Nate,
The PhD program began after I left. They have attracted a top-notch faculty for the program, the admission criteria are very strict, but Wheaton is still a small school. When I was there (10 years ago), the library was disappointing. I've been told that it has been upgraded, but I would think that for a serious PhD program the school would need to invest a great deal of money (which it possesses) in providing the facilities and resources needed for doctoral research. Maybe they've done that. I haven't been on campus for a few years.
Whatever the case at Wheaton, I agree with Mark Noll. The evangelical "mind" is scandalous. I blame pietism. Evangelicalism is essentially pietism, especially since the 18th century. The evangelical establishment has largely succeeded in chasing away whatever orthodox, confessional Protestant influences persisted after the 18th century. With the death of Old Princeton and the rejection of old Westminster by E J Carnell at (the old) Fuller, evangelicalism has given free reign to its religious subjectivism.
Religious subjectivisim (whether conservative, liberal, or eclectic as in the case of the emerging movement) has little interest in or commitment to the life of the mind, and that's pretty much essential for scholarship.
Evangelicalism is about "doing," not "thinking." That's not to say that there aren't excellent evangelical scholars, there are, but most of our evangelical scholars didn't become such by studying
only in evangelical schools, even excellent schools such as Wheaton or Westminster.
I've read several PhD dissertations from evangelical seminaries. Mostly they are sub-standard. I read one, as an external reader, a while back and, as an historical work, it was raw and unprofessional. It was definitely the last work of a student rather than the first work of a scholar. I recommended that the student work on it for another year or two. Three weeks later this candidate had his PhD! Needless to say, I was a little shocked. Sadly, this example is not an exception to the rule. That isn't to say that there aren't lots of bad PhD dissertations written at state or private universities, there are. At state/private (research) universities, however, there exist checks and balances which work against the acceptance of bad work. For one thing, there is a guild mentality that seeks to prevent amateurs from getting in if only so that they don't take up time at conferences or create problems that then have to be undone in the classroom.
ETS is an excellent example of what is wrong evangelical scholarship. The Biblical studies sections seem to be pretty strong, but the historical and systematic sections tend to be much weaker. They do apologetics and that's about it. I think that's because modern, as religious subjectivists and fundamentalists tend to live on a continuum between rationalism and irrationality. Those who tend toward subjectivism/irrationality tend to assign little value to explaining the faith carefully. Those tending toward fundamentalism/rationalism assign too much value to (sometimes autonomous) reason as a way of finding certainty. This lot can get lost in arcana such as flood geology or building creation museums and the like.
Judging by JETS and the ETS sesssions I've attended, it doesn't seem that evangelicals do history or systematics as well because they have a weak connection to the visible, institutional church and thus to the past. I sometimes think that there is a connection between the reigning evangelical/fundamentalist Christology and their view of the church and the past too, but I don't know if I could prove it satisfactorily.
I think it's beyond debate, however, that what matters in evangelicalism, what defines it, is religious experience. In the nature of the evangelical beast one can be Greek Orthodox or Fundamental Baptist and still be be evangelical because the only universal is a personal encounter with the risen Christ.
In that case, why does the past matter?
So the nature and instinctive impulses of contemporary evangelicalism work against genuine scholarship and a fair bit of what evangelicals
credit as scholarship (at least in my field) isn't.
rsc
Anyone done any kind of work at Wheaton? Is their Ph.D comparable to a university setting? I have read they only accept 6 students a year and that they give full scholarships to their Ph.D students as long as they are in the program....
Dr. Clark, any comments on Wheaton in comparison to other schools?
