had told me that they had daily prayers at Yale, but I can't find any reference to it on their chapel website. Anyway, I digress -- sorry.


----------



## Grace Alone (Jan 19, 2009)

I would not allow my children to study religion at either school. A Christian should study religion through a Christian university, in my opinion. But you didn't allow that option, so I didn't vote.


----------



## Curt (Jan 19, 2009)

Northern Manchuria Technical School and Septic Services


----------



## Glenn Ferrell (Jan 19, 2009)

As I can’t conceive of a situation which would limit one’s choice to these two, I’d advise one to consider Princeton University (not the seminary). Even better Cambridge or the University of Glasgow.


----------



## Timothy William (Jan 19, 2009)

I chose Harvard because they have a better economics faculty and a more famous business school. I have no idea which is better for Classics or Divinity.


----------



## Glenn Ferrell (Jan 19, 2009)

I'd prefer Princeton because it does not have a divinity school.


----------



## ReformedChapin (Jan 19, 2009)

Glenn Ferrell said:


> I'd prefer Princeton because it does not have a divinity school.



What about princeton seminary?


----------



## DMcFadden (Jan 20, 2009)

If limited to those two choices alone, I would opt for Yale. Harvard has a big name for having a big name (and for the other schools). Yale is doing some very creative work in theology and biblical studies and has some theologians who actually believe some of the Bible. People like Volf would be worth hearing. I believe he is married to Bob Gundry's daughter, Judy, who also teaches at Yale.



> He studied at Evangelical-Theological Faculty, Zagreb (B.A), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A) in Pasadena, California, and University of Tübingen (Dr. Theol., Dr. Theol. habil.), where he studied under Jürgen Moltmann.
> 
> His book Exclusion and Embrace, was selected as among the 100 best religious books of the 20th Century by Christianity Today.
> 
> Volf is formerly a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary.



Frankly, studying with a bunch of rank liberals, heretics, and apostates for the sake of a devalued "union card" into the academy doesn't sound like much fun at all. God bless you if you are the one contemplating it.


----------



## GD (Jan 20, 2009)

*Harvard*

Objective opinion:

Harvard has a better Classics department, including Kathleen Coleman (author of the hugely influential "Fatal Charades"), and Glen Bowersock ("Julian the Apostate"), who recently retired but I heard still teaches.

Both Harvard and Yale have some "token" Christian faculty.  Miroslav and Judith Volf at Yale Divinity School and Francois Bovon at H.D.S. may not be theologically conservative by our standards, but have at least stated they believe in the Good News. H.D.S. also has Reformed church historian George Marsden teaching there this year (he just retired from Notre Dame).


Subjective experience:

I took an H.D.S. class this Fall, and while it was with a non-Christian prof, it was very good and the Christian students were treated respectfully by both prof and T.A. I am not a Harvard student though, just taking a class there while in theGordon-Conwell Th.M.


----------



## CatechumenPatrick (Jan 20, 2009)

Yale, because 1) the work on Jonathan Edwards being done there, and 2) they probably have a better philosophy department now, and certainly are better in philosophy of religion (e.g., Nicholas Wolterstorff is there, although he won’t be teaching for too much longer). 2) only matters in case you have electives or cognates and take philosophy courses, or in case philosophy courses overlap with or double-count as religion or classics credits.


----------



## Glenn Ferrell (Jan 20, 2009)

ReformedChapin said:


> Glenn Ferrell said:
> 
> 
> > I'd prefer Princeton because it does not have a divinity school.
> ...



Princeton Theological Seminary is an entirely separate entity from the University, founded in 1812 in cooperation with the University (then the College of New Jersey), but not as a divinity school of the University. The Seminary did not have its own president until 1902. The campus is physically located between the main University campus and the University graduate school. Students of each have use of the libraries of both institutions and may take courses at both. However, they are two distinct institutions. PTS continues to be a seminary of the PCUSA. The University, though historically connected with Presbyterianism, is an independent institution. Both institutions grant PhD's.


----------



## GD (Jan 20, 2009)

Oh, and I forgot to add, Harvard is a member school of the Boston Theological Institute. Students at the various schools can take classes at Gordon-Conwell, Boston College, Boston University, Holy Cross (Greek Orthodox), the Episcopal Divinity School, St. John's, and Harvard Divinity School. That opens up a very wide range of choices for elective courses. Granted, I wouldn't recommend that someone new to theology jump into HDS, but once you're solidly grounded, it can be a good experience, and an opportunity to share the gospel with people who really have never heard it. My experience was that my liberal classmates were very enamored of the secondary literature, but didn't know the Bible or what it taught well at _all_.


----------



## Ex Nihilo (Jan 20, 2009)

David G said:


> Objective opinion:
> 
> Harvard has a better Classics department, including Kathleen Coleman (author of the hugely influential "Fatal Charades"), and Glen Bowersock ("Julian the Apostate"), who recently retired but I heard still teaches.
> 
> ...



Thanks for this info! I'm petitioning to cross-register now for his Puritanism and Colonial New England class.


----------



## Ivan (Jan 20, 2009)

Ex Nihilo said:


> Thanks for this info! I'm petitioning to cross-register now for his Puritanism and Colonial New England class.



How exciting, Evie. What a rare opportunity! I pray you get into the class.


----------



## Ex Nihilo (Jan 20, 2009)

Ivan said:


> Ex Nihilo said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for this info! I'm petitioning to cross-register now for his Puritanism and Colonial New England class.
> ...



Thank you! Me too!!


----------



## ReformedChapin (Jan 20, 2009)

Glenn Ferrell said:


> ReformedChapin said:
> 
> 
> > Glenn Ferrell said:
> ...


Just making sure you know it's there.


----------



## GD (Jan 21, 2009)

Ex Nihilo said:


> Thanks for this info! I'm petitioning to cross-register now for his Puritanism and Colonial New England class.



Anytime! Let us all know how the class turns out. I'd love to take another, but I've used up my two allowed BTI courses in Fall (my program's only one year long).

Best wishes, DG


----------



## Ex Nihilo (Jan 21, 2009)

David G said:


> Ex Nihilo said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for this info! I'm petitioning to cross-register now for his Puritanism and Colonial New England class.
> ...



I looked at the reading list and am reconsidering.  I should probably focus on doing all the reading for my law classes. . .


----------



## Logopneumatika (Jan 21, 2009)

William F. Buckley has famously said that he'd rather be governed by the first five hundred names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard. 

But then again, he wrote _God and Man at Harvard_ which echoes the same sentiments. 

Hmmmm......


----------

