Q & R: Seminaries/Graduate Schools

Here’s the R:

The answer to this important question will depend on whether you are interested primarily in pastoral ministry or academic work.

If your primary interest is further academic work, many schools, religious and secular, have supported graduate study in these areas. You might pick a few of your favorite authors in this realm and see where they got their PhD, and you might even want to contact them directly.  Claremont School of Theology has been a center for process theology, but now, many seminaries are hospitable to this approach. Unfortunately, I can’t think of an Evangelical school where you would experience the kind of academic freedom you’ll experience in either a non-sectarian or Mainline Protestant school. Some Catholic schools would also be supportive … again, I’d make that decision based on where your favorite writers/speakers/scholars in this realm teach.

If your primary interest is pastoral ministry, my first question would be whether you are interested in traditional pastoral ministry or church planting. If the former, most Mainline Protestant seminaries will provide you the freedom to engage with narrative, process, and emergent theology. If the latter, I would encourage you to consider alternative approaches to training rather than traditional seminary. Convergenceus.org would be a good place to explore for leads in that kind of training.

Thanks for your question, and let me know if I can be of help or encouragement in the future!