On earning a PhD in church history and being a church history prof as a calling

Above: the graduating class of Southern Seminary, where I teach, 110 years ago. The faces in our classes are quite different now—far more diverse in numerous ways, which is a good thing. But I post this because it has the inset of WJ McGlothlin (2nd from the left on the top row which features the faculty), one of my professorial predecessors in church history and a great historian.

I recently read a post on FB and its thread of comments comparing the number of teaching positions open for those with doctorates in theology etc. to that of church positions open for pastors.

To the ears of one who has now spent fifty years in post-secondary academia, it was a strange discussion and in spots utterly out of touch with the reality of teaching in a seminary.

First off, comparing being in the pastorate and in seminary education is like comparing lemons and limes—there are similarities to the latter, for sure—but they are hardly the same in so many ways.

Second, what I found most disturbing was the impression many had who thought that pastoring was far more difficult and that in reality being a seminary prof was something of a cake walk!

Such comments are from some sort of fantasy world!

Being a prof of church history—my area of teaching—is a tremendously difficult calling.¹

Getting the PhD, if anything, is the cake walk.

You then have course to create a multitude of courses, and keep up with the literature regarding them—and we historians of the Church have 2000 years to master as well as the global nature of Christianity in all of that time.

Then, one must know the cultures in which the Church has flourished and sometimes not-so-flourished (here is my Annales school training influencing me).

Then you must master Latin and Greek (and these days also Syriac) and French and German and if you can do it, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian.

You need to know your Bible like a Biblical scholar—for after all the history of the Church is the history of Christians interacting with Scripture.

You have to go to conferences and keep up with the current state of Church history monographs and articles. And remember most church history profs get paid less than pastors in medium-sized churches since so many churches so often fail to fund their seminaries properly.

In all of that, there are students to teach and advise and mentor and write letters of reference for, and exams and essays to mark and grade, and dissertation committees to serve on, and in this day of email, tens of people emailing you out of the blue for advice and recommendations re church history.

Here is some advice: please refrain from commenting on the role of church history profs—and that of seminary profs in general—if you know little or nothing about what we really do or how our lives are led.

1. And what is true for church history is true across the board in other seminary subjects.