Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

Theological German: Advice and Resources website has been moved

I have moved my Theological German: Advice and Resources website to a new location: http://www.andyrowell.net/theological_german/

Update on what I've been up to: Prelims and Precepting, Barth and Birthday, Friends and Family

I just thought I would give a little update on what I am up to these days.  I thought I would answer nine frequently asked questions. 

1. Where are you in the Th.D. program?  Preliminary exams.  I am doing preliminary exams from October 22nd through November 11th.  What does that mean?  I am starting my fourth year of the Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) program at Duke Divinity School at Duke University.  The first two years I did coursework (12 courses total) then last year I passed my language exams (Spanish and German).  What are preliminary exams?  They are four exams on 50-75 books over a three week period: a 4 hour written exam on my primary concentration called "Theological Ethics" but more specifically "Church, Ministry, Evangelism, and Mission"); a 3 hour written exam on my secondary concentration "New Testament" but more specifically "New Testament Ecclesiology"; a 3 hour written exam on my dissertation area "The Formation of New Ecclesial Communities"; and an oral defense with the members of my committee.  Who is on your committee?  Curtis Freeman (chair), Richard Hays, Stanley Hauerwas and Laceye Warner.  What are you reading?  Download Andy Rowell - Reading list for Preliminary Exams What are the types of questions you will be asked? Download Andy Rowell - Questions for Preliminary Exams

2. Are you searching for a faculty position yet?  Yes.  I plan to be done with the dissertation and ready to teach in the the fall of 2012 though I'm inquiring about a few positions that are due to start in the Fall of 2011.  I would be grateful to learn about searches for faculty positions in Christian ministry at Christian colleges and seminaries.  My CV is on my About page.  I would also be glad to hear about dissertation fellowships.  Email Me

3. Are you teaching?  I am a preceptor (teaching assistant) for two sections (15 students each) of Geoffrey Wainwright's Christian Theology course at Duke Divinity School.  There are 156 students in the course.  The Duke Divinity fall 2010 courses and book list are at the Duke Divinity Course Schedule page. 

4.  How can we keep up with you besides the blog?  I continue to use my Twitter account of @andyrowell to record little thoughts and insights. (The same content is at my Twitter account's RSS feed).  If I see an article I like or a quote or some piece of news, I usually put it there.  I think of my Facebook account: andy.rowell as more personal and light-hearted stuff (e.g. stuff my kids say) with Twitter being more substantive in terms of church leadership and theology content.  Therefore, I have kept my Facebook account for just people I know in real life like people from high school and college but I am starting to cave in and "be friends" with people beyond that. 

5.  Are you traveling this fall?  Yes, I'm going to the Evangelical Theological Society, Institute for Biblical Research, and Society of Biblical Literature back-to-back meetings in November in Atlanta.  I am presenting a paper at the Gospel in our Culture Network session at SBL entitled:John Howard Yoder’s Missional Exiles and Jeremiah 29: A Case Study for Missional Hermeneutics.  I can't go to the American Academy of Religion meeting because it occurs during my prelims.

6. What are you getting for your birthday?  My mom and wife are giving me Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics 31 volume Study Edition from Christianbook.com for my birthday this Thursday, September 9th.  The Latin, French and Greek translations are a huge help in this new 2009 Study Edition.  But there are quite a few typos and the prefaces are missing.  The small print and big print distinction are great because they are not distinguished when reading online at the Karl Barth Digital Library (Link for Duke students).  But the search capability and the availability of the German editions of the KBDL are awesome.

7. How do you like Duke's Th.D. program?  Duke's Th.D. program continues to be great.  I refer people who inquire about it to my post Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology (which is a bit dated now--March 6, 2009) as a decent place to start.  I also often refer people to Advice about moving to Durham, North Carolina and my website TheologicalGerman.com: Theological German Advice and Resources. 

8.  How's church?  Amy continues to work 20 hours a week as Director of Children's Ministry (Elementary) at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church.  Most of our social life is around church events, meals with church friends, small group, Sunday school, and mildly chaotic get-togethers with other families with small children from church.  There are lots of connections with Duke at Blacknall as well.  I recently tallied 17 of us who attend Blacknall who are Th.D. and Ph.D. students in religion at Duke.

9.  How are the kids? Being a parent is a joy and a challenge!  (Our Rowell Kids blog contains a bit of my ruminations on parenting).  Ryan, 5, started kindergarten this week at a local public elementary school and is newly riding bike and swimming.  He likes Legos and is on his first soccer team.  Jacob will be 3 on September 16th.  He loves his Hot Wheels cars and also likes beach balls, hitting off the tee, books, dancing, and wrestling.  Allie is four months old today and is rolling over and talking lots of gibberish and sleeping well.  There is no shortage of moments when we delight in them and no shortage of moments when we are appalled by what they do.  God help us and them! 

Here is a picture of the kids on Ryan's first day of kindergarten August 31st. 

  

Thanks for your interest in me.  

Grace and peace,

Andy

Theological Spanish Reading Exam Practice

Here are the theology and biblical studies journals I practiced translating when preparing for my Spanish reading exam for the Duke Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) program.

• Cuadernos de Teología
• Estudios eclesiásticos
• Scripta Theologica

They are available through ATLA.  (ATLA link for Duke students).  Many people have free online access to these journals through ATLA or EbscoHost or Academic Search Premier through their public library.  Just go to the "Research" or "Magazines" or "Journals" page of your local county or city library.  You will probably have to put in your library card number.  Or call the library and get help from a librarian.

I have also read some homilies from the martyred Oscar Romero, liberation theology from Gustavo Gutiérrez, and some theology by evangelicals Samuel Escobar and René Padilla. 

I practiced with English and Spanish versions of books:  

 

 

See my comments and advice about theological language reading exams at my website www.theologicalgerman.com.  My advice is about German but much of it would be applicable to learning Spanish. See especially Tips for German Reading Exams.  See also the Duke Th.D. program language exam requirements as a sample of what Ph.D. theological exams are like.

July / August Personal Update: leisure reading, preliminary exams preparation, and personal habits.

All is well with me.  Here is what I have been up to in July and August 2009. 

1. I have been formulating preliminary exam questions and booklist with Richard Hays--my primary adviser--for my Th.D. program.  I am happy to have your input. 

Download Booklist for Preliminary Exams 12 Word 2003

Download Questions for Preliminary Exams 5 Word 2003

I have finished my twelve courses:

Download List of courses in my Th.D. program

2. I am beginning to get more specific regarding my dissertation. 

Download Dissertation Proposal Draft 2

Tonight I am processing Nijay Gupta's thoughts on dissertations from October 2008: Notes on PhD Thesis Writing  I just need to get together with some more faculty and hear their advice on a draft of what I am thinking.

3. I have been reading theology in German--enjoying Barth and Bonhoeffer that way.  See my Theological German website. 

4. I am scanning the blogs.  A couple people have discussed the life of the theological student recently: Ben Myers's sarcastic post from January 2009 Advice for theological students: ten steps to a brilliant career and Carl Trueman's article Minority Report A Question of Accountability.  A couple things I haven't read yet but look forward to reading: Rob Wegner, Tony Morgan, and Kevin Miller blogged about Willow Creek's Leadership Summit.  Josh Rowley has been reflecting on statistics regarding Mainline Decline.

5.  I am trying to read through the Bible in a year but it will probably be more like 2 or 3 years!  I have loved Proverbs and James.  Here are a few favorites: "Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor" (Proverbs 12:24).  "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty" (Proverbs 14:22).  "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).   

6.  I am thoroughly enjoying our Blacknall Presbyterian Church community--sharing meals and exchanging childcare.  My wife Amy preached a couple weeks ago on James 3:13-18 in our series in James. 

7. I have read a couple of books on holiday and on sabbath: both of which I give 4 1/2 of 5 stars.  

• 
  Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

A little slow but beautifully written with good theology.  It had been recommended to me as a "must read for pastors."  It made me reflect on parenting a lot.  It is a Pulitizer Prize winner.   

• 
  Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer

Wonderful to learn more about these two fascinating men.  John Wilson of Books & Culture also liked it. 

8. I have been enjoying cooking--using the Weight Watcher cookbooks and Men's Health Belly Off for ideas of healthy recipes.

I have been enjoying omelets (with tomatoes) and oatmeal (with banana and peanut butter) for breakfast and more string cheese, yogurt, almonds, and vegetables than I used to eat.  The internet is great for help finding ways to cook veggies that taste good and for help with substitutions and recipe instructions.  Who is going to let me borrow their P90X DVD workouts? 

9. I am enjoying my kids (Ryan 4 and Jacob almost 2) as they swim, play t-ball, soccer, ride bikes, and enjoy books.  I blog a little about them at our Rowell Kids blog. 

10.  Amazon Associates has indeed dropped me forever because North Carolina passed a new tax law that would tax all Amazon.com North Carolina customers a sales tax if Amazon had any business operations in the state. See Final N.C. budget bill has 'Amazon tax'.  I had made a couple hundred dollars per year through that, so that is too bad.

With regard to all of this . . . "But he gives us more grace" (James 4:6). 

Warm greetings to all,
Andy

Introducing my new website Theological German: Advice and Resources

If you are interested in learning theological German because you want to get into Ph.D. programs or because you need to pass a Ph.D. program language exam, I have created a new website where all of the resources are in one place. 

Theological German: Advice and Resources

http://www.andyrowell.net/theological_german/

My Th.D. program progress update

I am through with my coursework for the Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) program (except for two papers I need to finish--hopefully in May).  Then I need to complete my German and Spanish language exams--hopefully in June and July respectively.  Then I take preliminary exams hopefully in November 2009.  I take 3 exams: one in my primary concentration (The Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions), one in my secondary concentration (New Testament), and one in my dissertation area.  In the spring of 2010, I try to get my dissertation proposal approved.  Then I hope to finish the dissertation by spring 2011 and could if I am amazingly fast--at this point, why not be optimistic?  That would be finishing everything in 4 years--the length of the funding for the Th.D..  (The Ph.D. Graduate Program in Religion average is 5.8 years but they get 5 years of funding).     

Here is today's draft of what my "project is about"--what my dissertation proposal might look like a year from now--though it will likely be revised and narrowed (or gutted) in the next six months.  But it gives you a basic idea of what I am interested in.

Focal Research Interest:  I have been exploring four New Testament church practices in the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and John Howard Yoder: (1) listening to the apostle's teaching, (2) participating in the Lord's Supper and baptism, (3) following Jesus Christ, and (4) proclaiming the gospel.  Both Bonhoeffer and Yoder explore ethics, emphasize insights from the New Testament, and were significantly influenced by their time with Karl Barth.  I argue that church leadership rightly understood will predominantly focus on attempting to participate with the Holy Spirit in facilitating these four practices as a sign, foretaste, and instrument of God's reign.

My preliminary examination committee of 3-5 people is still evolving.  There is a wealth of riches at Duke Divinity School whom I have dialogued with at one level or another about mission, New Testament, church, Yoder, Bonhoeffer and Barth including:  Richard Hays, Laceye Warner, Stanley Hauerwas, Greg Jones, Sam Wells, Curtis Freeman, Geoffrey Wainwright, Douglas Campbell, Kavin Rowe, Susan Eastman, Allen Verhey, J. Kameron Carter, Willie Jennings, Stephen Gunter, Mark Chaves, Ken Carder, and Richard Lischer. 

I have written extensively about the Th.D. program, the application process, language exams, job prospects, the Ph.D. program, etc. at:
Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology

Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology

Here are my answers to the Frequently Asked Questions I get about doing a doctorate in theology.  In this post, I address the difference between the Duke Th.D and. Ph.D. programs, discuss financial stipends, dissertations, the application process, job prospects, and some thoughts on the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree offered at some theological schools.

I am doing my Th.D. at Duke and wrote this in my second year of the program.  I am happy to be corrected by emails to me or comments below.  I get lots of emails from people about the Th.D. program at Duke and so I thought I would just try to put this information in a blog post to be helpful.  This information should not be taken as absolutely correct but rather can serve as an introduction to the issues so that you can ask good questions to faculty and program directors who know what they are talking about.

What is the difference between the Duke Th.D. and Ph.D. program in theology?

• Read the official information on the respective websites: Doctor of Theology degree at Duke Divinity School and Graduate Program in Religion's website and Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University.  Update May 3, 2009: the FAQ for the Th.D. program has been updated and is excellent.
• I understand why people are confused about the Th.D. and Ph.D. at Duke.  The Th.D. program is only three years old.  Let’s start with the basics because it is easy to be confused.  The Th.D. is from Duke Divinity School--part of Duke University.  The Ph.D. is from the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University.  Like Duke, Harvard University has a Ph.D. and Harvard Divinity School has a Th.D..  Compare the Duke Divinity School faculty with the Graduate Program in Religion faculty--there is some overlap.  Mark Goodacre, a professor in the Graduate Program in Religion, says the best way of saying this is: "The Graduate Program in Religion is made up of faculty from both the Department of Religion and the Divinity School."  At Duke University, you can take courses in any part of the university (with some limitations) so courses are not an issue.  Many courses are cross-listed as both Duke Divinity School courses and Religion courses.  I have not mentioned that the Graduate Program in Religion offices are located in the Divinity School building.  No wonder people have trouble understanding the difference.
• The first group of Th.D. students started in August 2006.  I started in August 2007.  They just sent out acceptance letters to the fourth class of students in February 2009 who will start in August 2009.  The Duke Ph.D. program had its first graduates in 1939.    
• They are very similar programs.  They have similar requirements (coursework, languages, preliminary exams, dissertation proposal, dissertation) though there are some procedural differences.  For example, the preliminary exams process has to do with “fields” in the Ph.D. program and “concentrations” in the Th.D. program.  The Ph.D. program entails 4 preliminary exams and the Th.D. program entails 3 preliminary exams.  You can take classes with the same professors.   
• The Th.D. and Ph.D. students take classes together and hang out with one another.  The discipline-specific colloquiums include both Th.D. and Ph.D. students.  For example, people interested in theology (Th.D. and Ph.D.) talk to each other a lot. 
• My understanding is that the best funding for the Th.D. is:  tuition covered with a $13,000 per year stipend for 4 years (but the packages vary).  Th.D. students purchase their own health insurance through Duke individually (age 26 to 34, the annual charge is $1,690/yr.) and if they wish for their spouse and children.  My understanding is that the Ph.D. program offers:  tuition covered with a $20,000 per year stipend for 5 years and individual health insurance for the individual student.  (Students with families may elect to pay an additional premium for family coverage just like the Th.D. students).  I know Th.D. and Ph.D. students whose children have health insurance through Medicaid.  Spouses tend to work and bring in some additional income and/or people take out student loans. 
• Note how similar the Ph.D. and Th.D. stipend numbers are to stipend statistics published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  "For instance, biology departments reported an average research-assistant stipend of $18,200 for an appointment that typically lasts a full 12 months. Students in English, however, got an average teaching-assistant stipend of $13,387 for an academic year." From "Graduate Students' Pay and Benefits Vary Widely, Survey Shows" By AUDREY WILLIAMS JUNE in the Chronicle of Higher Education December 5, 2008.
• My understanding is that the Duke Th.D. program this year accepted 9 students out of 75 applicants.  The Th.D. website has a description of concentrations.  You have a primary and secondary area of concentration; you do preliminary exams in both.  
• See Student Profiles with all of the concentrations listed. Here is a partial list of the "concentrations" of some of the people in the program in the first four classes—(the repetition is intentional).  Some listed below are combined primary and secondary concentrations; for others it is just a primary concentration--I don't know which.
  • Bible and Christian practices
  • Christian formation and creation care
  • Evangelism and culture 
  • Evangelism and ecclesiology 
  • Homiletics
  • Homiletics      
  • Homiletics and reconciliation   
  • Homiletics and reconciliation
  • New Testament
  • OT Theology & Ethics
  • Theological Aesthetics
  • Theology (Friendship)
  • Theology and aesthetics
  • Theology and Christian formation
  • Theology and Pedagogy
  • Theology, narrative, and community
  • Theology, politics, and culture 
  • Theology, politics, and culture 
  • Wesleyan theology and practices
  • Youth Ministry / Education

 

• My understanding is that Duke's Graduate Program in Religion Ph.D. program takes about one student per year for each of its 11 fields.

1.    Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
2.    New Testament
3.    Early Christianity
4.    European Christianity
5.    American Religion
6.    History of Judaism
7.    Islamic Studies
8.    Christian Theological Studies
9.    Religion and Modernity
10.  Asian Religions
11.  Religion and Modernity

• To be exact, in the last 2 years, they have made 9 offers each year. See Duke University Graduate School Admissions and Enrollment Statistics (PhD Religion Only).

• I am told that the Christian Theological Studies has 70 applicants for one spot.  New Testament has perhaps 50 applications for one spot.  But I am told that some of the fields may have only 3 applications for one spot.  In the eleven fields in the Graduate Program in Religion, they accepted 9 out of 207 applicants total in 2008-2009.

What kind of work/ministry do Th.D/Ph.D. students hope to do in the future?

• Like the Ph.D., the Th.D. prepares someone to serve as a professor at the college, seminary and graduate school level (both secular and Christian schools).  It is possible that people will end up working for churches, denominations, publishing houses, parachurch organizations, and missions organizations but the degree is not primarily about that.  It is hard to know how hard it will be to find a job.  If we posit that there will be similar opportunities for Th.D. students as there are for Ph.D. students, I would say the outlook is mixed.  Some Duke Ph.D. students have gotten jobs at great schools; some have gotten jobs at not-so-great schools; and some have had a hard time finding them.  See the DUKE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL PH.D. PLACEMENT DATA FOR STUDENTS GRADUATED IN 2000-2007--Religion.  Are you interested in academia as a career?  Remember this is 4-7 years of full-time study—average 5.8.  (See Duke University Median Registered Time to Degree to Ph.D. for Students Entering in 1997-2002 (Years)—Religion).  Updated Dec 2, 2011: average 5.7  Duke University Median Registered Time to Degree to Ph.D. for Students Entering in 2000-2005 (Years)  Religion.
• For a sober view of the hiring scene, see the article Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go: It's hard to tell young people that universities view their idealism and energy as an exploitable resource.  By THOMAS H. BENTON in The Chronicle in Higher Education column AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA, January 30, 2009.
• See the Graduate Program in Religion Alumni Directory. 
• Update: Note also Duke Ph.D student Maria's good comments below about her sense that people who want to teach at a non-Christian university or college are probably better off doing the Ph.D. and those interested in working in a Christian college, university or seminary are more likely to be in the Th.D. program.  I think she is generally right BUT there are lots of exceptions to that (which she acknowledges).  For example, there are many Ph.D. grads at Duke from the fields of Christian Theological Studies and New Testament that have ended up at Christian institutions: Christian Theological Studies (William T. Cavanaugh--University of St. Thomas, Telford Work--Westmont College, Jonathan Wilson--Carey Theological College, Glen Stassen,  John L. Thompson, Robert K. Johnston--Fuller Theological Seminary, John Jefferson Davis--Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Beth Felker Jones--Wheaton College) and New Testament (Craig Keener--Palmer Theological Seminary, Marianne Meye Thompson, Love L. Sechrest, J. R. Daniel Kirk, Fuller Theological Seminary, Rollin Grams--Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Leroy A. Huizenga--Wheaton College, James H. Charlesworth, C. Clifton Black,  J. Ross Wagner, Beverly Roberts Gaventa--Princeton Theological Seminary)   And I know a few of the Th.D. students hope to be in secular universities and colleges.  Again though I would agree with Maria in general that the Th.D. tends to lead you toward Christian settings whereas as the Ph.D. tends to be more diverse.  
• See also Regent College professor John Stackhouse’s post:Qualifications for Teaching at a Small Christian College November 22, 2008
• See also the sober post by Keith Drury, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, on what a college professor of religion actually does each week (80 hours for him) and how to break into college teaching. H/T Russ Veldman.

Advertisement Finish your degree in less time with Indiana Wesleyan Online while continuing to work professionally.

Do you have access to all the incredible faculty at the Duke Divinity School and Duke University?  Is that through coursework, or just as advisers?

• You take 12 courses in the Th.D (3 per semester for four semesters).  You can basically take the 12 courses with anyone you want.

Did your seminary work adequately prepare you for doctoral work? 

• Yes, seminary prepared me well and I bet your seminary prepared you fairly well.  But one needs to be passionate about the field they are interested in and to have read beyond seminary courses.  Reading needs to be a barely-in-control-passion in your life.  :-)  See the next question about the difficulty of getting in.    
• Reading Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Wesley, Barth and MacIntrye will serve you well.  Schleiermacher, Kant, Yoder, Hauerwas, and Milbank wouldn't hurt too.  Besides reading their foundational works, I wonder if reading a biography about each of these theologians might be the best way to orient oneself to their theology and context. 
• You might want to read secondary sources that orient you to postliberalism which is what many at Duke have wrestled with—few would still label themselves that way—who likes labels?—but most operate from a position close to postliberalism at Duke Divinity School.  (For evangelicals, this is actually not that different from what you believe even though you may never have heard of it—see the works below). 

 

• The Nature of Confession 
• The Nature of Doctrine by George A. Lindbeck
• Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism by Nancey Murphy
• Introducing Radical Orthodoxy by James K. A. Smith

 
Do you have any advice for me on applying to the Th.D./Ph.D. program? 

To get into a first-tier program that provides a stipend, you must be special in some way and you must be adequate in most every area. 

• GPA (Duke Ph.D.Religion averages 3.6 undergraduate GPA)
• GRE (Duke Ph.D.Religion averages 729 Verbal and 739 Quantitative).  Th.D. FAQ #6: "There is no specific minimum score. Students admitted to the Th.D. through our first four years had a mean GRE verbal score of 690 and a mean GRE quantitative score of 655."  See my post How to Study for the GRE.
• Writing sample (See mine on Bonhoeffer here).
• Languages (See my website Theological German: Advice and Resources.
• Previous quality of schools you attended
• References: quality, connections, and impressiveness of people giving references and how highly they rave about you.
• Personal Statement (like a cover letter.  “This is why I want to study at your school . . .” ).
• Previous publications.
• Visit—personal impression you made of intellect and social skills.
• Inside connections
• Previous teaching experience at high school or college level and/or compelling ministry experience and/or international experience
• A compelling story and vision for publishing, teaching and ethics in the future
• Diversity
• Th.M. from Princeton Seminary, Duke, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale Divinity (called a S.T.M.), or another school might help.
• Masters degrees or doctoral degrees (MBA, M.D., J.D.) in other areas in addition to your 3 year—MDiv or 2 year—Masters of Theology would be a bonus. 
• Be in touch with the director of the Th.D./Ph.D. program at the schools of your interest (for example, Randy Maddox, the director of the Th.D. program at Duke) if you have questions.

I would visit on your own dime all the schools you want to go to.  Get familiar with the work of 4-5 professors who you like from the school.  Then visit and meet with the professors—one-on-one appointments for 15 minutes each all in one day; plus one with the Th.D./Ph.D. program director.   You want to be able to name why the school is the best possible place for you to study because your interests coincide with A, B, C and D professors and that they could uniquely prepare you in your areas of interest.  (See also Maria's comment below that she didn't visit and still got in to the Ph.D. program).  

I think it is pretty hard to get into a school without the inside knowledge of how to get in (whether that be an acquaintance who is there who gives you the scoop or a professor who wants you.)  I don't mean to paint it too scary but I did not get in anywhere in my first round of applications (0 for 5 the first year) and then got in at 3 out of the 5 places I applied the second year after talking to people.  (Details in the comments below).  Get your friends and others (at the school ideally) to help you with your statement and sample writing. 

Basically, you have a better chance of getting more scholarship money and a better chance at getting a job at "first-tier" schools.  (See Stackhouse and Gupta links below).  Duke professors seem to have strong relationships with Yale University, Emory University, Princeton Theological Seminary, University of Chicago, and Notre Dame so one hears a lot about these schools at Duke but it depends on the field what schools are first tier institutions.  A professor or author you respect can easily tell you their opinion of what schools to consider and you can weigh their opinion.   

See also:

• My post about my Th.D./Ph.D. application process.  I wrote it at the time I was applying to programs but I think the advice still stands. 
• Regent College professor (Ph.D. from University of Chicago) John Stackhouse’s Weblog post: Thinking about a Ph.D.?
• Durham (UK) Ph.D. student Nijay Gupta's post about New Testament Ph.D. programs applies to many other programs.

 

What's the big deal about dissertations?  What will your dissertation be about?

First a couple comments about dissertations. 

(a) It is difficult to finish one.  It is long solitary work on some piece of obscure scholarship.  Therefore people say things like, "A finished dissertation is a good dissertation." "Write for your adviser not the whole world."  "Unleash all your creativity and genius in your second book--not your dissertation."  "Limit its scope.  Write the __________ topic in the writing of __________ scholar."  "Let each of your 12 seminar papers be dissertation chapters if possible."  "Remember that everything one writes is in some sense unfinished."  I recommend How to Write a Lot by Paul J. Silvia for advice about churning out lots of written work--everyone should read it.

(b) You can get hired before your dissertation is completed and be ABD (All But Dissertation) but then you carry the heavy burden of trying to finish this obscure piece of scholarship while you are preparing lectures for introductory courses to undergraduates and grading their papers.  These are two very different ends of the academic spectrum and therefore one should try very hard to finish the dissertation before starting work as a professor.  For balancing teaching and writing, I highly recommend Advice for New Faculty Members by Robert Boice.

Note the similar advice of Steven Cahn from a review of his book  From Student to Scholar: A Candid Guide to Becoming a Professor (Columbia University Press, 2008).  JAMES M. LANG, "'From Student to Scholar': A senior professor writes a new guide for graduate students on pursuing a faculty career," February 3, 2009, Chronicle of Higher Education. 

In the conclusion to his first chapter, "Graduate School," Cahn asks, and answers, a question in a way that I think most graduate students need to hear: "What is the most important ingredient for success in graduate school? Many might answer 'brilliance.' I, however, would choose 'resiliency.'"  As he points out, most students who are admitted into graduate schools are capable of handling the work on an intellectual level. Many students who end their graduate careers prematurely do so because they have become discouraged by the endless series of tasks and obstacles that lie in the way of the degree — not because they have been unable to hack the academic work. Thus, when he sees students walk across the stage to receive their Ph.D.'s, he writes, "I'm not convinced that all the recipients possess remarkable intellectual talents. I am certain, though, that every one has demonstrated the power to persevere."  On the time needed to complete a dissertation, Cahn's advice is equally brisk and demanding: "Any time beyond two years is excessive. Indeed, I would expect the task to be completed in 12 to 18 months."  That advice might sound hard to graduate students in the midst of dissertation projects that seem to stretch out endlessly before them. But projects that run far beyond the normal time frame often do so because the students want to produce that perfect book, and so they bog themselves down in revisions — hoping to pre-empt their mentors — and turn in a near-finished product. In the end, as Cahn points out, "no one will ask you whether your dissertation was passed with major or minor revisions. All that matters is that you have fulfilled every requirement for the degree."

My dissertation is still being developed--that is more of a third year thing and I am in the second year--but my paper on John Howard Yoder on my blog is probably the best thing to see the direction I am interested in: leadership, ecclesiology, mission, church planting, evangelism—the church functioning at its best.  I’m interested in questions like: What is the theological basis of the church?  What are the dangers the church faces today theologically given an array of sociological data?  What should new and innovative churches focus on theologically?  What should established churches focus on?  I would love to tease out these themes in the form of a commentary on 1 Corinthians—but I think that is too ambitious.  I have put a list of Eight Important Theological Books to me on my blog.  Update May 3, 2009: I have given you the latest draft of my research topic at: My Th.D. program progress update    

Is the Th.D. a "practical theology" degree? 
No.  "Practical theology" does not have the best reputation everywhere because it has a reputation for being associated with liberal theology and liberation theology in particular—partly because it was Schleiermacher’s idea.  This is not altogether fair—see Practical Theology: An Introduction by Richard Osmer at Princeton Theological Seminary and The Shape of Practical Theology: Empowering Ministry With Theological Praxis by Ray Anderson at Fuller Theological Seminary—both people I like very much.  In evangelical settings, the term may not be related to any of these prior meanings; rather it just means "theological reflection on Christian ministry" or "practical ministry skills."

What do you personally want to do with your Th.D. degree when you finish? 
I want to teach church leadership at a seminary but I might pastor again.  We'll see what kind of offers I get and my wife's dreams—it is her turn next.

If the Th.D. is an academic degree, why is your blog written at a more popular level for church leaders rather than for academics?

First, I want to teach at a seminary and I was a pastor and so I am interested in church leadership issues.  Second, it is a way for me to keep a foot in the practical while I have a foot in the academy.  Third, I am doing my academic work precisely so that I can help others more wisely address ordinary church issues—this is a chance to keep testing that out.  Fourth, I realize that many of my blog entries are long and not easy for everyone to read and thus not as accessible as they could be!  Partly, I write long stuff because I assume some level of theological education.  But the other issue is that everything written on my blog could be written better!  My attitude toward the blog is to "write something—even imperfectly—because if I don't now, I may never return to addressing it and it is something I want to put out there because it might help someone." 

What do you think of the D.Min.? 

I like them.  Pastors usually do a Doctor of Ministry degree part-time while they are doing ministry.  It gives them a chance to reflect, read, and write in a disciplined way with insightful colleagues and advisers.  Yeah!  I think churches should encourage pastors to do the D.Min. work and pay a portion of each class they complete—perhaps 2/3 of the tuition.  It is good for pastors and churches to have reflective pastors. 

Pretty much everyone says that the D.Min. degrees vary in quality—some are easier than others.  Of course that is not unique to D.Min. programs—ask people about MBA programs or law schools and how they vary. 

Duke Divinity School does not offer a D.Min.  I hear people recommending those at Fuller Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary--though there are many other excellent programs. 

The real issue people need to know about the D.Min. is that academic institutions like colleges, universities and seminaries will not see them as an academic doctorate—therefore someone with a D.Min. will not be considered to have a terminal degree—the highest academic qualifications for a position.  For example, a school looking for a preaching professor will put the Ph.D. and Th.D. resumes to the top of the pile whereas the D.Min. applications will be mixed in with the MDiv applications.  This does not mean that they will not end up hiring someone with a D.Min. but they will hire that person for their other credentials—they have written 10 books and pastored a church of 2,000 for 30 years—not because they have a D.Min..  Again, I love D.Min’s and I think people who do them should be compensated for their efforts and praised and encouraged.  But it is understandable that an institution will value a D.Min. differently from a Ph.D./Th.D. which was earned with 3-7 years of full-time study when a D.Min. was earned part-time over three years.  Again, 90% of the time the person with the D.Min. has better ministry skills and pastoral sensibilities than the Ph.D./Th.D. graduate!  But the Ph.D./Th.D. graduate has demonstrated a degree of academic perseverance that the D.Min. person has not (unless they have written a few books).      

What about doing a Ph.D. part-time?

I don't know the answer to this but I will give you some leads. 

See

•  Fuller Theological Seminary - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Intercultural Studies (California)
  
• Durham University - PhD - Department of Theology and Religion (UK)
• Regent University - Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership (Virginia) 
• University of Birmingham - PhD - Theology and Religion (UK)
• University of Wales - Lampeter - PhD - Department of Theology and Religious Studies (UK)
• King's College London - PhD - Theology & Religious Studies (UK)
• London School of Theology - PhD - Doctor of Philosophy (UK) 
•  University of Manchester - PhD - Religions & Theology (UK)
• University of Exeter - PhD - Department of Theology (UK)
• University of Stirling - PhD - School of Languages, Cultures & Religions (UK)

For UK programs see page 92 of Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008: December 2008 (PDF) (ranking 61): Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies.

Someone else wrote me:

London School of Theology has a strong reputation internationally, but isn't as well known here.  They have a relationship with Asbury.  Asbury also has a relationship with University of Manchester / Nazarene Theological Seminary.  The University of Wales - Lampeter has a relationship with Vancouver School of Theology.  All of these allow for part-time PhD studies with one trip overseas.  Of course Durham allows for two trips each year for part-timers . . . By the way Exeter in the UK allows for one trip over per year and usually four months residency over the course of the programme. Birmingham is the same, but "normally" the student is expected to reside in Birmingham for six months.  There might be some flexibility in the six months, but I'm not sure.  Exeter and Birmingham supposedly have reduced costs for split-site students.  So far, I don't think Durham has any reduction in costs, which is surprising - you get the same level of supervision (they say) but you are not using their research facilities.  I'm not sure, but I think the PhD's awarded by the London School of Theology are through Manchester or Brunel.  I would prefer Durham I think, but the costs are significant and there are not many financial aid options for part-timers. 

See also Russ Veldman exploring South African schools. 

For other related posts about the Th.D. program and seminaries, you can try my categories:

Th.D. / Ph.D.

Seminaries

See also my post:

Advice about moving to Durham, North Carolina

 

The Ecclesiology of John Howard Yoder paper

I am placing online the major paper I wrote this summer:  The Ecclesiology of John Howard Yoder: Scripture, Five Practices of the Christian Community, and Mission.

It is 96 pages and I don't expect many to read it but it might be helpful for someone. 

Here are my casual blogpost-informal introductory comments; you can read my academic phrasing in the paper. 

I find Yoder's writings on the church to be enormously inspiring.  Some people caricature Yoder as a "bury your head in the sand" "come out from them and be separate" sectarian who supports Christians huddling together as the world goes to hell in a handbasket.  (That's a lot of cliches).  His point of view is much better summarized as: "let's walk our talk"--Why do we expect people to want to become Christians if we don't live as Jesus did?  This seems to me to be basic Christianity.  (Make disciples . . . Matt 28:18-20).  Yoder writes a book called For the Nations in 1997, while Stanley Hauerwas wrote Against the Nations in 1992--note well the difference in emphasis.  Not only is this missionary emphasis explicit in his later writing, Yoder's emphasis on the importance of the church being missional is found in his 1967 essay "A People in the World" in The Royal Priesthood and greatly resembles the paradigmatic missional theologian Lesslie Newbigin's understanding of the church as missional.  (See page 70 of my paper.  By the way, Newbigin drew upon Yoder regularly in his writings and did not caricature Yoder). 

Similarly, in the last 17 years of his life (1980-1997), there is very little emphasis in Yoder's writings on pacifism which is what he is most famous / infamous for.  He deliberately tried in these later years to show that his ecclesiology was much more multifaceted and fruitful than this emphasis.  The idea that Yoder = pacifism is another caricature that must be debunked.  

Still, I do offer some critiques of Yoder's ecclesiology in my paper.  I argue that the five practices that he presents in Body Politics (as well as in various other places) do not adequately represent the main practices of the early church.  As he admits, they are "sample" practices--not necessarily the most central ones (and I argue they are of particular interest to him as an ethicist interested in moral discourse)--but the casual reader could easily get the idea that these are the main practices that characterize the New Testament church.  (See pages 13-15 of my paper).  I argue for example that the Acts 2:42-47 arguably better represent the early church's life than the five practices Yoder draws out of the New Testament. 

Along these same lines, I also think he does not adequately capture the importance of leaders (specifically the apostles in the New Testament) and teaching.  By his emphasis on the multiplicity of gifts and the open meeting, he gives the impression that we do not need leaders, nor someone to show up at the open meeting adequately prepared to present something that edifies the community.  Though I am a huge fan of interacting with the congregation in preaching, shared leadership, and gift-based ministry, I think Yoder does not adequately address the central importance in the New Testament of someone like the apostle Paul.  There is no place in Yoder's ecclesiology for someone doing the kind of leading and teaching that Paul did and my sense is that this leading and teaching function need to be taken up somehow in all Christian communities.  I am making quite a pedestrian boring point here I think--churches are not wrong in thinking that often there will be a very good Bible teacher in the community who will also exercise leadership in shaping the direction of the community--Yoder does not want to say this because he is trying to emphasize the priesthood of all believers.  Again, you will need to read the whole paper to see my full arguments on these points. 

Therefore, here is my advice for people who are Yoder fans.  If you liked his Body Politics, you need to see how you can incorporate those excellent practices in your church but at the same time, you may need to keep other good practices like the practice of teaching Scripture. 

If you think the church is a boring, bureaucratic sleepy organization where mediocre people dutifully show up to pay their dues, then Yoder is what you need.  For Yoder, the church is the means by which God intends to change the world.  It is a laboratory run by revolutionaries who intend to undermine all that is wrong with the world by the way they love one another.  Amen to that. 

Download The_Ecclesiology_of_John_Howard_Yoder.pdf

Download The_Ecclesiology_of_John_Howard_Yoder.doc

   

See my posts:
Based on Yoder's five practices: Everything I needed to know about the church I learned at Taylor University.
John Howard Yoder on Voting
I recommended Yoder's Body Politics at my post: Best book on ecclesiology I read this year.

See also my major paper: The Missional Ecclesiology of Rowan Williams.

Books mentioned in this post:

Birthday Personal Update: Th.D. Program, Kids, Amy, and Social Networking

Today is my birthday--a special day but I am thankful for every day for three reasons: I am thankful for my doctoral studies, for spending time with my kids, and for my wife's work at our church.  I have given updates below on all three plus my updated social networking information.   

1. I am thoroughy enjoying the Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) program at Duke Divinity School. 

I have the opportunity to read great books on the church, mission and New Testament and converse with great colleagues and professors.  I finished my first year's coursework in which I did a lot of work in New Testament with Richard Hays, as well as significant reflection on the practices of the church in the writings of Rowan Williams and John Howard Yoder.  Now I have another year of coursework including German and Spanish language exams to do.  Next year (year 3) I will be doing preliminary / comprehensive exams in my two concentrations (The Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions and New Testament) and working through my dissertation proposal.  Then the fourth year I will be writing the dissertation.   

This fall I am taking three courses:

CHURMIN 399:THEOLOGY OF PASTORAL MINISTRY with Ken Carder.  Carder is a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church.  I am also serving as a preceptor for his course CHURMIN 110: Introduction to Christian Ministry.  I have posted the books for that course in the right column.  Carder has also done quite a bit of writing for the Lilly Endowment Inc. Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program at Duke Divinity School.  In this course, I will begin by reading Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care and Richard John Neuhaus's Freedom for Ministry.   

NEWTEST 399: MISSION & CHURCH IN PAUL with Douglas Campbell.  Campbell is a New Testament professor with significant interests in theology and ecclesiology.

AMXTIAN 294: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN RELIGION with Mark Chaves. Chaves oversees the National Congregations Study, the most comprehensive survey of American congregations.  Chaves wrote a book on the 1998 data called Congregations in America (Harvard University Press, 2004). The data for the 2006 study is beginning to be published.  Chaves has a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology at Duke as well as Duke Divinity School.     

2. I am enjoying spending time with our two boys. 

Ryan is three and Jacob will turn one on September 16.  I get to watch the boys Tuesdays, Thursdays, and parts of Saturdays and Sundays while Amy works (see below).  I have a separate blog where I am jotting down the funny things they say and do and basic developmental milestones.  Rowell Kids: Chronicling the lives of our kids. The boys are a delight.  I am trying to instill three things in the boys: Bible, books, and balls!  I am also often conscious that our kids will learn most from the kind of people we are.  In college, I want my kids to be able to say about me: my dad loves people.  What a challenge!  

3. I am thankful that my wife Amy is serving at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church. 

She is the Director of the Children's Ministry--Elementary age.  I have blogged about the church before at this post.  Amy continues to care for volunteers, to find where people are gifted, and to discern direction for the ministry.  I am thankful that she can do work she feels fulfilled doing and that we can survive financially with her 20 hrs per week salary and my stipend (which I am deeply grateful for) from the Foundation for Evangelism.

Other news about Blacknall:

• I am teaching an 8-week course this fall on Wednesday evenings on Philippians with Duke New Testament Ph.D. student Tim Wardle.  It is part of "Table Talk" where dinner will be served beforehand.  For the five courses, there are currently about 225 people signed up.  
• As far as I know, Blacknall continues to search for a Youth Pastor--we would love to have a friend join us.  See my post: Director of Youth Ministries position at Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC. 

Other social networking (Twitter, Facebook and Blogs I'm Following):

I have been using Twitter a bit.  You can only write 140 characters so it lends itself to short posts about what you are up to.  You can watch what I have been doing the last few weeks:

http://twitter.com/AndyRowell

or "follow me". 

I have also been changing my status a bit at Facebook account:

Facebook: 179202317

I basically keep my Facebook friends to people I know.  

Below are the 160 blogs I follow on Google Reader. 

My "Blogs Andy Rowell is following" Blogroll

• Adam Hamilton - Seeing Gray
• Addenda & Errata
• Alan Hirsch - The Forgotten Ways; from Australia,...
• Alan Nelson, Stan Toler, et al. - Rev! Unplugged
• Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals - Reformation21...
• Andrew Jones - TallSkinnyKiwi
• Andrew T. Le Peau - Andy Unedited; of InterVarsity...
• Andrew Thompson - Gen-X Rising, Th.D. student at Duke
• Andrew Ulasich - digging for mummies
• Andy Crouch - Culture Making
• Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations
• B.J. Woodworth - what's your wood worth?; PCUSA pastor...
• Baker Publishers - the church and postmodern culture:...
• Ben Myers - Faith and Theology
• Ben Witherington - Professor of New Testament at Asbury...
• Benji Kelley - pastor of NewHope Church in Durham,...
• Bill Easums Observations
• Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church
• Bob Roberts, Jr. - glocalnet; pastor of NorthWood...
• Brad Lomenick - Catalyst Conference
• Brenda McDonell (My Mom) - Bee's Nest
• Brian Bailey - Leave It Behind & Blogging Church
• Brian McLaren - author
• Brian Russell - realmealministries.org, Asbury Seminary...
• Brian Walsh - Empire Remixed
• BuildingChurchLeaders.com - Off the Agenda
• Byron Borger - Hearts & Minds Books
• C. Wes Daniels - gathering in light; Fuller Ph.D....
• Carlos Whittaker - Ragamuffin Soul
• CatalystSpace - Catalyst Conference Blog
• Chip & Dan Heath - Made to Stick; business authors
• Chris Scharen - faithasawayoflife; Director of the...
• Chris Smith - The Englewood Review of Books
• Chris Tilling - Chrisendom - Tubingen
• Christian Century - Theolog
• Christianity Today at the Movies: Reviews
• Christianity Today Liveblog
• Christianity Today Magazine
• Christianity Today Politics
• Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald - LifeChurch.tv:...
• Dan Buck - Unexposed Granite
• Dan Kimball - Vintage Faith
• Daniel Kirk - Sibboleth
• Darrell Bock, Mike Wilkins, Dan Wallace, Scot McKnight...
• Dave Ferguson - Velocity
• David Brooks - NYT Columns
• David Fitch - the great giveaway
• David Landt - The Way of Jesus
• David Neff - Ancient Evangelical Future; Editor at...
• David S. Broder -- Washington Post Politics Writer
• David Swanson - signs of life
• Dieter Zander Update
• DJ Chuang - djchuang.com
• Doug Pagitt - DougPagitt.com
• Duke Divinity and Religious Life
• Duke in the News Feed
• Duke News Tips
• Duke Opinion
• Duke Socratic Club Blog
• Duke University Religion Department
• Ed Young resources - CreativePastors
• Ekklesia Project
• Emergent Village
• Eric Swanson - Externally Focused Church
• First Things: On the Square
• Frank Viola - Reimagining Church
• Gary Friesen - Becoming a Millennial: 53-yr-old takes...
• Gary Thomas - A Certain Slant of Light
• Gary Thomas - garThoma
• George F. Will -- Washington Post Opinion Writer
• GetReligion - Commentary on how the press covers religion...
• Gifted for Leadership - A Community of Christian Women
• Gmail Blog
• Greg Boyd - Random Reflections
• Greg Surratt
• Halden Doerge - Inhabitatio Dei
• Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
• Holly Rankin Zaher - happydaydeadfish
• InterVarsity Press Editors - Behind the Books
• J.D. Greear - JDGreear.com - pastor of The Summit...
• J.R. Briggs - brokenstainedglass
• James K. A. Smith, Baker: the church and postmodern...
• James Mills - Ecclesial Dreamer...
• James R. Garringer Photography
• Jason Clark - Emergent-UK
• Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings
• Jeffrey Overstreet - Looking Closer
• Jim and Amy Spiegel - Wisdom and Folly
• Jim Plueddemann - The Missionary Iconoclast
• Jim Wallis and Friends - God's Politics
• John Mark Rutter - Theological Ruminator
• John Milbank - Nottingham Centre of Theology and Philosophy
• John Stackhouse - Professor of Theology at Regent...
• Jonathan Bow - pastor of Crosspointe Church in Cary,...
• Jonny Baker - jonnybaker
• Justin Taylor - Between Two Worlds
• Ken Castor - jesusfollower
• Kent Shaffer - churchrelevance.com
• Kevin D. Hendricks, et al. - Church Marketing Sucks
• Kirk Bartha - from theocity to lovelocity
• Koinonia - Zondervan Academic
• Kyle David Bennett - Fuller Ph.D. student
• Kyle King
• Leadership journal and resources for church leaders
• Leadership Network Book Blog
• Learnings @ Leadership Network
• LeRon Shults
• LeRon Shults, James K.A. Smith, John Franke, Klyne...
• Mark Batterson - Evotional, Thoughts on Life and Leadership
• Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Anthony Bradley, et al....
• Mark Galli - GalliBlog
• Mark Waltz | ...because People Matter
• Matt and Shannon McNeil - London McCalling
• Men's Health Home Page
• Michael Bird & Joel Willitts - Euangelion
• Michael Hyatt - Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO From...
• Michael Miller - NavPress Executive Publisher the...
• Nancy Beach
• Nelson Searcy - Renegade Pastor - Church Leader Insights...
• Nicole (My sister-in-law)- On the Run
• Nijay K Gupta - at Durham doing NT
• NT Gateway Weblog
• Out of Ur - Leadership Journal's Blog
• Perry Noble - Pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson,...
• Pete Rollins - author of How (Not) to Speak of God
• Peter Chattaway - FilmChat
• Peter Enns - a time to tear down | A Time to Build...
• Rebekah Eklund - the continuing adventures of Becky
• Richard Mouw - Mouw's Musings - The President's Blog
• Rob Wegner - EnterMission
• Ron Martoia - velocityculture
• Rowell Kids
• Ryan Bolger - TheBolgBlog
• Sameer Yadav - Theoblogical Investigations
• Scot McKnight - Jesus Creed
• Scott Collins-Jones - TRINIBLOG: FAITH. THEOLOGY....
• Scott Jones - Kansas West UMC Bishop Blogs and Columns
• Seth Godin - Blog
• Shane Tucker - Nascent Narratives from the Edge of...
• Sharon Hodde - She Worships
• Simply Strategic Show
• Steve Gisel - Asi Es La Vida...
• Steve Knight - knightopia.com | Journal
• Steve Taylor - e~mergent kiwi
• Taylor University News
• The CBE Scroll
• The Other Journal
• Think Christian
• Tim Conder - Wonderings & Wanderings
• Tim Keel's Blog
• Tim Sanders - Sanders Says
• Tim Stevens - LeadingSmart
• Todd Rhoades - Monday Morning Insight
• Tony Jones
• Tony Jones - The Church Basement Roadshow
• Tony Morgan | one of the simply strategic guys
• Will Samson - author of Justice in the Burbs
• Will Willimon - A Peculiar Prophet
• Willow Creek Assocation Children's Ministry
• Willow Creek Association Group Life

Updates: Family Photos, Courses, Books, Calendar, Facebook, LinkedIn, Favorite Podcasts

A few of you have emailed to ask about the delay in posts.  My family and I are well!   I am loving my doctoral work here at Duke!   All is well.   

Two excuses about blogging:
(1) Blogging about politics and abortion will definitely make blogging feel like a burden!  (See my last post and comments).   The topics in this post are much lighter!
(2) I have so many things I want to blog about that are related to church leadership but I just haven't found the time.  I think my coursework and family should get priority and the blog comes sometime later as I know you all agree!

In the meantime, here are some updates.

Family Photos  

We had some new family photos of our family taken: Amy, Ryan (2 1/2) and Jacob (5 months) and me.  One is posted to the right.  The album is here. 

Courses

My courses this semester are:

1. Scripture and Ethics with Richard Hays and Allen Verhey
2. Church and Ministry in the New Testament with Richard Hays
3. Theology of Mission with Laceye Warner
4. Leadership with Allan Lind at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.  I am just sitting in on this one.  Duke's business school, Fuqua, is ranked #9 by US News & World Report, #9 by BusinessWeek,and #12 by Forbes. 

Books

I have also updated the books I am reading this semester in the right column.

Calendar

I am preaching at:

• Clayton Presbyterian Church pastored by Monte Johnson in Clayton, NC on March 30th.
• Granville Chapel pastored by Andy Perrett in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada April 20th.

At both places my title is "Good News: Jesus is Enough" from Colossians 1:22-23 and Acts 11:17-18.

My wife Amy is speaking at the Granville Chapel Women's Retreat April 17-20 and then preaching at Granville Chapel April 27th.

I will also be at the "Jürgen Moltmann Conference" - the Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Wesleyan Theological Society Joint Meeting, hosted at Duke, March 13-15, 2008.  Calvin's James K. A. Smith will also be here. 

Facebook

Being a professor at Taylor University the last couple of years, I have been on Facebook for a while.  I recommend it as a way to connect with high school and college friends.  I don't use it for much else though you can spend lots of time on it! I recommend just putting up a profile and then waiting for friends to find you!  Facebook can produce a lot of emails unless you limit it to just Friend requests.  You have to join Facebook to see my full profile.  See my Facebook profile at this link.  My profile is a good example of a pretty basic one.    

LinkedIn

I am also on LinkedIn which is a networking site.  My LinkedIn profile is at this link. 

Favorite Podcasts

My favorite podcasts are (in alphabetical order):

• BusinessWeek - Cover Stories - interesting to hear an interview between the executive editor and writer of each week's cover story. 
• BusinesWeek - The Welch Way - interesting to hear former CEO of GE and business management guru Jack Welch answer questions. 
• Catalyst Podcast - great interviews with church leaders
• CNN Reliable Sources - video podcast that you watch.  Great to hear media critics discuss how the media has covered the stories in the news each week. 
• NBC Nightly News - Amy and I often watch this at night when it downloads between 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm Eastern time.  It is on TV at 6:30 pm but we usually miss it. 
• Lots of preachers

These links will only work if you have iTunes installed (which is a free program).  I have explained podcasts before at this link.

Music

I am loving using Pandora for internet radio.  Free!

Firefox

If you are an Internet Explorer person, I would encourage you to try Mozilla Firefox which is very similar to Internet Explorer but I find it much faster in opening.  It is a free download.      

Home Page - iGoogle and Gmail

My home page tabs are iGoogle and Gmail.  I am enjoying them both. 

Photo

I also have a new photo on my blog biography page.

Bonhoeffer / Emerging Church paper and AETE

[I have revised this post].

At the last minute I was asked to be ready to present my paper on Bonhoeffer and Emerging Church movement at the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education meeting.  But as it turned out, they didn't need me as all four presenters showed up.  The AETE met this year in Ashland, Ohio at Ashland Seminary. 

The paper I was going to present was the one I wrote for my Duke Th.D. application.  It has been on my blog for six months and I have made the changes people suggested there.  You can see it at: Bonhoeffer and the Emerging Church: Ph.D. Application Paper

"Who is the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education?", you might ask.  The professors on the board are United Methodist, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, evangelical Anglican and Southern Baptist.  The theme of this annual meeting was "engaging the emerging church." (Download AETE publicity.pdf).

The presenters this year were:

Bob Whitesel - who is a church consultant, author, adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is finishing his Ph.D. at the School for Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary.  Bob tried to describe the way organic / emerging / missional church leaders think.  He tries to help older church leaders understand this mindset.      

Paul Chilcote - who is a visiting professor of evangelism at Duke Divinity School shared a paper comparing various positive aspects of the emerging church movement to the work of John Wesley. 

Bryan Stone - who is a E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at the School of Theology at Boston University, pointed out that though the emerging church may appear at first glance disgusted by the institutional church, it is deeply focused on seeing people connected into community. 

Len Sweet - who is E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University also presented comments about the emerging church movement.

There were also a couple of papers presented by Southern Baptist pastors, Adam Greenway and William Henard.  Henard is an adjunct professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and Greenway is a Ph.D. student.  They both have concerns with Brian McLaren's view of Scripture, doctrine, atonement, evangelism, and ethics. 

The United Methodist E. Stanley Jones Professors of Evangelism from various United Methodist seminaries sometimes attend this meeting and then meet afterward together.  The Foundation For Evangelism which funds the E. Stanley Jones professors of evangelism are also funding my doctoral program.

My first papers: Critical Reflections on Practical Theology texts

I thought I would post some initial papers I have been writing for one of my classes. 

I had the late Stanley Grenz for Pastoral Ethics and Systematic Theology C while I was at Regent College.  For Grenz's Systematic Theology C course, we needed to take a stand on a number of controversial issues.  We wrote papers on the role of the Holy Spirit for today, the marks of the church, and an aspect of eschatology.  He would say, "Turn your paper in on time.  This is not your final word for all time on the subject.  All of our writing is provisional.  What you turn in will be your opinion on that day based on the time you were able to put in toward looking at this issue."   

So here are my initial papers.  They are what they are.  They are three page papers which were the best I could do with the time that I had on the day they were due.  I have given you the amazon link to the book my paper critically reflects on and then a link to the pdf document of the paper I wrote. 

Th.D. Seminar: Explorations in Practical Theology with Mary McClintock Fulkerson and Richard Lischer.

• 

  Michael Warren: At This Time, in This Place: The Spirit Embodied in the Local Assembly

Download at_this_time_in_this_place Amazon.com review and my notes.pdf

• 

  Dorothy Bass: Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People (The Practices of Faith Series)

Download practicing_our_faith three page paper on forgiveness.pdf

• 

  Edward Farley: Theologia

Download Theologia paper about Th.D. program and Amazon.com Review.pdf

One of my collegues in the Th.D. program Sameer Yadav also blogged about this book. 

• 

  Alasdair MacIntyre: After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition

Download after_virtue_alasdair_macintyre_paper.pdf   

• 

  Don S. Browning: A Fundamental Practical Theology: Descriptive and Strategic Proposals

Download fundamental_practical_theology.pdf

 

My Courses This Fall and Birthday Update

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first two weeks in the Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) program at Duke Divinity School.  I am taking three classes and auditing one.  I have described a little about the classes below and then have written a little personal update.   At the end of that, I have placed links to the books we are reading this semester.   

• Exegesis of Matthew Doctoral Seminar with Richard B. Hays. I am going to be doing a presentation later in the semester on Matthew 18 on "The Church in Matthew" and doing an exegesis paper on the "confrontation process" in Matthew 18.  There are two Ph.D. Duke University New Testament students, four Th.D. students, and a Th.M. student in that course.  Hays is also teaching an English exegesis of Matthew and Greek Exegesis of Matthew course this semester.  He has a book review called "Benedict and the Biblical Jesus" in First Things this month (August/September 2007) on Pope Benedict's new book Jesus of Nazareth.  (You can only read the article online if you have a First Things subscription).  It is not an entirely flattering review.  Hays didn't mention the review in class but I saw it at the library.   If you haven't heard of Hays, he is a well-known (though not to you), New Testament scholar who has written a lot about: the use of the Old Testament in Paul's letters, the Pauline phrase "faith in Christ Jesus vs. faith of Christ Jesus," the ethical teachings of the New Testament; and has written commentaries on Galatians and 1 Corinthians.  I was definitely drawn to Duke because of Hays.  Though an outstanding scholar, he has a heart for the church.   (See his books here at Amazon). 
  
• Theology of Rowan Williams with L. Gregory Jones. We are reading basically all of Rowan Williams books.  Williams is the archbishop of Canterbury which means he is the head of the entire Anglican communion which is in a turmoil right now.  (See The Last Stand of Rowan Williams by Duke Divinity School student Jordan Hylden on the First Things blog for a great recent summary (August 30th)).  I am taking this course with two other students.  I also really wanted to study with Dean Jones (as they call him here at Duke Divinity School as the leader of the school) because of his interest in church ministry, theological education, leadership and theology.  (See Jones's books here and Williams's books here). 
• Th.D. Seminar: Explorations in Practical Theology with Mary McClintock Fulkerson and Richard Lischer.  This is our one required course for the Th.D. program so the 7 of us first year Th.D. students are all in there together.  I am really enjoying this course as well.  I have read Open Secrets by Lischer (his memoir about being a young rural pastor) so it is great to get to have him for class.   Here are Fulkerson's books.
• German Academic Research I with Derrick Miller. I have blogged about this class below in an update at the bottom of my How to Read Theological German post.  In short, I have taken the test for my German proficiency requirement but haven't heard if I have passed yet so I'm auditing this course.  It is good practice.

Personal update:

1. Today is my birthday . . . that oh, so important 32.  We had the other Th.D. students over Friday night to celebrate and hang out. 
2. I'm going to get new headphones for my birthday so I can listen to my MP3 player again. 
3. We are still waiting for baby boy 2 to be born around September 26th.
4. I am working as a research assistant for professor Randy Maddox ten hours per week tracking down references and preparing digital historical documents.
5. I am going to the The Academy of Evangelism for Theological Education Annual Meeting October 4-6 at Ashland Seminary in Ashland, OH.  The Evangelism Professors and Fellows (like me) funded by the Foundation For Evangelism will meet after that conference on Saturday afternoon the 6th.
6. Preview: I have just written something on Will Willimon but I am seeing if I can get it published somewhere else instead of just posting it here on the blog.
7. In light of my old age, I have changed the blog from white font on black background to black font on white background.  Hope you like it.      

Here are the books we are reading this semester.  They are in order by first name of the author. 

Books I'm reading for Doctoral Program

• 

  Alasdair MacIntyre: After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition

• 

  Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore: Let the Children Come: Reimagining Childhood from a Christian Perspective

• 

  Don S. Browning: A Fundamental Practical Theology: Descriptive and Strategic Proposals

• 

  Dorothy Bass: Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People

• 

  Edward Farley: Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education

• 

  James D. G. Dunn: Jesus Remembered

• 

  James, W. Fowler: Faith Development and Pastoral Care

• 

  Mary McClintock Fulkerson: Places of Redemption: Theology for a Worldly Church

• 

  Michael Warren: At This Time, in This Place: The Spirit Embodied in the Local Assembly

• 

  Nancy Ammerman, Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley, and William McKinney: Studying Congregations: A New Handbook

• 

  Patrick R. Keifert: Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism

• 

  Robert D. Putnam: Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community

• 

  Robert Wuthnow: After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion

• 

  Rowan Williams: Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel

• 

  Rowan Williams: Writing in the Dust: After September 11

• 

  Rowan Williams: Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement

• 

  Rowan Williams: A Ray of Darkness: Sermons and Reflections

• 

  Rowan Williams: Wound of Knowledge: Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross

• 

  Rowan Williams: Why Study The Past?: The Quest For The Historical Church

• 

  Rowan Williams: Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief

• 

  Rowan Williams: On Christian Theology

• 

  Stanley Hauerwas: Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible)

• 

  Thomas H. Groome: Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision

• 

  Ulrich Luz: The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew

• 

  Ulrich Luz: Matthew 8-20: A Commentary (Hermeneia: a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible)

• 

  Vincent J. Miller: Consuming Religion: Christian Faith And Practice in a Consumer Culture

• 

  W. D. Davies and Dale Allison: Commentary on Matthew VIII-XVIII: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew (International Critical Commentary, Vol. 2)

• 

  William T. Cavanaugh: Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ

How to Learn to Read Theological German

See my new website Theological German: Advice and Resources

for my best advice about learning to read theological german.  

July 1, 2009

 

Moving, Summer Schedule and New Email Address

June 3, 2007 (See updates to this post farther down in the post). 

Dear All,

Sorry for not blogging much recently but we are busy preparing to move from Upland, Indiana to Duke, North Carolina.  I am going to be doing my Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) at Duke Divinity School.   The full update about that is at my post Starting Doctor of Theology (Th.D) at Duke Divinity School in the fall. 

Schedule

Here is our upcoming schedule if you want to keep track of us or meet up with us. 

• June 5-7 Wheaton, Illinois. Visiting my parents
• June 13 Upland, Indiana. Packing the PODS moving container.
• June 14-17 Traverse City, Michigan. Wedding for Deepak Prabhaker and Corinne Fosdick.  I am giving homily.  Deepak is a high school friend of mine. 
• June 17 Grandville, Michigan.  Amy and I are attending church at Rob Bell's Mars Hill Bible Church on Sunday at 11:00. 
• June 18 Drive to Durham, North Carolina. 
• June 19-21.  Paint inside of house. 
• June 23.  Move stuff in to house. 
• July-August.  Teach myself to read German to pass language exam in the fall if possible.  I haven't been able to find anyone yet to study with me. 

New email address

I have also updated my email address.  My primary address will be andy.rowell@ gmail.com (There is no space).  I don't plan on ever posting that one on the web in its entirety to try to keep away the spam.  I have another one listed on this website rowell.andy@ gmail.com.  That one will be forwarded to the main account.      

I also have a Duke email address but since it is limited to 100 MB and gmail gives you 2860 MB I am just going to go with the gmail one.  If you are curious, it is andy.rowell@ duke.edu (there is no space) - that will also be forwarded to the main account.  Perhaps if I am writing any serious proposals, I will use the duke address but the practical aspects of the gmail one are strong!

I can send you a gmail invitation so you can get gmail if you email me and ask. LATER NOTE: Anyone can now sign up for gmail.  No invitations are needed. 

My wife Amy's new email address is rowell.amy@ gmail.com (no spaces).  Her website is http://www.amyrowell.net/

I used How to Import Archived Outlook Email Into GMail Using GML - wikiHow to import our Taylor University email messages into gmail.

I will blog again soon.  Until then, there are lots of other good things to read and listen to.  See my:

The Best Blogs for Church Leaders to Read

Best Podcasts for Church Leaders

I have also been reading Christianity Today's new LiveBlog. 

Grace and peace, 

andy

Update July 9, 2007:

We have arrived in Durham and are getting settled.  The photo below was taken July 1st in front of Duke Chapel. 

Update July 19, 2007

German

I have finished 10 of the 30 days of German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German by April Wilson.  I have made and used German Quickly flashcards on Flashcard Exchange.  (You can use them online for free or pay $20 for a lifetime membership for access to printing them.  I used this site when I studied for the GRE last year.  See my post about the GRE here).   

July 21, 2007

Email update

I send out an email yesterday to friends and family with our new phone numbers and address.  If I didn't email you and you are a friend, I don't have your email address!

Here is the quick update I sent to people:

• I am starting my Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) degree this fall at Duke Divinity School. 
• We thoroughly enjoyed serving as professors of Christian ministry at Taylor University the last two years.
• We have purchased our first home and have moved to Durham, NC.   
• Amy is due to have Baby #2 September 27th.  It's a boy. 
• Ryan turned 2 in April and is doing well. 
• It will probably take me about five years to finish the program. 
• Amy is hoping eventually to work part-time in pastoral ministry at a church.

Starting Doctor of Theology (Th.D) at Duke Divinity School in the fall

Update: see my March 2009 post: Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology

Original post:

Lots of news: This fall I am starting Duke Divinity School's Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) program.  We bought a house today in Durham, NC.  And we are having baby 2 in September!   

Below I have answered the basic questions. 

What is the Th.D.? 

The Th.D. stands for Doctor of Theology.  It is the equivalent to the Ph.D.  Duke University's Graduate Program in Religion has offered an outstanding Ph.D. program for many years.  The Th.D. will be headquartered in Duke Divinity School.  This is only the second year that the Th.D. degree has been offered by Duke Divinity School.  Like Duke, Harvard University has a Ph.D. and Harvard Divinity School has a Th.D.  I will be able to take courses at Duke University. 

This degree differs from the Doctor of Ministry or D.Min. which is offered by many seminaries.  The D.Min. is a degree which can be done by pastors while they are in full-time ministry.  The D.Min. takes about three years and pastors spend a couple of weeks a year on campus at the seminary.  It is loosely equivalent to another masters degree.  The Ph.D. or Th.D. are 4-7 year full-time academic degrees that prepare people for work as professors.

 

What do you hope to do with the Th.D.?

I hope to serve as professor of Christian ministry at a Christian college or seminary.  I also hope to continue in church leadership. 

What are you going to study?

My area of concentration is ""Scripture and the Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions."  I'm hoping to do qualitative research on a few innovative churches and effective church leaders and analyze them through the foci presented by Duke professor Richard Hays in his book Moral Vision of the New Testament.  The foci are cross, community and new creation.  Duke has an outstanding faculty and I hope to learn from many of them. 

 

How long is the program?

The first two years I take three courses per semester.  I'm trying to decide what to take next year.  Here is the list of courses.  The third year I prepare for comprehensive exams and nail down my dissertation proposal.  The fourth year I crank out that dissertation.  However, most people in the Duke University Ph.D. in Religion take 5-7 years so we'll see. 

When are you moving to North Carolina?

We bought a house today in Durham and the closing is June 15 so we will move from Upland, IN around then.  We were in Durham last week for a Th.D. orientation day and house-hunting.

What will Amy be doing? 

My wife Amy Rowell is going to be having Baby Rowell #2 around September 26th.  We're excited.  Hopefully she won't have this one two months early like last time.  We're very excited about baby 2. 

We are also really praying that she will find a pastoral position in a church.  She is interested in the areas of adult discipleship, preaching, women's ministry, small groups and pastoral care.  Amy is currently serving as a professor of Christian Ministry at Taylor University where she teaches courses such as Personal Foundations for Ministry and Ministry by Women in the Contemporary Context.  She has her MDiv from Regent College and won the preaching award there.  She has served on the pastoral staff at a number of churches.  Thanks for praying that she will find a position where she can use her gifts.

Do you have any advice about applying for Ph.D. programs in church leadership?

I wrote blog posts about my Ph.D. application process and my advice about the GRE and my CV.   

Bonhoeffer and the Emerging Church: Ph.D. Application Paper

Update January 31, 2007.

I have posted below the revised paper.

Update December 31, 2006
I have posted below the revised paper.You are still welcome to give me feedback for later deadlines though the immediate deadline is passed.

Original post December 23, 2006
It is crunch time now and I'm getting my application materials ready for Princeton, Luther, Fuller and Emory in about a week.  Duke is a month later.  See my quick update about the Ph.D. here.
I would love it if any of you wanted to read my paper and give it some feedback.   
The paper is about Bonhoeffer and the Emerging Church movement.  I think it is worthwhile stuff but I would appreciate your advice about things to change.  Not academic enough?  Work on the writing? Focus more? 
I have attached it below. 

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church.doc

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church.pdf

Thanks so much.  Thanks for your prayers.  I hope you are well.  Merry Christmas.
andy

Ph.D. Application Update

Update: please see my March 06, 2009 post Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology

Original December 2006 post:

I am applying to Ph.D. programs in Practical Theology for next fall.  Most applications are due December 31st. 

I'm applying at the following schools (in no particular order):

• Duke Divinity School (Th.D. - Practice of Leading Religious Communities and Institutions, Ethics, New Testament)
• Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D. Practical Theology - Christian Education)
• Fuller Theological Seminary (Ph.D. School of Theology, Practical Theology - Missional Leadership)
• Luther Theological Seminary (Ph.D. Congregational Mission and Leadership)
• Emory University (Ph.D. Person, Community, and Religious Life)

Each program is excellent and I am excited about them for different reasons.  In my area only 1-3 students is accepted per year at each school.  Anything can happen in the admissions process.  It is very competitive.  In the broader pool, you are competing with all of the church history, systematic theology, ethics, New Testament, and Old Testament applicants.  Some of them have never left the library and done a practical thing in their life and therefore look pretty darn good on paper. In this pool about 20 are accepted for 150 spots.  That is about average for these schools.  And even fewer get funding.  Did I mention that it is competitive? 

Everyone asks me what my top choice is.  I would like to be accepted to all five programs and then have the happy problem of having to choose where do go based on what they offer me and a zillion other factors . . . but did I mention that they are competitive and that therefore this is unlikely?

These programs all weigh heavily your GRE score (which I take December 15), your foreign languages, your references, your grades, where you went to school, your personal statement, and your writing sample.   See my comments on taking the GRE here. 

Perhaps some of you didn't know that I don't have a Ph.D. I'm 31 years old and I have only have my MDiv.  Amy and I are teaching at Taylor University in our second year of 1 year contracts.  We were able to slip in without the typical Ph.D. because there was a one year position that needed to be filled.  Surprisingly, another one year gap presented itself this year.  We are enjoying teaching.  Amy and I share 26 credits.  (One full-time load is 24 credits).  We teach different courses and share the parenting load.  It is great. 

I'm very excited about doing my Ph.D. in order to deepen and learn and prepare myself for further leading, teaching, writing and ministry.  I look forward to continuing to serve the church by equipping pastors and young people in the seminary and university. 

Amy and I also have a deep love for the local church.  It would not be surprising if we ended up spending more time in leadership of a local church.  Amy misses church leadership greatly.  She would likely serve as an associate pastor part-time while I worked on my Ph.D and we would continue to coparent.

My interests in studying include:

• Ecclesiology
• How young adults in their 20's are integrated into church leadership structures
• How emerging church values are affecting megachurches
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Pauline ecclesiology
• New Testament ethics
• Bridging theology and practice
• Practical theology
• The use of Scripture by church leaders to explain church strategies
• How contemporary business models affect models of church

I would appreciate your prayers in the next month as I contact references, finish my sample paper, and take the GRE.  (And grade papers, teach classes, get transcripts . . . You'll also hopefully understand if the blog gets neglected a little. 

Grace and peace to you.

andy

Update:

Give me feedback on my Ph.D. sample paper here.   

Other recommended links about the Ph.D. Application Process:

T Brookins on
Getting Accepted to the Ph.D: Preface
Saturday, March 29, 2008

Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog

Thinking about a Ph.D.?

July 4, 2008

Sean Michael Lucas, Chief Academic Officer and Associate Professor of Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary, has written a post about the phenomenon of seminarians getting sick of the church and falling in love with their professors and becoming infatuated with getting their Ph.D.  He tries to set them straight:Ministerial Students, Calling, and PhD Studies

There is a sober and comprehensive description of the New Testament Ph.D. process by Nijay Gupta, a Ph.D. student at Durham University: Interested in a NT PhD?

There are also a lot of links at Durham Ph.D. student Ben Blackwell's blog:

• About Me and My Thesis
• Living in the UK
• Moving to the UK
  • Costs for moving to the UK
  • Keeping In Touch
  • Settling In
  • US to UK Moving Tips
• PhD in Durham
  • Initial Thoughts
  • So Why Durham?
  • Why St. John’s?
• PhD Pointers
  • PhD Fellowships & Grants
  • The Thesis Proposal
  • UK NT Lecturers

Durham Ph.D. student Kevin Bywater's Why a PhD?

How to Study for the GRE

The GRE is a standarized test like the SAT or ACT you took in high school.  You take it on a computer.  You can basically take it anytime you want as long as there are spots at the test center near you (universities, etc.).  It is wise to sign up a month ahead of time to make sure you don't have a problem getting in.    

You have to take it to get in to most Ph.D. programs in the United States.  It is usually not required in the UK.  You may also take it to get into competitive masters programs.  (Seminaries don't require it for Master degrees or DMin programs).  Of course, anyone may read this but I am specifically writing for those like me and my friends who went to seminary and then decided to apply to Ph.D. programs in Religion (like Systematic Theology, Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Practical Theology and Philosophy).   See my category Ph.D. for my full Ph.D. journey.

Here is my advice regarding studying for the GRE.  You should read the official info about the test at the ETS website.   

I took it last December and am taking it again December 15. 

My friends who got into Ph.D. programs in Religion (at Harvard University, Baylor University and University of Chicago) had both Math and Verbal scores over 700.  (Perfect is 800 and 800).  They had writing scores of 5.5 (out of a perfect 6.0).  

There are also a few other statistics about the GRE:

• GRE (Duke University Graduate Program in Religion Ph.D.averages 729 Verbal and 739 Quantitative). 
  
• Duke Divinity School Th.D. FAQ #6: "There is no specific minimum score. Students admitted to the Th.D. through our first four years had a mean GRE verbal score of 690 and a mean GRE quantitative score of 655."  See my post How to Study for the GRE.

This test is not all about intelligence.  It is a lot about how much you study. 

If you are not trying to get into some prestigious program, don't stress about this test. 

If you are, do pay attention.  If you do well, you get paid to do your graduate work.  If you don't, you may not get in to that prestigious program that awards fellowships (grants, scholarships, $).  You don't have to believe me.  But ask other students, professors you are interested in studying with, Ph.D. studies offices, and see how your prospective school weighs your GRE score.  Sadly, many weigh it highly.  They also seriously take into account your grades, references, personal essay, personal visit, writing sample and foreign languages.      

It is not unreasonable to start studying for the GRE 9 months in advance.  But if you have two weeks, you will only have time to familiarize yourself with the test and take a couple practice tests.  Definitely do that. 

There are computer practice tests that you can take from ETS for free with your GRE registration.  The Kaplan and Barron's books also provide them.   

1. Vocabulary. 

Get Barron's How to Prepare for the GRE.

From my experience, it is the best prep book.  Kaplan's GRE Premier Program is good too and perhaps more accessible.  But Barron's is more comprehensive. 

Study the words for as many months as you can.  Figure out a system of going through them. 

Make flashcards of the ones you don't know.  I don't think you can buy flashcards of the whole Barron's list right now.  The Kaplan GRE Exam Vocabulary Flashcards Flip-o-matic is a Flipbook not flashcards and is not as helpful as real flashcards.  There are many online free vocab games.  There are also some you can download for free to do on your computer.  But I like to walk around and study words and not be tied to my computer. 

I used http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ It was ok.  There is no way to rate how good the lists are which is a huge problem.  At flashcardexchange, I recommend the 20 part Barron's list from 2004 that someone took the trouble to type in.  You can use flashcardexchange for free if you just want to do online quizzing (but that is a waste because there are better sites).  It costs $20 for a lifetime membership of printing and using the site to its fullest. 

Believe it or not, I printed off the Barron's list.  Lots of flashcards.  I used 24 point font for words ("questions") and 18 point font for definitions ("answers").  It worked ok.  It was a place to start and better than doing it myself.  It took some serious paper and ink cartridges though.   

The Barron's list has about 3,500 words.  You will know 75% of them probably already.  I did 90 words a day six days a week.  I should have done 100 words a day 5 days a week and then reviewed on Saturdays.  Take Sunday off.   

Use Google News to search for the ways a word is used today in news.  (I just searched news in the United States by picking that in Advanced New Search).  This will help you remember it.  I also searched at nytimes.com how words were used. 

I also liked looking up words at dictionary.com. At dictionary.com, my favorite dictionary was WordNet and Word of the Day.

I wrote hints from this info on the back of cards I had printed out (by the definitions). 

Whew.  We'll see how I do.  I have a lot of reviewing to do in the next two weeks.   

You also need to learn to read fast.  But this is tough to teach I think.  I have been listening to Nature and Scientific American podcasts to help get me thinking like a scientist.  (Some of the readings are from science journals that I never typically read).

You need to practice the specific kind of questions on the test.   

2. Math

Get a tutor.  I hired a sophomore secondary education Math major and met three times a week.  I paid her $10 an hour. 

Use the Barron's book. 

Do lots of problems.

Use a pencil and blank paper in practice.  No automatic pencils.  Before last year's test day, I hadn't held a #2 pencil in five years.   

Princeton Theological Seminary has told me they don't care about your math score.  But all the other schools apologize that it matters to them but they still admit that it does.

You will have to learn to do questions quickly or skip them. 

A lot of engineers take this test and get perfect 800. 

3. Writing

Practice. 

You can see all the possible topics. "View the entire pool of Issue topics and Argument topics."  But I didn't read through all of them.  I didn't have time. 

You can pay $10 to get your essays graded to see how you are doing. "ScoreItNow! Online Writing Practice"   

I was only able to get 5.0 on these ScoreItNow! tests in three tries but it was excellent practice. 

I hope this has been helpful.

Update:

I did my GRE December 15th.   

690 Verbal, 96% scored below
700 Quantitative, 70% scored below
5.5 on writing, 87% scored below

I knew every single vocabulary word which was great but many of the analogies were still difficult and I took too much time on them.  What killed me was one particularly brutal reading comprehension section with like 5 questions on something scientific.  Therefore, I barely improved after all of my efforts studying for the verbal.  I was bummed to miss 700 by 1 notch but 96% below is still pretty good.

The quantitative is a bit humorous.  I tried to work out as many questions as possible (about the first 20) and the last 8 I guessed in the last 30 seconds.

No regrets on the writing.      

Postscript: March 2009

I did get into Duke Divinity School's Th.D. program and have written all about the Ph.D. / Th.D. application process at

Advice about Duke Th.D. and Ph.D programs in theology