I wonder if the way forward is an Open University type model. 2-3 hours a week working into some Church Fathers or something more recent. Long, slow, steady and formational.
Theological education on this side of the pond (US) is struggling as well. And this is not just the old mainline denominations. Nonetheless, reading this post fills me with hope. It's both a hope for the birth of a new vision, and a hope that I may live long enough to see some first fruits of that new vision. The greatest challenge are those theological institutions that hang on in the vain hope that if we just keep doing what we're doing we'll no longer get what we've gotten. As a colleague observed about the Episcopal Church (USA) some quarter century ago, "the problem with our denomination is that it's not dead enough yet. You can't have a Resurrection without a death."
Thank you for this inspiring article, Father! I agree: but to avoid dumbing down would require full-time theologians, libraries and journal access, which cost. If this means moving to a private tuition model, so be it. Students might live cheaply and communally in these cloistered academic communities, working half-time. Children might learn alongside parents instead of enduring state indoctrination. Such colleges could undercut universities with exorbitant fees by staying small and keeping infrastructure to a minimum. There is certain no shortage of defunct monasteries and ¾ empty seminaries which could be used for such schools if the Church could heal herself from the sickness of credentialism.
Totally agree with you about access to good research. This is actually one of the things the Church in Wales has done moderately well. When it brought the then St Michael's College within the umbrella of the Representative Body, the Church in Wales also assumed the financing and management of its library, which is accessible to us all. The digital side of things is, I think, a wider issue. Things like JSTOR are ridiculously expensive for independent scholars, no matter their field of study. It's mad that this should remain the case in our digital world.
An appalling question is what will happen to the theological books in universities when most theology departments have closed.
Very sorry to hear that about Bangor. I did my undergraduate theology degree there in the 90's under the likes of Dr's Morgan, Tudur, Lloyd-Jones. It was a challenging but bracing experience!
But while I am at it, the theology I went onto study at a CofE theological college was barely worthy of the name and has provided very little ballast for the days of ministry that have followed
I wonder if the way forward is an Open University type model. 2-3 hours a week working into some Church Fathers or something more recent. Long, slow, steady and formational.
Theological education on this side of the pond (US) is struggling as well. And this is not just the old mainline denominations. Nonetheless, reading this post fills me with hope. It's both a hope for the birth of a new vision, and a hope that I may live long enough to see some first fruits of that new vision. The greatest challenge are those theological institutions that hang on in the vain hope that if we just keep doing what we're doing we'll no longer get what we've gotten. As a colleague observed about the Episcopal Church (USA) some quarter century ago, "the problem with our denomination is that it's not dead enough yet. You can't have a Resurrection without a death."
Thank you for this inspiring article, Father! I agree: but to avoid dumbing down would require full-time theologians, libraries and journal access, which cost. If this means moving to a private tuition model, so be it. Students might live cheaply and communally in these cloistered academic communities, working half-time. Children might learn alongside parents instead of enduring state indoctrination. Such colleges could undercut universities with exorbitant fees by staying small and keeping infrastructure to a minimum. There is certain no shortage of defunct monasteries and ¾ empty seminaries which could be used for such schools if the Church could heal herself from the sickness of credentialism.
Totally agree with you about access to good research. This is actually one of the things the Church in Wales has done moderately well. When it brought the then St Michael's College within the umbrella of the Representative Body, the Church in Wales also assumed the financing and management of its library, which is accessible to us all. The digital side of things is, I think, a wider issue. Things like JSTOR are ridiculously expensive for independent scholars, no matter their field of study. It's mad that this should remain the case in our digital world.
An appalling question is what will happen to the theological books in universities when most theology departments have closed.
Very sorry to hear that about Bangor. I did my undergraduate theology degree there in the 90's under the likes of Dr's Morgan, Tudur, Lloyd-Jones. It was a challenging but bracing experience!
But while I am at it, the theology I went onto study at a CofE theological college was barely worthy of the name and has provided very little ballast for the days of ministry that have followed
Can anyone recommend a part-time study course on Theology near London?
You could take a look at St Mellitus: https://stmellitus.ac.uk/
Thank you, I'll look into this!