| Great place. It was a good place to go to seminary, and its better today. I mean, it got qualitatively better while I attended, and the trend was on the upswing, and I think it has gotten better still over the years. Better facilities, better uniform quality in the classroom, better known, better library, to name a few.
Like many newer institutions, it had a clear vision in the beginning. Unlike many start-up endeavors, it has stayed the course for a while--long enough to see some good results, and strengthen its commitment to most of the original vision. The school began with the idea: there is a gap which can be filled: a Presbyterian seminary, teaching the Westminster Standards in a self-conscious incorporated fashion, producing preachers primarily, grounded in historic Reformed thought.
In the 1980s, this need was obvious only to a few. Today, I would like to say that there has been a positive reaction to the creation of institutions like GPTS in older, more established places. I say this because I don't want to leave the impression that I think "you cannot get a good grounding ANYPLACE else!" No, but GPTS is defintely a place to check out.
How important is accreditation, and who should do the crediting? Better question: are GPTS grads being trained for the ministry receiving and accepting accepting calls, and are they being admitted to presbyteries with good exams? If the answer to the latter is "yes," then the first is only of significance if a man thinks he might want a PhD from someplace else, AND he thinks his grad school options would be restricted more because GPTS isn't part of the guild. Do you want to preach and pastor? If so, then the issue of "if, when, by whom" accreditation is not especially relevant.
Now I'll let others chime in...
__________________ Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI Made both Lord and Christ--Jesus, the Destroyer
Acts 2:36 - 1 Cor. 10:9-10 & 15:22-26 - Hebrews 2:9-15 - 1 John 3:8 - James 4:12
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