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  • From: Michael Abernathy <mabernathy AT isot.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Doctorates (PhD or ThD?)
  • Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 21:39:05 -0400

Kevin,
I will not claim that I speak for anyone else. I attended Bible College and three different conservative seminaries. Those institutions did not require that we agree with them. In fact, our reading list included as many if not more liberal scholars than conservative scholars. Yes, we would be required to demonstrate that we actually paid attention in class and could expound the professor's arguments on any given point. I do not feel that it is appropriate to discuss the relative prejudices of evangelical versus liberal scholars in this list as that has little to do with Hebrew.

I will comment on my experience in learning Biblical languages in evangelical schools 20+ years ago. Although I have been told that some Seminaries are more likely to require a good German course than the Biblical languages, my undergraduate school required at least a foundation in Greek. They also offered but did not require Hebrew. First year Greek was an intensive 16 hour course (8 hours per semester) which did include the basics of textual criticism. None of the schools I attended actually required any instruction in Hebrew or other semitic languages. The Seminaries required us to pass a proficiency test in Greek before we were accepted as students. Needless to say, no similar tests were required for Hebrew.

I hope that seminaries now place a higher priority on the Biblical languages. Nevertheless, I should like to add that my experience has led to me the conclusion that expertise in those languages is not suffiicient by itself if the goal is interpreting the text.
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy


Kevin wrote:
Sure he could. He would just have to get a "doctorate" from some Bible college. A "theological seminary" of some sort. They tend to put theology first and foremost. Whatever Greek and Hebrew they learn must come prepackaged so that it doesn't offend their theological sensibilities. The "education" they receive is tainted with theological persuasion.



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