Is a Masters of Divinity Worth it?

I have heard that many faculty members have advised Latter-day Saint students to get an M. Div. degree before getting a Ph.D. in biblical studies. These students have all had seven semesters of language courses (either Greek or Hebrew) before graduating with a bachelor's degree. Is it worth getting a divinity degree?

Let's assume that you apply for and get into a top divinity school for an M. Div. degree, what does a top divinity school train you for? Being a minister in a non-Latter-day Saint denomination. Many of them appear (at least on paper) to do that very well. They offer all sorts of courses on denominational theology, counseling for pastors, and other things that a minister might need to know about for their particular denomination. Such courses may or may not be of interest to individual Latter-day Saints. Many Master of Divinity programs require prospective students to either be an active, practicing member of the denomination or sign a confession of beliefs in order to be admitted, and some are so completely non-denominational that anyone of any religious tradition may be admitted, which means that some programs would not be appropriate for Latter-day Saints.

What are the top divinity schools? That depends on whom you ask. According to this list, the top ten divinity schools are:

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
(Kansas City, MO)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree, Biblical Languages Concentration

Number of Years to Degree: 1

Tuition per year: $7,235

Hebrew required: 2 semesters

Greek required:  2 semesters

Additional coursework: Capstone seminar

 

Liberty University
(Lynchburg, VA)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree, Biblical Languages (90 hour)

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $24,650

Hebrew required: 3 semesters

Greek required: 5 semesters

Additional coursework: 22 other classes

 

Bethel University Minnesota
(Saint Paul, MN)

Degree Considered: Masters of Divinity (Dual Language Track)

Number of Years to Degree: 4

Tuition per year: $21,060

Hebrew required: 2 semesters

Greek required: 2 semesters

Additional coursework: 19 other classes

The Master's University and Seminary
(Santa Clarita, CA)

Degree Considered: Master of Arts, Biblical Studies

Number of Years to Degree: 2

Tuition per year: $7,150

Hebrew required: 2 semesters

Greek required: 2 semesters

Additional coursework: 14 other courses

Biola University
(La Mirada, CA)

Degree Considered: Master of Arts (either New Testament or Old Testament)

Number of Years to Degree: 2-4

Tuition per year: $11,923 (charged by credit and averaged over 3 years)

Hebrew required: 3 semesters (for Old Testament)

Greek required: 3 semesters (for New Testament)

Additional coursework: 15 other classes for Old Testament and 16 for New Testament

Columbia International University
(Columbia, SC)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity in Bible Exposition

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $13,750

Hebrew required: 3 semesters either Greek or Hebrew

Greek required: 3 semesters either Greek or Hebrew

Additional coursework: 21 other classes

University of Notre Dame
(Notre Dame, IN)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $65,025

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 24 other classes

Southeastern University
(Lakeland, FL)

Degree Considered: MA in Biblical Studies

Number of Years to Degree: 2

Tuition per year: $13,080

Hebrew required: 3 semesters of Greek or Hebrew

Greek required: 3 semesters of Greek or Hebrew

Additional coursework: 13 other classes

Indiana Wesleyan University
(Marion, IN)

Degree Considered: Masters in Biblical and Theological Studies

Number of Years to Degree: 4

Tuition per year: $32,284

Hebrew required: 3 semesters

Greek required: 3 semesters

Additional coursework: 34 other classes

Moody Bible Institute
(Chicago, IL)

Degree Considered: MA in Biblical Studies

Number of Years to Degree: 2

Tuition per year: $6,468

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 12 other classes

A different site, however, has a completely different list:

 

Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology 

(Dallas, TX)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $27,775

Hebrew required: 1 semester either Greek or Hebrew

Greek required: 1 semester either Greek or Hebrew

Additional coursework: 24 other courses

University of Chicago Divinity School 

(Chicago, IL)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $30,000 ($10,000 per quarter)

Hebrew required: 3 quarters Hebrew or Greek

Greek required: 3 quarters Hebrew or Greek

Additional coursework: 24 other classes

Duke Divinity School 

(Durham, NC)

Degree Considered: Residential Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $29,200

Hebrew required: 2 semesters of either Greek or Hebrew

Greek required: 2 semesters of either Greek or Hebrew

Additional coursework: 23 other classes

Emory University Candler School of Theology 

(Bozeman, MT)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $26,500

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 23 other classes

Wake Forest University School of Divinity 

(Winston-Salem, NC)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $21,220

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 24 other classes

Vanderbilt University Divinity School 

(Nashville, TN)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $27,648

Hebrew required: 1 semester

Greek required: 1 semester

Additional coursework: 23 other classes

Boston College School of Theology and Ministry 

(Cambridge, MA)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $31,632

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 30 other classes

Princeton Theological Seminary 

(Princeton, NJ)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $21,500

Hebrew required: 0 semesters

Greek required: 0 semesters

Additional coursework: 28 other classes

Harvard School of Divinity 

(Cambridge, MA)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $30,776

Hebrew required: 3 semesters of either Hebrew or Greek

Greek required: 3 semesters of either Hebrew or Greek

Additional coursework: 21 other classes

Yale School of Divinity 

(New Haven, CT)

Degree Considered: Master of Divinity

Number of Years to Degree: 3

Tuition per year: $29,976

Hebrew required: 1 semester

Greek required: 1 semester

Additional coursework: 20 other classes.

 

Note that there is no overlap between the two lists.

 

One of the schools requires five semesters of Greek; several require three semesters of Hebrew; several require no language work at all. Only one of the schools (The Master's University) does not start the languages at the beginning level. All students to whom these programs are recommended will have already completed more language courses than the programs require. Thus the programs are of marginal utility in improving language skills.

 

The other courses may or may not be of any use to a Latter-day Saint and vary too much between schools to meaningfully compare.

 

Additionally, a prospective student will be paying an average of 22,881.60 per year just in tuition for generally three years. 

A Master of Divinity degree is a lot of time and money for minimal benefit for a Latter-day Saint. It would be of more use to them to get a different degree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different Levels of Scholarship

Looking up a rather obscure point in biblical scholarship, I was struck by the differences between scholars on how they dealt with the problem:

The non-scholar ignores the problem.

The theologian makes up an answer.

The third-rate scholar looks up the answer in an encyclopedia.

The second-rate scholar can explain the consensus.

The first-rate scholar can explain why the consensus is wrong.

A Theological Anniversary

Four-hundred forty-four years ago today, on 23 December 1572, in the main market square, in front of the Heiligegeistkirche in Heidelberg, a criminal was executed. His crime was particularly heinous.

The ruler of Heidelberg, Friedrich III, was under enormous pressure not to let it go unpunished. The criminal, Johann Sylvanus, had been Superintendent of Ladenburg, a town under Friedrich's jurisdiction, and a member of the clergy. Friedrich III needed to distract attention from his own sins, and making a public example of a criminal like Sylvanus could show that he was tough on crime.

To reinforce the lesson, Sylvanus's children were forced to watch with the rest of the populous as an executioner took off his head with a sword. One simply could not allow such awful crimes to be committed.

Johann Sylvanus's crime was to doubt that the doctrine of the Trinity as propounded in the creeds was found in the Bible. As a matter of fact, it is not. The doctors who propounded it knew that "not one word of it is found in the holy scriptures" (μηδεμιας γουν θεοπνευστου γραφιας) according to Eusebius. Their congregations knew it wasn't either. The doctors had had to explain to their congregations that they should adopt a creed that was not found in the scriptures because the committee had worked hard (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, I.8), but that was more than a millennium before Sylvanus.

The whole problem of the creeds started one day in Alexandria. It was the big center of intellectuals of the Roman empire with its famous university and large library. One day, the bishop, Alexander, "started theologizing using philosophy" (φιλοσοφων εθεολογει) seeking for his own glory (φιλοτιμοτερον). One of his elders, Arius, a man "not lacking in learning" (αμοιρος διαλεκτικαης λεσχης) preferred someone else's dogma and responded to the bishop out of a desire to win the argument (εκ φιλονεικιας). (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, I.5) This theologizing started the argument that ended in the creeds, and in Sylvanus's beheading 444 years ago.

In one of those happy coincidences, however, Sylvanus was vindicated. Two-hundred thirty-three years to the day after his death, a prophet was born. God would tell this prophet that "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors [i.e. those who professed or supported the creeds] were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”" (Joseph Smith—History 1:19).

On this, the 444th anniversary of the martyrdom of Johann Sylvanus, it is useful to know that the product of theology is an abomination in the sight of God. Sylvanus knew at least that it was not scriptural--which Eusebius and everyone else at Nicaea also knew--and for that he gave his life.

Dever on Religion

William Dever, who is an archaeologist, describes his view of studying religion:

As an archaeologist and an anthropologist, and thus a historian, I shall argue that philosophy and theology are distractions. These disciplines may well be legitimate and interesting in their own right; but they get us nowhere. . . . Indeed, they are barriers to understanding. (William G. Dever, Did God Have a Wife? [Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2005], 8.)

Archaeologists deal with realia, real things. People who deal with real things tend to have a different view on things than those who do not.

Reading the Gospel of Judas X: Theology

In the Gospel of Judas, when Jesus approaches the twelve disciples, they are “sitting together studying theology” (Gospel of Judas 33.24-26). Judas was depicted as one of those doing so, but so were all the other apostles.

The term used for theology in this passage is a calque of the Greek term. The term was literally translated into Coptic rather than borrowed as it was in English.

The term theology is first used by Plato, in his dialogue, The Republic. Plato means by it lies told about gods to children and child-like adults to manipulate them for political purposes.[1] In that passage Plato reasons that as long as one says nice things about the gods, no harm can come from them. It does not matter whether or not they are true. For Plato, theology is a useful tool to silence prophets or other people who are inspired.

The early Christian church did not have a positive view of theology. The word itself does not occur in the New Testament. The earliest Christian to use the word, Clement of Alexandria, refers to the “theology of idols” had among the pagans.[2]

On the other hand, Gnostics (the term is simply the Greek word for “intellectual”) liked philosophy and theology.

 
In the Gospel of Judas, when Jesus sees his disciples engaged in theology, he laughs at them (Gospel of Judas 34.2-3). Clearly, doing theology was not a good thing, not even from the perspective of the author of the Gospel of Judas.

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[1] Plato, Republic 2.378-379.

[2] Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 7.