Does the M.Div. have a future?

By the Rev. James Miller

Long the gold standard of seminary education, the Masters of Divinity degree is a requirement for ordination in many denominations. It requires students to make a serious commitment—usually three years, long study hours, and thousands of tuition dollars. They immerse themselves in biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek—some eagerly, some begrudgingly. The result has been a trusted and standardized course of theological study.

But things are changing.

Four significant influences have shifted students, and consequently schools, away from the M.Div. and into alternative learning tracks. The rise of non-denominational churches that no longer require seminary education, significant financial debt incurred by students who are headed into a profession that will not necessarily empower them to pay it off, the rising possibility and acceptability of online education, and the decline of mainline Protestant denominations have all raised questions about the viability of the M.Div.

“We’re in a huge paradigm shift in terms of theological education, both in the way it’s delivered and the content,” said Fuller Seminary’s Kurt Fredrickson. He’s a reverend, and Associate Dean for Doctor of Ministry and Continuing Education and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry.

“It’s causing conniptions all over the place.

Back in the day, I got a three year degree and then went out into the church. Today the number of people willing to move to a campus is getting smaller and smaller.” Fuller recently launched the MAGL degree, a 72 unit Masters of the Arts in Global Leadership. This month they launch two new Masters degrees: the Masters of the Arts in Theology and Ministry (MATS) and the Masters of the Arts in Intercultural Studies (MAICS). “We’re reconfiguring our M.Div. It’s going to be completely different a year from now,” he said.

This will include dropping the required number of units from 144 to 120.

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