Bethany Divinity College and Seminary

[Jimmy Clifton]

Bethany Divinity College and Seminary (http://www.bethanybc.edu) of Dothan, Alabama offers distance leaning degrees with no residency requirements.

Bethany is not accredited but is state approved and state licensed by the Alabama State Board of Education.

I earned two degrees from Bethany, the Th.M. in 1984 and the Ph.D. in 1992. The school improved greatly between 1984 and 1992. The programs were sound, competent, stringent, and rigorous.

I have a friend (master's from an RA school) who received a course several year's ago from Bethany and he was quite impressed with the content and rigor of the materials.

If a degree from an unaccredited school will serve one's purposes, I highly recommend Bethany.

[ray1212]

Jimmy, the tuition per graduate hour looks great. Do they have any financial payment programs? Thanks for your response.

Sincerely,

Ray1212

[Jimmy Clifton]

Jimmy, the tuition per graduate hour looks great. Do they have any financial payment programs? Thanks for your response.

Sincerely,

Ray1212


Yes, Ray, they do. I think when I was working on my Ph.D. I paid $92 per month. You can find the current plan here. (http://www.bethanybc.edu/finance1.htm) Bethany is very good at working out a reasonable plan for students who cannot afford the pay structure they've set up. At least, they used to.

They also used to send scholarship slips with application packets.

I want to reiterate that a theological degree from a regionally or nationally accredited school is the norm and standard with most denominations nowadays. If one is considering entering the pastoral ministry, one really needs to check with his or her denomination's committee on the ministry (or whatever name one's denominational body uses).

Many independent Baptist groups readily accept Bethany credentials for pastoral ministry.

Again, however, if accreditation isn't an issue, Bethany is affordable and one will receive a fine theological education.

My Bethany credentials have served me well.

[Jabbezzz]

I was working on my Ph.D.

Jimmy,

Did the Bethany PhD require a dissertation? If so, what was the minimum requirement for number of pages?

[Jimmy Clifton]

Jimmy,

Did the Bethany PhD require a dissertation? If so, what was the minimum requirement for number of pages?

I earned my PhD in 1991. At that time I had the choice of either a thesis or a one-year counseling internship.

I chose the internship for the practical experience. Anyway, my degree was not a research degree but a degree in pastoral counseling. My internship was with a RAPHA affiliated center.

The latest catalog (2002-2003) I have shows a thesis plus an internship. So I guess the program is now a bit more stringent.

Hope this helps. I have a new catalog on the way. If I see something different from what I have just said, I will let you know.

I do know one thing, if accreditation is not an issue with you, your denomination, or your chosen career path, you will not regret studying at Bethany.

[Jabbezzz]

I earned my PhD in 1991. At that time I had the choice of either a thesis or a one-year counseling internship. I chose the internship for the practical experience. Anyway, my degree was not a research degree but a degree in pastoral counseling.

Thank you, Jimmy, for responding. I was under the assumption that the PhD in and of itself is a research degree, that the DMin, DBS, etc., are oriented toward the more practical aspect of ministry. Am I wrong in this assumption?

[Jimmy Clifton]

Thank you, Jimmy, for responding. I was under the assumption that the PhD in and of itself is a research degree, that the DMin, DBS, etc., are oriented toward the more practical aspect of ministry. Am I wrong in this assumption?

Generally speaking the PhD is a research degree. I think Bethany has recognized this and that's why one now has to write a thesis and complete an internship for the pastoral counseling concentration.

Probably the PhD I earned should have been a D.Min.

[Jimmy Clifton]

I just posted the following on another forum:


Received the new catalog today from Bethany Divinity College and Seminary.

Stated on page 20 is Bethany's intention to pursue Association for Biblical Higher Education (www.abhe.org) accreditation.

At this juncture Bethany has not even made application. They do, however, have an accreditation commission in place and are in conversation with ABHE.

Right now ABHE is only authorized to accredit undergrad programs. They have made application to allow the accrediting of grad programs. By the end of this or the beginning of next year ABHE should know whether or not grad programs can receive their accreditation.

At first glance it appears Bethany has added quite a few new courses to their curricula.

Hopefully, they will continue pursuing accreditation and ABHE will grant them candidacy status and eventually full accreditation.

I would like to see Bethany offer some courses in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and rid themselves of the NCCA (www.ncca.org) connection.


I will add Bethany has affiliate status with ABHE at this point in time. Really doesn't mean much, however, but it's a step in the right direction, I think.