Archive

Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Google Ranked Theological Educational Institutions

October 16, 2008 William Molenaar 1 comment

Interesting…

As of October 16, 2008, the following list displays, in descending order, which theological educational institution has the most hits on the internet as searched in Google’s search engine.

1. “Union Theological Seminary” (356,000)
2. “Princeton Theological Seminary” (270,000)
3. “Dallas Theological Seminary” (247,000)
4. “Harvard Divinity School” (214,000)
5. “Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” (201,000)
6. “Fuller Theological Seminary” (196,000)
7. “Westminster Theological Seminary” (107,000)
8. “Yale Divinity School” (103,000)
9. “Boston University School of Theology” (85,100)
10. “Graduate Theological Union” (81,800)
11. “Luther Seminary” (79,000)
12. “Reformed Theological Seminary” (78,100)
13. “Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary” (73,300)
14. “Asbury Theological Seminary” (72,400)
15. “Trinity Evangelical Divinity School” (62,500)
16. “Claremont School Of Theology” (56,600)
17. “Denver Seminary” (52,200)
18. “Candler School of Theology” (48,800)
19. “Chicago Divinity School” (48,500)
20. “Western Seminary” (41,700)
21. “Duke Divinity School” (37,800)
22. “Perkins School of Theology” (37,000)
23. “Iliff School of Theology” (35,000)
24. “Calvin Theological Seminary” (33,600)
25. “Talbot School of Theology” (29,000)
26. “Assemblies Of God Theological Seminary” (26,300)
27. “University Of The Nations” (18,900)
28. “Vanderbilt Divinity School” (16,400)
29. “Church of God Theological Seminary” (13,200)
30. “Truett Theological Seminary” (12,100)
31. “Drew University Theological School” (11,100)
32. “Palmer Theological Seminary” (9,520)
33. “Regent University School Of Divinity” (9,450)
34. “Wheaton College Graduate School” (7,800)
35. “George Fox Evangelical Seminary” (3,730)

NOTE: The search was done with the quotation marks as shown below to ensure that the institution’s full name was searched for, and not the individual words in the name.  I left out the institutions which simply have “University” in their names (although these may be excellent theological educational institutions as well), due to the fact that I’m only interested in the theological education side of things and not the entire university.  Also, the links provided go straight to the Google search, and you’ll find that the results change and fluctuate day to day, even hour to hour!  Finally, this is not an exhaustive list!  It’s only purpose is to be thought provoking for those interested in theological education!  If I’ve left out an institution, please Google search it, and indicate it’s hits in a comment to this blog.

Dr. Frank Macchia and the Doctrine of the Trinity

November 10, 2007 William Molenaar 8 comments

Well, I’m now in my first semester in the Master of Divinity Program at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

I just wanted to write a blog about my latest and greatest class on the Doctrine of the Trinity with Dr. Frank Macchia at AGTS. Personally, it was a dream come true…not only were we studying one of my favorite topics in systematic theology (The Trinity!), but also having the opportunity of studying under one of the greatest living Pentecostal theologians in the world inspired great awe.

Here was our required reading:

David Bernard, The Oneness of God (Series in Pentecostal Theology, Vol. 1) (Word Aflame, 1986).

Gregory Boyd, Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity (Baker, 1992).

Stanley Grenz, Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Theology (Augsburg/Fortress, 2004).

Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology And Worship (P & R Pub., 2005).

We were also assigned to make a presentation on the Trinitarian thought of some theologian so I chose: Thomas Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (T & T Clark, 2002).

Recommended text: Veli-Matti Karkkainen, The Trinity: Global Perspective (Westminster John Knox Press, 2007).

We covered the major topics relating to the Doctrine of the Trinity, with also a special look at Trinitarian/Oneness issues within Pentecostalism:

  • Biblical Foundations for the Doctrine of the Trinity
  • Historical development of the Doctrine of the Trinity
  • The Trinity in Contemporary Theology
  • Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostalism

We also talked about the trinitarian relevance of:

  • Church and Community
  • Church and Worship
  • Church, State, and Society
  • The Mission of God
  • Providence & Election
  • Theology of Religions
  • Justification
  • Spirit Baptism