Posted on 05/19/2010 11:09:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The following is an edited transcript of the audio.
Rev. Piper, Having been through PhD studies, would you recommend other pastors pursue this course of education?
You mean, already-pastoring pastors or planning-to-be pastors? I'll answer both.
If you're already a pastor, I wouldn't get a PhD. It's a lot of work, and the payoff is really small. Really small.
When I say really small, I don't mean studying the Bible is small payoff. But the way most PhD programs are set up it is small payoff. Because you have to read so much junk in order to get your PhD. You have to become an expert in what other people are saying, most of which is wrong.
Most of the stuff that is written in the world isn't true. And a PhD has to be an expert. And so you have to read gobs and gobs of stuff that is unhelpful.
Now I think somebody should do that. I'm glad there's a Don Carson who seems to read everything under the sun, and therefore has the capacity to respond helpfully.
I'm totally committed that there needs to be a layer of academic scholarship that is aware of what's out there and is teaching and writing. So, yes and amen.
That's not what the pastorate is, though. The pastorate is not mainly the place where you have to know every wrong thing that's being said about some slice of biblical theology. The pastorate is a shepherding of people from the Word.
So now back to saying something positive: if a PhD program is set up-and there are some!-to really let you work on the Bible for three or four years and on understanding its larger implications for life and reality, then, on your way towards the pastorate, that could be gold.
But mine wasn't set up that way. And when I was done with those three years I had a piece of paper, the German language, and an appreciation for academic theology; but I had not grown much at all, except what I got on my own.
So it is possible to do stupid PhDs for the piece of paper. I would much rather you do a wise PhD-that is, go to a place where they really let you study the Bible mainly. Yes, you've gotta read other stuff. But you want to come out of there with three years' worth with a big, large, strong, robust, deep grasp of God and his ways in the world, not just a little tiny slice of what a thousand wrong people are saying about some teeny verse in the Bible. That's just a sad use of three years.
And if you're a pastor, set yourself to study the Bible and take courses. But don't worry about a degree for goodness' sake.
I've not even opened the tube in which my diploma exists since 1974! I haven't opened it! It's in the drawer. Nobody asks about it. It doesn't mean anything anymore. (Maybe that's an overstatement.)
Why take courses? Just study the Bible.
It’s not a lot of work if you just plagiarize your dissertation like MLK Jr.
Often, the more educated one is, the more liberal one is.
There comes a point when seeing things from all sides causes one to lose their convictions, it would seem. They “educate away” their soul.
“Just study the Bible. “
YUP!
I’d be thrilled if more clergy had a clue about God’s teachings! The Holy Spirit doesn’t discriminate. Eyes will be opened if you seek His will and wisdom.
Did it pay off money-wise? Tell me another one.
But there's other things besides money. First, there was a lot of personal satisfaction in getting it. It's a great ego trip. Second, it's a better way to go through your mid-life crisis that the usual alternative, and that certainly pays off money-wise. And emotionally.
Thirdly, it permitted me to make a career change that I had been trying to make for 10 years. I got out of a job that I hated, and into one that I love.
So did it pay off for me?. You betcha. But not money-wise.
They like to call themselves “doctor.”
Well, there is value in studying Greek and Hebrew.
When I was a kid, our small Southern Baptist church had a pastor with a PHD from Yale. He was sort of retired but was a fine pastor and even better man.
Getting a PhD (learning the original languages, theology, and apologetics, etc.) allows you to tackle a wider range of problems.
Does it pay more? If you are consumed with the money then you wouldnt be in ministry in the first place.
Well, true, though I would subsume that under the idea of studying the Bible. I was interpreting the "and courses" to be referring to classes about what various commentators, etc. have said about the Bible, and I was wanting to emphasise the centrality of the text itself.
‘Well, there is value in studying Greek and Hebrew.’ All you
What for? The bible was written in King James English.
I recommend that Pastors get PhD’s (Post Hole Diggers) only if they are gasoline powered... the hand-operated ones build callouses and don’t dig fast enough.
I don't think an academic degree is absolutely necessary. Of course, I also have a tendency in general to disagree with the "obsession with experts" that we have these days, too.
I don't have a Ph.D, yet I have taught myself Hebrew well enough to use it in OT interpretation, and know theology well enough to discourse intelligently with those who do have such Ph.Ds. Really, it's all a matter of how serious you are about learning, not what letters you have after your name.
“I’ve not even opened the tube in which my diploma exists since 1974! I haven’t opened it! It’s in the drawer.”
I’ve never seen mine. It’s been in the tube for years and I have never once taken it out to look at it. I still have two MA degree diplomas sitting in a drawer too. I looked at them once or twice, but I’ve never gotten around to framing them or anything.
I agree with you and I think I was sloppy with the statement of my position ... I meant to say that the extra learning you get; whether you get a PhD or not; is the important thing to tackle the deeper problems ... not the piece of lamb skin that says you got there.
Not necessarily. I think education can be very helpful. Schooling on the otherhand is something else altogether.
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