trollofinterest

I found this thread while scanning the web for info on similar topics. My situation is similar to yours, jdmelin. I am currently attending a Baptist college that is affiliated with a denomination that is even more conservative than the SBC, to which Southwestern B.T.S. belongs. My school (somehow) has full regional accreditation, but the statement of faith that the faculty sign includes doctrines like literal six-day creationism and others that many moderate-to-liberal Christians and secularists would find laughable. I, personally, have decided to wade (much) farther out into the world of scholarship when I am done here in the spring, and I could see myself in a position that is very much like yours 2-3 years from now. FWIW, (I mentioned how conservative the profs are at my school) a couple of my profs have received their PhD's from second-tier places like Saint Louis U and Loyola-Chicago within the last 10 years and have managed to publish work with some major university publishers. I know that you are aiming for top-tier schools and I'm not trying to get you to reconsider doing so, I plan to do the same in due time! However, I thought I would offer my example to encourage you in your efforts and share a couple examples with the forum of extreme conservatives who managed to make it through the world of critical scholarship. The environment in a HDS M.T.S. program will be much more difficult than a Jesuit PhD program, but if my inerrantist, 6-day creationist profs get through a NT/Early Christianity program at the schools I mentioned above, with some open-mindedness, I think you'll be fine in a liberal/secular PhD program. Also, the profs I'm thinking of got into their programs (funded with stipend) with M. Div.'s and Th. M.'s (one of them also had a M.A. from a very low-tier state university) from a denominational seminary that is much smaller and less well-known than Southwestern. Since you are aiming for TT schools, I think an additional degree from one of the big divinity schools will definitely improve your odds. But if you were to aim a little lower on the "respectability ladder," it'd probably be possible for you to get into a decent program without one.