Hi David,
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1. Should students who may not feel called to pastoral ministry consider seminary as an option? On this track, seminary would be the place to get an MA (e.g. an MA in Historical Theology at WSC) before going on to get a PhD in something like Church History from a secular university. This is the track I have personally been considering.
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Sure, as long as you realize at, e.g., WSC, the primary focus is on training pastors and we won't do anything that interferes with that focus. That means that sometimes MA students can feel a little "forgotten," and we appreciate that, but it cannot be helped entirely.
That said, we do have three MA programs and a pretty good track record of sending students on to do advanced study. You can earn an MA and go on to doctoral work so long as you do well here and demonstrate that you have the ability to do the work.
Most Christian PhD students would benefit from theological training. I've seen some pretty bad historical dissertations that would have been helped immeasurably by a couple years in seminary, especially if one is intending to write on religious topics.
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2. If the answer to question 1 is "no," what should a person do who is interested in teaching something like Church History either at seminary or at a Christian undergraduate institution (like Wheaton, Calvin, or my denomination's university, Geneva)?
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If one didn't go to seminary, then one should at least get some training at a Christian college somewhere.
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3. Should all seminary professors be current or former pastors?
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Our view is yes, though we have had Ruling Elders serve as faculty members. One should at least be active on a session/consistory. Again, our primary vocation is to train pastors. It's theoretically possible for folk to train pastors without having pastoral experience themselves (and that's how most seminaries do it) but we find it helps a great deal for a prof to know how what they are teaching relates to pastoral ministry.
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4. If I don't feel called to pastoral ministry, should I begin to plan my graduate studies around teaching something other than Church History/Systematic Theology? For instance, I am also very interested in teaching German and Latin. If the path toward a PhD in Church History isn't the right one for me, should I pursue graduate studies in Classics instead of whatever else I might do?
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That's a matter of vocation. You need to decide whether you're called to teach folk what to think and do (theology) or what people have thought and done (history) or perhaps how to communicate (languages).
Blessings,
rsc