CHAPTER I
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION THROUGH DISCIPLESHIP AND EDIFICATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY
I would like to take you on a trip into the past and examine the history of theological education that by God's grace we might acquire a little wiser perspective on the theological education of our Lord's gifted ministers. Thus, with discernment we may be enabled to see a little further into the future and avoid some potholes or chasms into whicr other historical sojourners have fallen. So, let us become better stewards with the moments He has given us. First, of course, let us begin with prayer recalling, "If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (Jas. 1:5 NIV).
As seen with the Lord Jesus, with His master imitator Paul, and with church history, the Christian church has grown and multiplied using the Master's principles of Theological Education through Discipleship and Edification. I hope that this paper persuades its reader to personally examine the Master's ways of theological education and motivate him to go and do likewise, go and make disciples of all nations.
Throughout church history until recent times, there has been a practical, on-the-job form of theological education for the preparation of its ministers. During the Old and New Testament eras, there were no formal theological schools. During the Old Testament era, we note the theological extension school of the prophets with Elijah and Elisha. We also note the priests' theological discipleship seminary of Eli and Samuel.
Concerning the New Testament, in Acts 4:13 we read that the disciples were called "uneducated, common men." Their only theological education was through a close personal contact with Jesus. Paul followed the method set forth by Jesus of on-the-job training, then he encouraged Timothy to carry on in the same way. The early church expanded rapidly with lay leadership and on-the-job training. The early church may have slowed the growth if it had depended upon only a formal ministry.
In the third century, alongside this TEDE method there came into being some chief church centers such as Alexandria. In this city Origin in about 230 A.D. developed an advanced theological school.
In the fourth and fifth centuries, most of the ministerial training began at an early age through personal tutoring by bishops and older clergy.
With the sixth century came the collapse of the Roman Empire, and monasteries were established in Southern and Western Europe. It was through the monastery that evangelism was encouraged as monks lived and worked among the barberic conquering tribes. Existing at the same time as the monasteries were the Episcopal schools, and there a bishop or elder would tutor the young students.
"The university as a center for teaching and research developed about 1200."1 "The university ... borrowed freely from outside, from institutions of the ancient and Islamic worlds. The intellectual life developed in ... the broad stream of classical Arab, Islamic, and Jewish influences. A medieval university owed much to the educational system of the Arabs. There is no doubt that Islamic Spain was a stimulating influence."2 "Most of the paraphernalia of modern university life comes from medieval times. The student had to do a good deal of memorizing. A good memory and the use of logic were important. ... Learning was to be lecture and debate. ... The university in medieval times kept alive and developed the study of theology."3 With Scholasticism theological education took a new direction. Aristotelian logic became a formative dialectic foundation in the study of all theology. "After their rise, most of higher education, which had centered in monastic and cathedral schools, was given in university classrooms. Scholasticism and the universities were closely associated in the service of the church. They poured a steady stream of personnel trained in arts, law, and theology into its hierarch."4 With the university era and its scholasticism, the preparation for the ministry and study of theology became more content and classroom centered and less on-the-job oriented. As a result, the Christian church had plunged into a sea of much stagnancy, which necessitated a reformation. After the reformation in England, the discipleship and tutorial method of theological education was revived; during this time the older, experienced ministers would train the younger ones and the uneducated ones. This tutorial method existed alongside the ministerial schools. Later on the Wesleyan movemen with its TEDE theological educational principles would usher in a church growth movement.
In early American history, a tutorial system and university system for the training of the clergy existed side by side. During the colonial period of America, the ministerial candidates would receive a basic education and then pursue specific theological training under the tutorship of established pastors in nearby parishes.
The Presbyterian churches preferred to send their ministers to Ireland, Scotland, or England. This proved to be very impractical for the expense was great and it was difficult for them to fit into the community upon returning. Many other denominations, in many ways, have continued to make this mistake.
About the time of independence, a trend began of establishing professional schools for law and medicine. Theological training followed suit and each denomination would establish its own school to train and educate its men in its distinct theology.
The gifted circuit-riding preachers and evangelists of the Methodist Church were stimulated with Theological Education through Discipleship and Edification and became a part of one of the greatest church growth movements of history. Later on, we will look at the successes of the Methodist movement and its tutorial training system.
Now we will jump ahead in time and look at what has happened to many of the early theological schools and their denominations. Herald Lindsell in his best-seller, The Battle for the Bible, did a historical study of theological education. He concluded that the decline of growth within the mainliue denominations, including the once largest United Methodist Church, had its roots in the seminaries. He noted that stagnancy begins when the teachers at the seminaries defect from the belief on historical inerrancy and use the higher critical didactic. Decay develops in a pyramidical manner. Some of the most conservative denominations and institutions, in spite of their burning realization, have in a short time gone awry. One way to guard against this defection is to provide for an alternative decentralized education program. TEE and TEDE could serve this purpose.
|