Professors who love Jesus

[dodgerblue32]

I am currently researching schools with Ph.D./Th.D. programs in New Testament. It is important to me as I study religion to do so from an evangelical perspective. As narrow as it may sound in the world of academia, I want to study under professors who love Jesus as the Lord of their lives. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to schools which should consider or schools I should not consider? Vanderbilt? Duke? Yale? Drew? Emory? Others?

[LateAntique]

I am currently researching schools with Ph.D./Th.D. programs in New Testament. It is important to me as I study religion to do so from an evangelical perspective. As narrow as it may sound in the world of academia, I want to study under professors who love Jesus as the Lord of their lives. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to schools which should consider or schools I should not consider? Vanderbilt? Duke? Yale? Drew? Emory? Others?

If it is important that you study the New Testament from an Evangelical perspective, I recommend you apply to schools where this is the stated nature of the program. If you're comfortable with writing papers that do not appeal to inerrancy or some other Evangelical belief, you could attend some of the places you listed. Places like Duke, Vanderbilt, etc, are going to have professors who are Christians of some stripe, but this will not necessarily be the underlying basis of their methodology. You ought to look into programs at places like Fuller, Dallas Theological, Wheaton, New Orleans Baptist, etc. Those places are quite comfortable with people doing NT scholarship within the bounds of Evangelicalism. Those schools will also have more currency in the circles in which you would likely teach.

[JonathanEdwards]

I’ll just chime in to point out that if you restrict yourself to just evangelical seminaries and liberal arts colleges, you won’t have access to nearly the same level of library resources, supervisory expertise, or funding. These limitations are why evangelical seminaries frequently prefer to hire university-trained faculty (provided that the confessional standards are adhered to).

Best wishes,

Westcott

[dodgerblue32]

That was my next question...do these more traditional seminaries offer doctoral programs with full funding?

[JonathanEdwards]

My understanding is that they do not.

Edited August 23, 2011 by Westcott

[LateAntique]

+1 - Many do not.

[aselfmadewinter]

I think Wheaton offers funding... I'm not entirely sure about that, but I remember looking into it briefly at one point and I think I remember something about it having funding for PhDs. Wheaton, if memory serves me right, is pretty evangelical.

I also know that Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto is very evangelical friendly. If you're willing to go outside of the U.S., the Toronto School of Theology at U of T is, in general, not a bad place to be an evangelical.

[LateAntique]

Also, we have several Evangelicals here at Notre Dame, so you could apply here if you don't mind having Catholic professors and colleagues.

Edited August 23, 2011 by LateAntique

[hildewijch]

Do you mean faculty who are practicing Christians, or solely those who would identify as evangelical? The latter is much more of a niche market, to say the least...

[braun_braun]

Nobody sees a problem with the way the heading question is formulated? WHat does it mean to love Jesus? I know many people that "love Jesus" and stand on oppossites sites of the political/religious spectrum. If you mean "I want to study with mysoginists, homophobes and left-wing scholars, that's fine. Just say so...

[Sparky]

Nobody sees a problem with the way the heading question is formulated? WHat does it mean to love Jesus? I know many people that "love Jesus" and stand on oppossites sites of the political/religious spectrum. If you mean "I want to study with mysoginists, homophobes and left-wing scholars, that's fine. Just say so...

Indeed, there are many ways to "love Jesus." That's why the OP asked the question bluntly in the post title--ever hear of a hook?--but then clarified in the post itself.

While it is true that evangelical Christianity in the U.S. has a pervasive, even dominant sexist and homophobic streak, it is equally true that (1) this is not true of all evangelicals, and (2) evangelicals by no means have a monopoly on misogyny and homophobia within Christianity, the academy, or American culture! (FFS.)

Edited August 30, 2011 by Sparky

[braun_braun]

I

Indeed, there are many ways to "love Jesus." That's why the OP asked the question bluntly in the post title--ever hear of a hook?--but then clarified in the post itself.

While it is true that evangelical Christianity in the U.S. has a pervasive, even dominant sexist and homophobic streak, it is equally true that (1) this is not true of all evangelicals, and (2) evangelicals by no means have a monopoly on misogyny and homophobia within Christianity, the academy, or American culture! (FFS.)

I fully agree with both statements, but i don't see how the author "then clarified in the post itself". To quote the heading post: "I want to study under professors who love Jesus as the Lord of their lives". I still think that my observation applies to such a qualification. In any case, to further a bit the conversation, Drew and Vanderbilt do not belong to that kind "of Jesus lovers", probably not Emory either. Duke might have some of them.

[sacklunch]

While the OP didn't really flesh out what it means to "love Jesus," I think we all "got" what he/she meant. It might have been a generalization and imply that anyone outside the "evangelical" tradition does not, then, love Jesus. But I don't think the OP meant it that way.

Who cares? We know what he/she means. Give them advice, or leave the thread.

[braun_braun]

my advice was included in the thread: don't go to Harvard, Drew, Vanderbilt or Emory. Duke might be a good option and Yale have some people you might be interested in working with (others definitely not...). I don't know about Chicago or Notre Dame and how the "theological relationships" might work over there between catholics-evangelicals and other denominations. And that is pretty much the situation regarding the top programs (meaning fully funded programs). Seminaries are a whole different world in which you might feel much more comfortable but again they are hardly funded.

[Kruppe]

I'm finishing up in the MDiv program at Duke and the NT professors associated with the Divinity School (Joel Marcus, Doug Campbell, Richard Hays, Kavin Rowe, Susan Eastman) are confessing Christians. Some are more reserved about saying what they think on matters of faith, others are quite upfront about it. They aren't evangelicals per se, but if you're coming from an evangelical background it won't hurt you, as I've met people who've come from more evangelical/conservative seminaries that are in the PhD/ThD program.