A Taxonomy for Seminaries

Some helpful advice from William Evans on choosing a seminary:

The main thrust of this article, however, is that prospective students choosing a seminary need to recognize that schools differ, that there is no such thing as "generic seminary education." Just as students need to be concerned about "fit" when they choose a college or university, so also they need to pay close attention to the distinctives of the seminaries they are considering. But how does one identify and appraise these differences?

After attending two seminaries and a university divinity school myself and after sending many of my students off to seminary, I have concluded that the ethos of a theological seminary, the soul of a school if you will, can be characterized in terms of its response to three sets of polarities, each of which is to be viewed as involving two poles on a continuum. Bear in mind that no school will match these categories completely. These three sets of polarities, in turn, form an interpretive grid that some of my students seem to have found useful. These three sets of polarities are:

(1) the graduate school of theology vs. the school for pastors,

(2) catechetical vs. critical, and

(3) ecumenical vs. confessional.

Though this grid arose out of reflection on the current state of conservative Reformed theological education in the United States, it is probably applicable to a much broader range of schools.

You can read the whole thing here.