cadences

Hi DCole123, are you an international applicant?

Hi Pantherpunk87, His/Her nick's BowTiesAreCool, just fyi. "Doubleshot" refers to his/her 'rank' on the Gradcafe forums based on the number of posts s/he's put up. Newcomers often make this mistake, so I figured that I should tell you off the bat. Welcome to the forum, btw, and good luck for your apps!

Yup, it's Roy Gane doing the teaching. Ah well, there's always a spanner in the works in one way or another, isn't there? I'm up in the Northeast too, but I can travel down...just that the dates won't work out. Bah.

I know this is coming a year late into the conversation, but I have been scouring the web for schools that offer ANE languages during the summer too, and I finally found one that does it regularly - Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary.* I've even managed to find a syllabus that's dated 2006, so they've been doing this for quite some time now. I just thought I'd share my findings, especially since I can't make it for their upcoming Ugaritic class - the dates just won't work for me, which is a real bummer :S Ah well. At least someone else can benefit from my Googling, hopefully. *It's part of Andrews University, and it's also ATS-accredited.

That's true - as how some of us here at PTS say, '"C" is for clergy.' P.S. Tongue-in-cheek remark, btw! Please don't hate, haha

I stand absolutely corrected!

It's a sign!

Lol!

Hi Wafer, I second what others are saying about getting a Master's degree, in particular because: 1) every discipline/sub-discipline has debates and central issues that are particular to it, and in order to get a good foundation for pursuing doctoral studies you would need to know the history and the current state of the discussions that are presently going on in your discipline/sub-discipline. Case in point: in order to pursue a PhD in, say, Genesis, I cannot not know the history of the documentary hypothesis, current responses to said documentary hypothesis, comparative work between Ancient Near Eastern texts and Genesis, the present state and direction of research in these areas, etc. - it is a given that an incoming PhD student would be entering the program with some basic knowledge of these discussions. I am sure it would be the same for Philosophy of Religion too - you sound like you have some philosophy-related background, but to really dig your hands into Philosophy of Religion you'll need to study Philosophy of Religion proper. 2) speaking as a Christian (and possibly Christian scholar *fingers crossed*), getting a Master's degree would also be good insofar as it would give you a chance to gain a broad knowledge of the Christian tradition. Especially since apologetics is not a new thing - the Apostolic/Early fathers, Eastern and Medieval theologians, the Reformers, etc. have all dealt with the questions that Apologetics is attempting to address; if Christian, then it would be quite amiss to ignore what all these voices have said. Plus, the apologetic endeavour cannot be taken simply and uncritically. On what theological foundations is current Apologetics built on? Can we rearrange the building blocks to develop a fresh apologetic paradigm? What can be explained apologetically, and what can't? How does the Bible come into play? How do we interpret the Bible (! this is a question that needs must be thought through regardless of which end of any spectrum you fall under!)? So, If you want to do Apologetics with the intention to contributing to the larger Christian body, then you need to have a good, working knowledge of the Christian tradition 'outside of' Philosophy of Religion, so to speak. I think jdharrison's suggestion of Fuller is worth pursuing, btw. But that's just me

LOL.

Hi Wafer, I think perhaps you and some of the forum members are starting to talk past each other, so perhaps if you'd care to elucidate us on your background we might be able to offer more informed advice (though, a caveat is in order here - you might not like what you hear, but I can confidently say that the people trying to advise you so far have only been trying to help and not to harm). What was your undergraduate major? Do you have a Master's degree in either religion and/or philosophy? Specifically, what kind of training did you receive in either of these disciplines i.e. coursework, languages, etc.? What school of thought or method has your prior training inclined towards? Who has influenced you, and are there any particular scholars you have in mind who you'd like to study under? For the record, I'm Pentecostal and studying at Princeton Seminary, which makes me someone from a conservative, experiential camp of Christianity studying in a moderate/left-leaning mainline school - all that to say, in case you might be afraid that someone's out to get conservatives here, I can attest to the fact that 1) most people on this forum have been are at least civil to me and more than frequently really happy to help , 2) there are a number people here who move in both 'conservative' and 'liberal' circles and so can understand where conservatives/evangelicals/whatever are coming from while being able to comment on the realities of academia, which may or may not fit within those labels.

Thanks for the note, furtivemode. I didn't know that. I'll go through them the next time then (another forum member has already offered to send me the PDF for the Calvin thesis). Cheers!

HI Guys, This might not be the best place to do this, but I figured no harm trying: I'm a student at PTS and I'm trying to write a paper on Calvin, but there's one resource directly related to my topic that our library doesn't hold but which can be found in electronic copy on Asbury's and Fuller's database. If there're any Fuller or Asbury students on this forum who are willing to help me get hold of this PDF, I'd be really grateful. Just to give a heads-up as to the document itself, it's an MA thesis written by a Wheaton graduate student entitled "Auricular Confession in the Theology of John Calvin". If you can/are willing to help, do drop me a PM and I'll communicate with you via my PTS email so you know that I'm legit. Thanks! P.S. I did think of using the interlibrary loan system to try to get hold of it, but I'd much prefer a PDF and I don't fancy spending an hour or so scanning the beast.

Ditto.

By the way, if you're looking at Princeton, consider Gordon Mikowski? He's a Christian Education professor in the practical theology department, but part of his research is the intersection of patristic theology, sacraments, and Christian education. I think he might be right up your alley.

Right. Thanks for the info!

Just a quick question, 11Q13: was your scholarship from Middlebury, or from your own institution? Thanks.

Dropped you a PM!

This is true. Although, I suspect an admissions committee might like musicfor18's language preparation? But still, you are correct in this.

Hi musicfor18, Notre Dame might be a very nice fit for you; check out their MA in Early Christian Studies program: http://classics.nd.edu/graduate-students/ma-in-early-christian-studies/

McMaster University (if you're looking to Canada).

Just a quick note about PTS: we do have some Islam-related courses, but not a lot (I can only think of two that are fairly regularly offered, off-hand). The MDiv program here is still very much focused on preparing Presbyterians for Christian ministry (in both ecclesial and non-ecclesial settings), and although the MDiv can be taken as an academic rather than ministerial degree, PTS' academic strengths are primarily in biblical studies and systematic theology (not that the other departments are not competent, but just saying that these two areas are the ones that really shine here). Also, even if one takes a world religions concentration here, South Asia (i.e. Hinduism) tends to receive more focus among the world religions professors. So all in all PTS might not be able to support a focused study of Islam, I'm afraid. P.S. Some might suggest that studying at PTS will allow you to take courses on Islam at the University, which is true, but academic regulations limit the number of university courses a seminary student can take.

I'm an international student, and when I applied for MA programs in the UK, I was asked about funding but only in a generic way i.e. I simply stated in a single sentence that I was looking to personal and family funds to pay for my fees, and I didn't have to show any proof or anything like that. (I was accepted.) It's a standard formality that's part of the application process. The one that you have to show proof of funds to would be the UK Border Agency, and that's when you're applying for your visa after you get accepted.

Ditto This is another reason why I would recommend applying to a PhD only after you're done with the STM/ThM...you would have a completed advanced Master's on hand with stellar grades as concrete proof that you're a competent potential PhD student. As for the time gap, it doesn't necessarily have to be a 'weakness' in your application - it really depends on how you sell yourself and your life experiences. If you can give it a positive spin in your SOP, it might end up being a strength too...again, it's how you sell yourself to the institution (to put it somewhat baldly).

Hey Kibble, Ditto to what Body Politics advised. Not only will applying a full year later give your referees two semesters to interact with you and get a more thorough understanding of you as a potential scholar, but the additional gap year will allow you to fill any gaps in languages which is very important for making a competitive application. Just a final note on what I said about letting professors know you as a potential scholar - this bit is important, because you want them to write you strong references. Some professors, out of politeness, will agree to write a recommendation for you because you asked but because they don't know you well enough, they'll write a run-of-the-mill reference and, well, there is nothing quite as damning as faint praise...