Purpose

As part of its overall mission to educate persons for ministry in the Christian Church, Erskine Theological Seminary offers the Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree. Its purpose is to equip students with skills and experience in advanced research in Biblical or theological studies. Such study will further students’ pastoral and/or teaching ministries and will provide excellent preparation for those who desire to pursue Ph.D. work in Biblical studies or historical/systematic theology. It is especially suitable for those who desire a degree program with a shorter duration than the Ph.D, but with a more academic focus than the D.Min.

Goals

1. Graduates will understand the Bible’s message in light of its own literary, historical, and theological settings.
2. Graduates will possess significant mastery of the ancient and modern languages needed for their specific research/thesis.
3. Graduates will be prepared to articulate the relation between the Bible and the contemporary contexts in which ministry takes place.
4. Graduates will be prepared to utilize the Church’s historical and theological heritage as an important resource in their personal spiritual development and ministry.
5. Graduates will write and speak using theological language that is clear, well-considered, disciplined, and meaningful for those to whom they minister.
6. Graduates will possess a precise understanding of advanced theological methodology and a thorough familiarity with important literature in Biblical and theological studies.
8. Graduates will possess a high-level ability to develop Biblical and theological constructs and to express those constructs in conventional scholarly language.
9. Graduates will be prepared to serve the Church with Christian character and integrity in their personal and professional lives.
10. Graduates will be prepared to view their ministries in light of the Church’s mission to worship, follow, bear witness to, and serve Jesus Christ.
11. Graduates will be prepared to communicate the relevance of redemptive history.
12. Graduates will be prepared to foster a sense of community among those they serve in Christian ministry.

Admissions Requirements

Admission into the Th.M. program is accomplished through the Post-Graduate Committee. Requirements are as follows:

A.  A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university
B.  An M.Div. degree or a two-year master’s degree indicating sufficient preparatory work for advanced work in the area of study. The student’s GPA in this degree must ordinarily be at least 3.0 on a four-point scale.
C.  Three references indicating the student's ability to pursue post-graduate work
D.  TOEFL score of 550 for applicants whose first language is not English.
E.  Demonstration of basic research, writing, and critical thinking skills by submission of a graduate-level research paper.
F.  An interview may be deemed necessary to establish the student's level of interest, aptitude, and personal qualities necessary to engage in advanced study.

Residency and Graduation Requirements

A student must complete 24 semester hours to qualify for the Th.M. degree, of which 18 come in the form of course work and six come through the completion of a thesis of 25,000-35,000 words. In addition to the course work and the thesis, the degree requires the demonstration of competence in two research languages, a research methodologies course, and the successful completion of a comprehensive examination. The work is spread out over at least two years of part-time study and must be completed within four years from the student’s first semester in the program.  All course work for academic credit must be completed in residence, either on the Due West campus or, in the case of transfer credit, at another accredited institution. In order to graduate, the student must complete the 24 semester hours of academic study with at least a “B”average (3.0 GPA).

Relation to Other Degrees

As stated above, successful completion of an M.Div. or M.A.T.S. degree, or the equivalent, is a pre-requisite for enrollment in the Th.M. program. The Th.M. may serve as excellent preparation for a Ph.D. or Th.D. program at another institution. The Th.M. is not ordinarily followed by a D.Min.

Curriculum

The Th.M. degree is designed either to prepare students for doctoral studies, (particularly for those students desiring to pursue a teaching career) or to provide advanced theological education for persons in the pastorate or other ministries. Such persons may seek personal enrichment or may desire to equip themselves for a more effective teaching ministry in the Church or in the local community. The 24-hour curriculum includes:

1) Three required Area Seminars in either Biblical Studies or Theological Studies (three semester hours each)
                        2) One “required elective” course in the student’s major area of study
                        3) Two “free elective” courses
                        3) Ancient and/or modern language competencies
                        4) Comprehensive Examination
                        5) A thesis of 25,000-35,000 words

The three Area Seminars and the required elective must be related demonstrably to the student’s intended area of research. The Bible Department and the Theology Department will each offer one Area Seminar per semester. The rotation of four Area Seminars will thus be completed over the course of four semesters.

Students will select their required elective and the two free electives (for a total of nine semester hours) from among the following:
1) Other Area Seminars
2) Existing upper-level M.Div. courses with additional Th.M. requirements
3) D.Min. courses, if appropriate
4) Directed Study Courses
5) Reading Courses
6) Transfer Credit (Students may transfer no more than two courses from other approved Th.M.-level programs, and neither of these may count as one of the required Area Seminars.)
M.Div. and D.Min. courses that can serve as Th.M. electives are listed in the Th.M. course descriptions later in this Catalog.         

Students in Biblical Studies may focus their research on either Old or New Testament. Students in Theological Studies may focus their research on either Historical Theology or Systematic Theology. Students who have an interest in Reformed Worship may focus their historical or theological studies further by making use of electives offered by Erskine’s Institute for Reformed Worship.

In the first year of enrollment, the student will complete a non-credit, required research methodology course.

No later than 15 April of the semester in which the student expects to graduate, the student will: 1) pass a Comprehensive Examination (written, oral, or both) in the area of study, and 2) present and defend the thesis before the faculty of the appropriate department. The final copies of the thesis must be presented for binding by 1 May.

Each student will be assigned an advisor upon acceptance into the program and will, from the very beginning, negotiate course work and a potential thesis topic with his or her advisor.

Two languages are required for the Th.M degree. Depending upon the student’s intended research/thesis topic, he or she may select Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, or German. Students preparing for advanced teaching ministries in the church often choose the two Biblical languages, Greek and Hebrew. Ordinarily, students planning to go on to Ph.D. or Th.D. study should select one ancient language (Hebrew for Old Testament, Greek for New Testament and systematic theology, and Greek or Latin for historical theology) and one modern research language (usually German for Biblical studies or systematic theology, French for historical theology). Other languages may be substituted if the student can demonstrate the relevance of those languages for the intended thesis. Language competence may be demonstrated by college or seminary transcripts or by passing a Reading Comprehension Exam in the proposed language. Language requirements will be determined by the student’s advisor in consultation with the student.