Protestant seminary and church history

[Lenten_ashes]

I’m rather new to the forum so excuse my ignorance. But has anyone here been through protestant seminary?

I have heard from a few converts who were evangelical minsters say that church history isn’t really focused on much. They say they go to about the year 100 A.D. then you take a lunch break and come back and start talking about Martin Luther 1,400 years later.

I hope that isn’t true. That’s like your grandpa telling you that he wants to tell you all about his life, then he gives you a few memories from age 5, then skips to age 60.

So has anyone been through it and would you mind sharing your experience?

Thanks and God bless.

 

[JonNC]

I’m rather new to the forum so excuse my ignorance. But has anyone here been through protestant seminary?

I have heard from a few converts who were evangelical minsters say that church history isn’t really focused on much. They say they go to about the year 100 A.D. then you take a lunch break and come back and start talking about Martin Luther 1,400 years later.

I hope that isn’t true. That’s like your grandpa telling you that he wants to tell you all about his life, then he gives you a few memories from age 5, then skips to age 60.

So has anyone been through it and would you mind sharing your experience?

Thanks and God bless.

I didn’t go through seminary, but I know a number of people who have gone through Lutheran seminary. Typically, it takes four years to complete, following receiving a BA, usually in pre-theology, or similar.
Lutheran seminariains do study Church history - a lot. Lutherans consider themselves a continuation of the historic Church Catholic.
Linked is the catalog from one of our seminaries.

ctsfw.edu/AcademicCatalog

Jon

 

[JonNC]

Just as a follow up, it isn’t just seminarians that learn Church history in Lutheranism. I remember as a kid learning about the martyrs, and the early saints of the Church.

The Lutheran Church calendar has saints from the early Church, including popes. The idea that all “protestants” ignore Church history prior to the Reformation era illustrates just how unreliable the term “protestant” actually is.

Jon

 

[ltwin]

I’m rather new to the forum so excuse my ignorance. But has anyone here been through protestant seminary?

I have heard from a few converts who were evangelical minsters say that church history isn’t really focused on much. They say they go to about the year 100 A.D. then you take a lunch break and come back and start talking about Martin Luther 1,400 years later.

I hope that isn’t true. That’s like your grandpa telling you that he wants to tell you all about his life, then he gives you a few memories from age 5, then skips to age 60.

So has anyone been through it and would you mind sharing your experience?

Thanks and God bless.

Haven’t been to seminary, but I did apply and get accepted by one. The one I applied to was within my own religious tradition, the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Their history related courses include the following:

HIS/MHT 556 World Christianity I
This course examines the growth and cultural contexts of Christianity from the time of the ancient church to 1453. This study includes surveying the diversity of Christian traditions East and West, the expansion of the faith from the Middle East to Africa, Asia and Europe, missiological and theological developments, political and social dynamics, the rise of Islam and the Muslim conquests and the immediate contexts for the upheavals of the Reformation in the 16th century. Offered in the Fall term.
Distance Learning (DL) option available.

HIS 644/MHT 637 Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
(See MHT 637/HIS 644.)

 

[RyanBlack]

I went to Duke Divinity School. Church history was a strong emphasis there, including early Church history.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Thanks for the responses so far.!!

I am particularly interested in the contrast between Anglican/Lutheran churches and the more fundamental churches. I kind of figured Lutherans at least honored some of these great saints throughout the ages. I know in the Anglican service they had feast days and they were talked about during Mass in the Homily.

Wondering if there was any studies done on any of the pre-reformation doctors of the church such as Thomas Aquinas.Even though the reformed position wont be in total agreement, men such as him were very deep philosophically and the work they left us are true gems.

 

[alwayswill]

Thanks for the responses so far.!!

I am particularly interested in the contrast between Anglican/Lutheran churches and the more fundamental churches. I kind of figured Lutherans at least honored some of these great saints throughout the ages. I know in the Anglican service they had feast days and they were talked about during Mass in the Homily.

Wondering if there was any studies done on any of the pre-reformation doctors of the church such as Thomas Aquinas.Even though the reformed position wont be in total agreement, men such as him were very deep philosophically and the work they left us are true gems.

From The Masters Seminary
(John MacArthur)
tms.edu/m/TMSCatalog.pdf#page=83

TH 507, 508 • Historical Theology I and II A survey study designed to give the student a sense of perspective and appreciation of the church since the time of Christ. Primary attention is devoted to the major events, individuals, and issues which have played significant roles in the history of the church. The courses are constructed around three major periods:** (1) Pre-reformation, A.D. 33–1500; **(2) The Reformation period, A.D. 1500–1648; and (3) The Modern Age, A.D. 1648 to the present. Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism, Church Councils, Anabaptism, Catholicism, the Reformation, the Puritans, and the Great Awakening, are examples of the subjects discussed. The last period is devoted to a survey of American Christianity.

LT 900 • Theological Latin **Designed to introduce the student to the vocabulary and grammar of Latin as a preparation for reading and writings of the Church Fathers **and Reformation theologians. Th.M. students are welcome to enroll in the course upon instructor approval

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Thanks for the responses so far.!!

I am particularly interested in the contrast between Anglican/Lutheran churches and the more fundamental churches. I kind of figured Lutherans at least honored some of these great saints throughout the ages. I know in the Anglican service they had feast days and they were talked about during Mass in the Homily.

Wondering if there was any studies done on any of the pre-reformation doctors of the church such as Thomas Aquinas.Even though the reformed position wont be in total agreement, men such as him were very deep philosophically and the work they left us are true gems.

Hmmm. If a seminary is offering a Church History course, probably in two parts, there would be more focus on historical events rather than on the doctors of the church. Do a bit of searching and see what you come up with. Check Fuller Seminary, one of the best evangelical seminaries in the US. Or a place like Harvard Divinity. Or if you want to go Southern Baptist, try their SB Theological Seminary, but I doubt you are going to get anything close to a course in Aquinas, et al.

 

[GKC]

A link to a two year program at a Continuing Anglican seminary:

anglicanpck.org/seminary/courses.html

Can’t tell you of any specific coverage of Aquinas, but I can tell you that when I had a relative in attendance there, he took every book I had on Augustine and ran with them. Plus much of my collected Copelston.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

Thanks for the responses so far.!!

I am particularly interested in the contrast between Anglican/Lutheran churches and the more fundamental churches. I kind of figured Lutherans at least honored some of these great saints throughout the ages. I know in the Anglican service they had feast days and they were talked about during Mass in the Homily.

Wondering if there was any studies done on any of the pre-reformation doctors of the church such as Thomas Aquinas.Even though the reformed position wont be in total agreement, men such as him were very deep philosophically and the work they left us are true gems.

It would depend on the school. Generally I think you would need to split Anglicans & Lutherans into (Continuing Anglicans& LCMS) vs (TEC/ELCA) vs (ACNA&the REC).

The ACNA&REC which would be it’s own category and for the most part more Reformed in tradition and therefore not interested in the Communion of Saints in the same way as Catholicism depicts them.

Continuing Anglicans (which are more often than not Anglo-Catholics) and LCMS would tend to be more interested in the Communion of Saints in a more similar way with Catholics.

TEC/ELCA from my experience was not so interested in the Saints except conceptually as a historical reality from the past.

Finally, you have to realize theology changes over the centuries and things like Lutheranism in Luthers time would not really be recognized as the Lutheranism of today (or Presbyterianism or Anglicanism for that matter. Same as Pre-Trent Catholicism and Post-Vatican II Catholicism).

Good luck with your research.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Thanks everyone. That’s kind of what I was thinking; depends on the program.

 

[GKC]

It would depend on the school. Generally I think you would need to split Anglicans & Lutherans into (Continuing Anglicans& LCMS) vs (TEC/ELCA) vs ACNA&the REC.

The ACNA&REC which would be it’s own category and for the most part more Reformed in tradition and therefore not interested in the Communion of Saints in the same way as Catholicism depicts them.

Continuing Anglicans (which are more often than not Anglo-Catholics) and LCMS would tend to be more interested in the Communion of Saints in a more similar way with Catholics.

TEC/ELCA from my experience was not so interested in the Saints except conceptually as a historical reality from the past.

Good luck with your research.

I’d suspect that Nashotah House might retain a shadow its former glory as an AC stronghold, amongst the Episcopal seminaries. Our curate, a son of our (Continuing) parish, graduated from there. He’s as AC as I am.

 

[RyanBlack]

When I studied at Duke Divinity School, I took courses on Augustine, Ambrose, Patristic Christology, Patristic Pneumatology, the First Seven Ecumenical Councils, Medieval Women Mystics, and Medieval Spanish Mystics. There were also courses offered on the Cappadocian Fathers and Aquinas. Also, a course I took on the Lord’s Prayer involved a good deal of Patristic sources.

 

[Aslan10]

Ryan Reeves, a Historical Theology professor at Gordon-Conwell Evangelical Seminary has his lectures up on youtube, and I have found them to be fairly unbiased and very good. You can tell he’s a Protestant but he covers Church history very well.

youtube.com/channel/UCrI5U0R293u9uveijefKyAA/playlists

In his playlist, he has his lectures divided by “Early and Medieval Church History” and then “Reformation and Modern Church History.”

 

[Stilldreamn]

I didn’t go through seminary, but I know a number of people who have gone through Lutheran seminary. Typically, it takes four years to complete, following receiving a BA, usually in pre-theology, or similar.
Lutheran seminariains do study Church history - a lot. Lutherans consider themselves a continuation of the historic Church Catholic.
Linked is the catalog from one of our seminaries.

ctsfw.edu/AcademicCatalog

Jon

They also have to take competency exams in Greek and/or Hebrew prior to entrance in to the seminary. A formidable task!