I received an acceptance letter from GCTS today in the mail for their Th.M program.

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Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

Congratulations !!!!

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Martin - Reformed
Husband to the most godly, honorable and loyal wife Line
Searching for a Church
Webpage www.5solas.dk
Free Online Reformed Seminary - http://www.tnars.net
Soli Deo Gloria

Great news! It is a fine institution.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Congrats!

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Norm
IA PCA

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1:4-5

Cool.

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Ivan R. Schoen, B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S.
Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church (SBC)
Poplar Grove, IL, USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org

So right now are you moreor?

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Ben Maas. . . . .Facebook
In college, attending First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), Ada, OH, and
Belle Center Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA), Belle Center, OH
When at home, attending Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC), Mansfield, OH

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.”
-Jonathan Edwards-

Congrats, very good school. Did you get accepted at PRTS or still in the application process?

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Kenneth Kneip
Member @ New St. Peter's PC (PCA), Dallas TX
Pastoral Intern @ New Covenant PC (PCA), Dallas TX
M. Div. student @ Redeemer Seminary, Dallas TX

Woot! Do the Snoopy dance!

Theognome

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Bill Cunningham
Covenant Reformed Church, URC
Kansas City
There are three kinds of people- those who can count, and those who can't.

I have been accepted at PRTS, GCTS, and Erskine. So I am weighing Puritan Reformed Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and Erskine Seminary Th.M programs... 78-15-5-2... (PRTS - 78, ETS - 15, GCTS - 5, Cardboard Box - 2).

The cardboard box provides Fin Aid and also provides protection from the suns harmful rays.

Congrats. I got my D.Min there. Solid stuff.

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Curt Lovelace
Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church (CBA)
Acton, Maine
Director, Lifework Forum
Sermons at SermonAudio.com/CBCActon
Blogging at Coffee with Curt

Congrats!

__________________
soli Deo gloria!
~Nicholas~ Ordained Pastor
Member, Fulton PCA; GPTS Student
Christians are like snow covered dung; it is the purity of the covering which the Father sees. -Luther-
There is nothing more ugly than a Christian orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.
-Francis Schaeffer-

It's a fine institution. I bet their financial aid is better than most.

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Rev. Toby L. Brown, pastor
Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church--in, but not of, the PC(USA)
Saxonburg, PA
A Classical Presbyterian
Proud member of The Westminster Fellowship

"The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which God is also highly exalted." --Jonathan Edwards

My vote is for Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Would it help persuade you to know that Dr. David Murray, from what I can tell, seems to be against republication?

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Steven J. Carr (Sven)
http://beholdingthebeauty.blogspot.com/
Eagan, MN
PCA
"Weak is the effort of my heart / And cold my warmest thought / But when I see thee as thou art / I'll praise thee as I ought."--John Newton
Trophy Wife/Arm Candy: Crystal Ann Children: Steven Jr. and Hannah Grace

Benjamin,

Congrats! The 3 schools you mentioned are each worthy in their own right.

Personally, of those schools I'd most strongly consider Gordon-Conwell. The reason is that they have by far the biggest name. And name recognition matters in this world.

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Ben
Chaplain, US Army
Ft. Riley, KS
TE Ohio Valley Presbytery, PCA

Great stuff!,wonderful choices to pick from,it would also be wonderful to have you here in Massachusetts at Gordon-Conwell!

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Brian
Grace Bible Church;E.Bridgewater
East Bridgewater MA
http://www.gracebiblehome.org

With GC, I believe you'd have the opportunity to study under David Wells, which is a quite a plus.

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Mark Van Der Molen
Immanuel URC
DeMotte, Indiana

There are certainly plus or minuses in all three. Cost of living in South Hamilton, MA is a killer, PRTS is not accredited (if that matters), and Erskine is going through some "tough times". All three towns are nice and there are plenty of good Reformed churches. Joel Beeke, David Wells, and Hughes Oliphant Olds.

Stephen Um is at Gordon Conwell - I have a friend who attends his church in Boston and she occasionally has sent me mp3s of his sermons. Good stuff.

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Kathleen M
nondenominational
Montana

It depends on what you want out of your ThM. If this is "finishing school" for someone who missed out on consistent confessional teaching during seminary, I would opt for PRTS. If you intend to stay in the pastoral ranks, the "non accredited" nature of PRTS is pretty irrelevant. It is known for its rigor and spiritual benefit. However, if you are looking for a stepping stone to another degree, Gordon would be excellent. They are certainly quite conservative and thoroughly academic (what Fuller started out to be). However, are they consistently Reformed enough for you? They have had, over the years, quite a few notable non-Reformed profs. Erskine has never been on my radar (my bad?) and the current controversy would not incline me to want to go there now for sure.

A friend of mine did his M.Div. at Gordon and said that Kline always complained that the level of his students at Westminster was a cut or two above those of his students at Gordon-Conwell. Don't know if that is still true in this day and age.

Gordon-Conwell would be a fine venue for your ThM. Pittsburgh, Gordon-Conwell . . . hmmmm . . . must be smart and really in to the eastern states.

Why do you say if one was in te pastorate that a TH,M at PRTS would be a waste of time?

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Robert Peters
Bethal Christian Church - PCA
LAMP Theolgical Semianry Student - M.Div
Kankakee, IL

Gordon-Conwell is a mixed bag. It is Arminian and has had pentecostal presidential leadership and professors.

My advice would be a school more grounded in Reformed theology such as Westminster or RTS.

I graduated from Asbury TS and it was a miserable experience. Arminians have no clue.

Charlie

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Charlie

GCTS is not Arminian, it’s inter-denominational. If you don’t want a class with an Arminian prof, don’t sign up for it. That’s pretty easy, as Arminian theology is not the majority position among the faculty. My professors were all Presbyterians, save one Lutheran.

I got to know the character of the new President of Asbury while he was teaching at GCTS, and he wasn’t clueless. He was a gentleman was who capable of being charitable towards his brother in Christ whom he disagreed with theologically.

-----Added 6/15/2009 at 07:25:15 EST-----

Congratulations! They're all three fine schools, although I'd recommend attending one of the accredited ones - you never know where God will use you down the road. Best wishes on your program, wherever you choose to attend.

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David G.
Member, Orthodox Presbyterian Church; The Heidelberg Catechism

That is the lamest reason to go to a seminary. What matters most about seminary is fidelity to the Word of God and fidelity to the Reformed Confessions.

-----Added 6/15/2009 at 08:32:41 EST-----

I'm not sure what you meant by "non-accredited." PRTS is in fact accredited by ARTS. It passed accreditation the first time around, something rare for Seminaries and colleges.

PRTS is not accredited by any agency recognized by the United States Department of Education. ARTS is an accrediting body but not one recognized by the US dept. of ed. My guess is that when most people think of accreditation they assume accreditation by a US dept of ed. recognized body.

Name recognition of the school you attend is important depending on what you want to do with your degree. If you want to go on to doctoral study anywhere accredited by the US dept. of ed. then name matters (to a certain extent). I know there are exceptions to the rule but this IMO in more often the case.

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Chris Bryant
Attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA), McKinney, TX
Member of Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA), Tulsa, OK
M.A.R., WTS/Redeemer Seminary, Dallas, TX (in progress)

Congrats!

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James N. Walling
Center Grove Presbyterian Church (PCA)
IL

κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς

View some of my photography at http://www.puritanboard.com/members/...s-my-life.html

You misunderstood Dennis, I'm pretty sure. He was actually recommending PRTS if the pastorate was all Ben was concerned about (hence the fact of whether the school was accredited would not matter). The accreditation would only matter if Ben wanted to go further.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com
http://brahmsgreenglove.blogspot.com
http://accenttranslation.blogspot.com
Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Exactly. Name recognition matters a lot if you're wanting to advance to a good PhD program.

Why do we hold different standards for seminaries than we do for Churches? When we talk about Reformed Churches, the important thing is fidelity to the Word of God, and to the Reformed Confessions. But we don't hold seminaries which train the pastors and teachers of our churches to the same standard?

This isn't really about name recognition in order to get one's PhD. It's about the pride and arrogance that goes on in the seminaries and universities (and I think many churches, too) that won't recognize another seminary because they don't have just the right accreditation. The ThM program at Puritan rivals that of any other seminary in the US and Europe, they just aren't accredited from the right association.

No one's saying it's right that PRTS will not help towards further education.

Actually, Robert, that is the OPPOSITE of what I was saying. I have posted several times on the PB that if I were doing it all over again, I would select a school such as PRTS or Greenville, believing that a solid Reformed education that actually trained you to pastor was more important than a "cafeteria" seminary where you had an Arminian at 8:00 a.m., a Calvinist at 9:00 a.m., an Emergent at 11:00 a.m., and a Pentecostal at 2:00 p.m.

In Ben's case, he has often expressed concern that his Pittsburgh (mainline) eduction did not adequately ground him in Reformed theology. The solution, in my pea brain, would be to select PRTS where you could study with a giant like Beeke, over a cafeteria school like Gordon.

However, if he wants to go to Harvard, University of Chicago, Oxford, or some such place for a PhD, ARTS accreditation may not impress the secular gatekeepers. I frankly am a combination of intellectual elitist and anti-elitist in my own thinking. Having examined nearly 500 candidates for ordination during my ministry (serving for 28 straight years on my denominational committee on ordinations), I am singularly UNIMPRESSED with graduates of elite seminaries and would actually PREFER to see someone graduate from a solid (but unpretentious) school such as PRTS. However, "career trajectory" must be taken into account as well. If a person is using the ThM as a stepping stone to PhD work in a secular school, Gordon would be a more impressive venue for that purpose. If Ben is open to a PhD at a Reformed school, then PRTS will not hinder him in the least, particularly with a Pittsburgh M.Div.

Sorry to have miscommunicated.

Dennis,
Thanks for clearing that up? It could not be you that communicated the misunderstanding, but me who mis understood. I am currently going through LAMP Theoloigical Seminary? Which will take 6 years to complete. Afterwards i was going to get a TH.M through PRTS? What do y9ou think of that?