I am in the program and following Ivan's advice. With a busy professional schedule, it is quite difficult to do ALL of that reading and writing (one course ended up at 543 pages!). But, the price is right, the alums are decent, the reading is sound, and it is a wonderful experience for continuing ed.
543 pages reading or writing? That seems low for reading. I average over 1000 pages reading for a 3 credit class.
Writing! My class on the Reformation involved almost 4,500 pages of reading and 543 pages of writing.
(3 Vol. of d’Aubingne, 2 of Schaff, 1 of McGrath, and 1 of Cunningham)
The one on Calvin I'm doing now includes 2 volumes by T.H.L. Parker, 2 books by Ford Battles, 1 by Wallace, 1 by McGrath, and the 2 Vol.
Institutes + LOTS of writing.
Ivan, with real scholars like Dr. Clark around on the PB, I have hesitated to mention anything about my lowly distance ed program. But, with a B.A., M.Div., D.Min., M.A.O.M. and a couple of certificate programs in non-profit managment (including a 30 unit one from UCLA) under my belt, impressing people with another academic degree in my old age was not on my radar. My last academic program was in management and it was getting kind of boring counting beans, managing people, dealing with attorneys and investment bankers, and planning a major building project. The Whitefield program sounded perfect for a hobby.
Plus, with a fifth child getting ready to go off to Christian college, the money simply does not allow a fancy-schmancy program at this time. I just wanted to do some structured continuing ed. that would immerse me in the Reformation and post-Reformation period. The PhD in Chrisitan Intellectual Thought is simply a bonus at the end of eight courses and a dissertation. Dr. Talbot is exceedingly easy to work with and a number of notable folks have completed programs with them (e.g., our own Matthew McMahon, plus Richard Barcellos, Gary DeMar, Ken Gentry, George Grant, Don Kistler, Joe Morecraft, and both R.C. Sproul sr. and jr.).
It is not designed to impress purists or people needing elite schools in order to teach at Harvard. But, if you want a program to augment your prior work that is theologically sound, Reformational in orientation, and not a push-over, this one is quite good in my opinion.
