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"Since 2005, enrollment at mainline Protestant seminaries has fallen by nearly 24 percent, he said, and denominational decline has been a driving factor."
It goes on to say:
"...now part-time pastorates are increasingly the norm as congregations with dwindling numbers can’t afford full-timers. Fewer would-be pastors want to incur five-figure student loan debt in exchange for a part-time job. So they don’t enroll."
So, the decline in church membership now is affecting intake of the oldest seminary in the USA. All the talk about church plantings and growing numbers at megachurches aside, this is just another nail in the coffin of mainstream Christian religion in America.
And the reaction from the fundies?
They get more and more vociferous. They think they are "winning"... sort of like Charlie Sheen. And his denials got him HIV.
Even though I am not a christian but it's somewhat a deceiving thread title.
It gives an impression as if the seminary is closing for good but that's not the truth.
You did pick and choose a few lines from the article that perhaps suited your ideology but you missed this one.
Quote:
On Thursday (Nov. 12), Andover Newton Theological School announced plans to relocate and sell its 20-acre campus in Newton, Mass.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,936,505 times
Reputation: 4561
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals
Even though I am not a christian but it's somewhat a deceiving thread title.
It gives an impression as if the seminary is closing for good but that's not the truth.
You did pick and choose a few lines from the article that perhaps suited your ideology but you missed this one.
Yet it has not made any arrangements yet, has it? It announced that it is talking to a number of other institutions to perhaps affiliate.
What I posted was correct, and accurate. It is closing due to declining enrollment, AND graduates can not get jobs due to churches closing. Accurate and real.
Disinterest in religion, severe shrinkage in leberal denominations. Not really a surprise. Many more will follow.
Its completely false to say fundamentalist type Christian denominations dont like education. There are many conservative Baptist seminaries. Confessional Lutherans also have seminaries that are accredited and graduate men with Doctors degrees.
I'm a 'Lutheran' by force of upbringing. I have no knowledge of Confessional Lutherans having seminaries that are accredited and graduate men with Doctors degrees. Doctors degrees? Really? Three of my uncles studies theology in America before going to Africa to either as missionaries or a city church minister. I seem to remember my one uncle mentioning studying in Minnesota - I could be wrong.
Disinterest in religion, severe shrinkage in leberal denominations. Not really a surprise. Many more will follow.
Its completely false to say fundamentalist type Christian denominations dont like education. There are many conservative Baptist seminaries. Confessional Lutherans also have seminaries that are accredited and graduate men with Doctors degrees.
I'm a 'Lutheran' by force of upbringing. I have no knowledge of Confessional Lutherans having seminaries that are accredited and graduate men with Doctors degrees. Doctors degrees? Really? Three of my uncles studies theology in America before going to Africa to either as missionaries or a city church minister. I seem to remember my one uncle mentioning studying in Minnesota - I could be wrong.
Does anyone know what has become of cupper3?
Cupper begat normstad, who's also been awol a while.
Disinterest in religion, severe shrinkage in leberal denominations. Not really a surprise. Many more will follow.
Its completely false to say fundamentalist type Christian denominations dont like education. There are many conservative Baptist seminaries. Confessional Lutherans also have seminaries that are accredited and graduate men with Doctors degrees.
Seminaries that issue Doctorates in what? Fairy tales? That is as useful as a Doctorate in the writings about Harry Potter.
Even as an atheist, I disagree with you on this. Religion is a legitimate field of study.
Please tell me why?
If you mean from a historical perspective, absolutely. But that is not what seminaries are all about. They purport to take scriptures, teach them as facts, and how to influence those of faith by reiterating what was taught in those seminaries.
As I said, you might as well be teaching a doctorate in Harry Potter or the Outlander. It is as valuable and arguably, more useful as moral teachings.
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