I remember when, about nine years ago, I was first struck with the strange idea to get a PhD in biblical studies. Back then my goal was to attend a school like Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), since it boasted a few of my favorite scholars at the time: D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo, and Grant Osborne. Though I decided awhile ago that an evangelical institution wasn’t the best fit for me, I was recently looking at some of the evangelical schools for sake of curiosity. Yes, I do find it fun to learn about the different places one can do doctoral work in New Testament.
This led me to think about which evangelical schools in the US have the best programs now. Before discussing criteria, which schools actually fit in this category? DTS, Fuller, Southeastern, Southern, TEDS, Wheaton, and WTS. What did I forget?
First, based on my own subjective perception of faculty, I would probably put Fuller Seminary at the top of the list, followed by Wheaton. Fuller’s Pasadena campus has a number of well-known scholars including Joel B. Green, Donald A. Hagner, Seyoon Kim, and Marianne Meye Thompson to name a few. Wheaton’s graduate school has Greg Beale (for now), Douglas Moo, and Nicholas Perrin. It will be interesting to see how the line-up changes when they announce Beale’s replacement.
Second, I looked at each of these schools in terms of finances; I think Wheaton comes out on top here. By looking at the websites for these schools, it seems that most of them offer scholarships, which are not always guaranteed since they are granted on competitive bases. Plus, scholarships probably don’t cover all of one’s tuition or contribute to living expenses, which is very important to take into consideration. How much debt will one have after graduating? Is it too much to pay back? Wheaton, however, gives full funding to all its admitted students. According to Wheaton’s site: “A full tuition scholarship, as well as a research fellowship, for each of the six students accepted per year will enable each student to devote himself or herself to advanced learning as a fully involved member of the academic community.” I think this is really what separates Wheaton from the others. Of course, since they fund their students, they can only bring in six, which makes it even more competitive.
A third consideration is location, but personal preference will vary widely. If one can afford it, I’d definitely suggest Fuller because Pasadena is such a nice town (with the world’s best bookstore, Archives). Yet, some might prefer to be in Kentucky, Texas, Illinois, Philly, or understandably in North Carolina.
One of the most important issues about doing a PhD at a seminary is their placement record. Does the school have a good placement record? What types of schools do the students teach at? Unfortunately, I don’t know the placement records of any of these schools.
Keep in mind that the criteria for choosing a school for doctoral work is different than that for master’s work. Based on these criteria and my subjective and brief look at these schools, I would probably suggest both Fuller and Wheaton as the best evangelical schools for doctoral work in New Testament. Of course, prospective applicants will find other determining factors for their situation, which may make another school look better. Nevertheless Fuller and Wheaton both have strong faculty members, although Fuller appears to have more depth in this area. Wheaton has the best funding and for that reason, Wheaton gets my overall top choice. The program is young, less than ten years old, yet I think they have done a very good job at mixing the right ingredients.
I also really like Wheaton’s website, which gives prospective students the averages of GREs and GPAs for their accepted students. I think everyone will be waiting to find out who Beale’s replacement will be.
So those are my thoughts. I’m interested to hear what others think about this and what they would change about the criteria or how I viewed the programs. I’m open to discussion–this was just some quickly put-together thoughts.
NB: Though I tried to limit this discussion to evangelical schools. Some schools might have evangelical scholars but are not necessarily evangelical institutions.
Wheaton’s biblical studies programs are also uniquely short for a North American Ph.D. I believe the program is intended to be completed in 3 years, so the style of the program has more of a British feel.
Also, their programs are very concerned with the integration of biblical studies and theology. Seminars in theological interpretation are required. On account of this, Wheaton’s July addition of Kevin J Vanhoozer strengthens their program even more. Wheaton may have lost Dr. Beale, but they gained KJV.
Yes, Vanhoozer is a huge gain for Wheaton–I didn’t mention him because he’s not a NT scholar, but he’s a powerhouse in the field nonetheless. Too bad for TEDS!
I didn’t realize that their program is shorter; thanks for bringing up that point. Do you see that as an advantage or disadvantage?
Great post Brandon. When I was in the Biblical Studies area, I never even considered an evangelical institution, except maybe Fuller, for PhD studies. Evangelicals have a bad reputation for having their research fit into specific criteria, particularly doctrinally. I’m not sure that is a fair reputation, but I think it is still there. In Biblical Studies I always considered Emory, Duke, Princeton, Notre Dame, and others like them, as well as UK schools, as the best NT programs.
Brandon — interesting post, thanks.
For what it’s worth, last I checked, Fuller was very cognizant of the “funding difficulty.” Over the years, a number of extremely appealing candidates have simply been forced to pick other programs because, let’s face it, money talks … and in light of Baylor and Wheaton having done their best to step alongside the Ivies and quasi-Ivies when it comes to funding, schools that fail to do so fall behind.
The current economy notwithstanding, I would therefore guess that Fuller will begin to offer full funding for at least the initial/pre-comps phase of the Ph.D. within the next three years. Keep in mind that I am not speaking for them, affiliated with them, making decisions for them — just happen to be acquainted and rather like some of the fine folks that teach and study there.
I think I saw on Wheaton’s website that they call their PhD a “Mid-Atlantic Model” that tries to find a middle ground between the quickness and mentoring aspect of the UK system and the courseworks and more explicit pedagogical training of the US system… probably the only one I’d consider if I pursue NT phD! Fuller has good scholars but I’ve lived in So.Cal for the last 19 years, so…
I’m really intrigued by how they cram all the coursework, comps, and dissertation into three years. Is it normal for their graduates to complete the degree in this amount of time? I wonder what type of changes they make to the requirements to make it shorter.
Thanks OI for the comments about Fuller. I do hope they are able to get some good packages together to compete better with Baylor and Wheaton.
At Southern seminary, there you have Seifrid and Schreiner, both are renown Pauline scholars, and Brian Vickers a rising star. Robert Stein has retired several years ago but I believe he still teaches one doctoral seminar per seminar (?). The doctoral program at any sbc schools are unbelievably reasonable and inexpensive. I think the tuition and fees are about $ 2,4000 annually for sbc students. The GRE is not really a big issue at Southern or Southeatern where Andreas Kostenberger (Johannine specialist) and Dave Black (Greek scholar) teach.
As far for criteria, location is not really a big deal for me. But I do consider other few factors: (1) The quality of scholarship produced by each school (2) Faculty publication is essential, (3)The tuition and fees.
At any rate, If were to choose an evangelical school to pursue PhD studies it would have to be first Fuller to work on John with Marianne Thompson; second, Southeastern to work with Kostenberger; third, Southern (my alma mater) to work with Schreiner (Interestingly, Schreiner has supervised several students with an interest in the Fourth Gospel. Jim Hamilton of “For His Renown” blog wrote his dissertation on John under Schreiner’s supervision) . I must also point out that the SBC schools, for example, provide few fellowships (perhaps 2 or 3 per year) for PhD students.
Interesting discussion, Brandon. Thanks for this. Though I have come to feel that it’s not a good fit for me, DTS’s doctoral program is exceptionally rigorous. I’ve perused the syllabi for many of the NT classes and have been impressed with the level of work that it required of students. The two major problem at DTS (if one doesn’t mind their conservative persuasion) is funding and job placement.
Funding – Because DTS is committed to missions and the training of international students, most of their funds go to international students in their signature degree program, the Master of Theology (ThM). Almost all funding given at DTS is need based and barely livable at that. In my view, this damages the quality of their doctoral program because students who are qualified enough to go to a program that will pay for tuition and offer a living stipend with inevitably go where they can get paid.
Job placement – First, let me say that I haven’t seen any figures, but my understanding is that a DTS PhD will likely land you a job at another conservative seminary, or more likely, a bible college (Cedarville has a few DTS grads). Anything beyond that will usually want a Ph.D. from a more universally respected program. Conversely, if you have aspirations of teaching at a conservative seminary, you may not want to go to a secular university. I have been told that sometimes more conservative schools are gun-shy at hiring someone from a university because they are concerned about their orthodoxy (to put things bluntly). So, I guess the “job placement” factor is only a negative depending on one’s career goals.
That’s my two cents.
Thanks again, Brandon!
Thanks for the comments about the Baptist schools, Cel. Your post just reminded me that I forgot to mention McMaster Divinity College, aka MacDiv. They obviously fit into this category as “Canada’s Evangelical University-Based Seminary.” First the divinity school and the department of religion are separate programs with different scholars, so keep that in mind. The divinity school offers a PhD program that competes with the good evangelical schools, and I know of at least one student who has been very successful in their program. Their NT faculty includes Stanley E. Porter and Cynthia Long Westfall. I’m not exactly sure how they are about funding and living in Canada might pose other problems for US students, yet students wishing to attend an evangelical school will want to consider their program.
Michael, thanks for the note about DTS. They have a strong reputation for being rigorous, especially in the languages category, and a PhD from DTS in certain circles (e.g., dispensationalist circles) is the most coveted degrees around. In think your points about funding and job placement are spot on.
As a Southern alum, from before the fundamentalist takeover, I can recognize the name power within the faculty. But when a school defines its ethos so incredibly narrowly, you have to know that degree will carry a punch only within a narrow range. Now that I teach at a mainline ecumenical school, I can tell you that a Fuller degree might win attention (with some perhaps unfair prejudice), we wouldn’t really know how to evaluate Wheaton (in theology or history, perhaps we’d be interested), but an SBC degree wouldn’t get a second look.
Just for info, there is also this (three years, British, but with no relocation to the UK needed – also offers a research-based MTh, one year):
http://web.me.com/tmoritz