Hi, I'm new to this board.

Are there any RTS Orlando seminarians here? If so, how do you like it there?

Even if you're not a student there but wish to share an assessment of the school, please do. I'm looking to go there at the end of the year.

Thanks.

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Berny
Kendall Presbyterian Church, PCA
Miami, FL

The Perichoresis

"For how can the thought of God penetrate your mind without your realizing immediately that, since you are his handiwork...you owe your life to him?" - John Calvin

It is a mixed bag. On the one hand, you've got John Muether and Charles Hill, both as solid as they come. On the other hand, you've got Waltke, Frame, and Kidd, who are anything but confessionally Reformed. Nicole is good, but emeritus, as is Kistemaker. Futato is a lot like Meredith Kline (taught with Kline at WSC for a while), with Kline's good points and not-so-good points. Overall, as a seminary, I cannot recommend it. RTS Jackson is much much more solid, as is Charlotte.

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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

You cannot recommend Frame as a professor? Is it because of his views on the RPW?

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It is because of many, many things. The RPW is one, his views on the confessions are another, his allowance of FV theology and NPP theology is another (he is probably not one himself, but he doesn't think that Shepherd is a problem), his multi-perspectivalism leaves much to be desired.

Of the RTS campuses, Charlotte is far and away the most BIbilically-oriented, well-rounded in terms of faculty, and attractively located.

Jackson has a solid foundation, but needs to attract more full-time faculty and MDiv students, IMHO, to remain viable.

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Kenneth A. Pierce
Senior Minister
Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA)
5301 Old Canton Rd.
Jackson, MS 39211
(601)977-0774
www.trinitychurchpca.com

The new President at the Charlotte campus is a very godly man. He is confessionally solid and will do a great job in keeping that school as a Reformed seminary. I would highly recommend the Charlotte campus, but I agree with Lane about the Orlando campus. Sproul, Sr. was very concerned about its direction before he stopped teaching there a number of years ago.

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Stephen
PCA Teaching Elder
Nova Scotia

Anyone know if RTS-Charlotte will ever offer a Th.M?

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA
Fairmount ARP Church

Student of Theology
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
My Blog

I am graduating from RTS Jackson in a week

I have liked RTS Jackson and especially the Bible, History, and Theology departments.

They have actually just hired at least one if not two professors (full-time) [Apologetics/Philosophy and Old Testament].

I would recommend Charlotte or Jackson. I agree with what others have said about Orlando above.

For expenditures, if you have some money go to Charlotte (living costs are really expensive) if you are not familiar with money then I'd suggest going to Jackson (living costs are less than most places and it is a good cultural experience).

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Andrew Barnes
Husband to Dena
Redeemer Church, candidate of the MVP in the PCA
MDiv graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS
Pastor (elect) of Tchula Presbyterian Church, Tchula, MS

"What do you think about when you are not thinking about anything else? This is what you worship!"

Now that Barnes is gone, not worth attending any more.

Barnes, just wait till I get you on the floor of presbytery.

You might want to acquaint yourself with all the kings of Judah, and Israel, and Assyria, and their wives, and how long they reigned, and what the years were.

Oh, yeah, and I would read all of Owen too.

Thanks for the replies.

But does it help if I clarify that I'm not too interested in whether or not a professor is confessionally Reformed or not?

HA, I don't think I have to worry about your questions, you haven't been showing up lately!!!

I would request that you not ask me any questions...PLEASE!!!

What are you interested in?

Keep digging your grave, son!

Here's my vote

And, to the person who is not concerned about the confessionalism of profs: Trust me, you will regret it later, if you aren't aware and concerned about it now.

You aren't? You should be concerned. People who are not confessionally Reformed will lead people away from the Reformed faith, not closer to it.

Please explain your position? Why aren't you concerned?

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John J.
Member Christ Prebyterian Church (OPC) Preparing For Eldership
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...
Currently reading Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship

I'm konfyoozed. I thought Frame was a solid apologetics professor.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing." -Titus 3:13
http://foolish-wisdom.blogspot.com/

Andrew, great question! I should have stated this from the beginning.

My goal is to be as equipped as possible to to do any of the following in the future with excellence: 1) Pastor, 2) Teach, 3) Write (in no order). Maybe it's just one of these, maybe two, maybe all three.

Apropos #1, since I haven't as of yet discovered which denomination I am "in the tank for," I don't have a preference as to whether or not my professors are from this group or that group, or this confession or that confession or no confession. I would want them to be Calvinistic, but my primary concern is that they'd teach their subject matter really well.

Apropos #3, I'm wondering what an M.Div from RTS Orlando can do to prepare me in this regard. I understand that no seminary will be able to create talent where there are no intimations of talent to begin with, but compared to other seminaries, how effective would an M.Div from RTS Orlando be in preparing me for a career of theological writing?

Feel free to recommend other seminaries.

Berny,

I think what you would find is that the less confessional a prof is, the points at which he takes issue with the confession, is precisely its Calvinism, not whether taking the trash out on Sunday is a violation of the Fourth Commandment.

Trust me, as one who's been there, you want conservative guys, no matter what denom you end up in. The war in the seminaries is between the guys that reverence the past, and have learned from it (but are not bound by it), versus the guys who want to shuttle it completely. There really doesn't seem to be much middle ground.

And, Barnes, no matter how confessional you are, you are still toast when you come up before MVP. You've ticked off the wrong preacher!

My own background is that I've become a Calvinist apart from the confessions and apart from confessionally-guided Reformed. While they mean a lot to me in that I agree with most everything they have to say much more than I agree with other confessions and creedal statements, I'm not too interested in any "one" way of Calvinistic adaptation for ministry. At least not at this point.

I actually identify with someone like Dr. Frame much more than I do with someone who is more closely attached to the confessional identity.

In one of the endnotes in Salvation Belongs to the Lord (which is an excellent book on the whole), Dr. Frame says that Norman Shepherd's views on justification are within the Reformed tradition - even though he claims to disagree with them.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)
http://reformedcovenanter.wordpress.com/
The Regulative Principle of Worship: Explained and Applied (Xulon Press)
A Conquered Kingdom: Biblical Civil Government (Reformed Worldview Books)

Personally, these are the seminaries I recommend: Westminster California, New Geneva, MARS, Westminster Dallas, RTS Jackson and Charlotte, Greenville, and maybe Westminster East, if the biblical studies departments achieve greater confessionalism.

A friend of mine - who is now a Baptist Pastor in Co. Donegal - did a Masters at Westminster East. He told me that many in the Biblical departments were sympathetic to the NPP.