JCC Bible universities

Dear Americans ,

I've noticed your country has a fair number of these, and even people on these boards are graduates of these establishments.

I don't know if we have them in Australia, or if we do, I think we just put them on accord with degrees bought online or obtained in philosophy, i.e. not real.

What's the story with them? Are they regarded as elaborate jokes or viable institutions in the US? And how does Bible University differ from Bovine University?

I actually do want some insight, because I instinctively assume a person who went to such an establishment actually received no education.

 

The Bush Administration hired heavily from Pat Robertson's Regent University.

 

i have a philosophy degree.

 

I thought you had a degree in funk.

 

I actually don't think Regent and Liberty would qualify. To my mind, the term implies outright seminaries or at least those that have explicit religious instruction as a major cornerstone of their curriculum. By contrast, the schools Even mentioned are just liberal arts schools with an extremely socially conservative bent.

 

Don't feel bad, you also have Magnum PI!

 

Well, I'm frankly sort of confused about what he's trying to address at all. There are certainly some areas where it can come in for clear criticism. But the reality is that majors like English or Art History don't have a great deal of workplace applicability to begin with. Does getting that degree from a "Christian" versus sexular four year institution actually change that? Likewise, are there Christian and non-Christian accounting practices that would make the degree substantially different? Granted, they're not of any outstanding quality, but most colleges and universities aren't.

EDIT: I think heels has stumbled on what's perhaps a more substantive example? Requiring students to attend multiple religious services weekly as a condition of continued enrollment is a substantive investment that would qualify the experience there as unique. I don't necessarily understand this to be the case at other (in?)famous schools, which tend to just have things like dress codes.

 

as long as you didn't buy it online, tom

 

a lot of people i meet in the Phoenix area (especially, i must confess, in some corners of the dance community) go to Grand Canyon University, which bills itself as a Christian school. i haven't and cannot be arsed now to actually look into this place in depth, but i kind of make the same assumption that they're getting a substandard education that protects them from information that might cause unplesant cognitive dissonance. many of them are lovely folks, but id certainly think twice before relying on them to be particularly competent in whatever their degree is supposed to have been in. maybe that's an unfounded prejudice based on my impressions of places like liberty or regents university

then again, im attending a state university this semester and i almost accidentally roomed with this dude so ymmv

 

Yeah we have them in Australia, lots of them. My wife teaches in the catholic school system so she had to get a certificate or diploma of religious education which she got from some catholic university.

I would question the quality of any science degree offered by a biblical university.

 

Wocky, in all seriousness, I don't know if they're valid institutions or not. If they even exist in my country, they would be regarded as a joke and not taken seriously.

But in America, it's different so I basically wanted to know, if you met someone who graduated from one of these institutions, how would you view them, academically? Assuming you had a job and didn't just live off the vast wealth you accrued over the years waiting for the Prize when there's only one Immortal left, and a graduate of a Biblical university applied for a job, would you consider a qualification in biblical actuarial studies the same as real secular actuarial studies?

 

Is that ACU?

Catholicism has an old-world classicisim to it that the grubby, nouveau riche kitsch of American evangelicalism doesn't. I'd be more favourable to ACU in that case.

 

i like that category system and i wonder if anyone knows where the example i mentioned, Grand Canyon University (GCU) falls, and also where BYU falls since I know a ton of mormons these days as well. I assume BYU to be a special case because people seem to treat it more or less like a "real" degree, so there must be some sort of rigor there right? RRIIIIGGGHHHHTTT?!

even tho you cant grow a beard there without getting expelled without a "medical reason" approved via an exam by an on-campus doctor, apprently lol

 

How anyone could treat a degree from a cult as legit, i don't know.

 

But isn't the whole idea of getting a degree from a bible university that you will become a minister or pastor or reverand or some other kind of paid job teaching the bible and theology etc etc. It's like the educational pathway to a career in bible and being religious. Church attendance would be like a pre-requisite for those kinds of jobs I reckon.

 

oh god i looked it up and it's the worst of both worlds. its a "for-profit, christian university". it's university of phoenix meets bible college

 

There is a school with "Bible College" in it's name about 20 minutes away from where I live. From what I recall, it is primarily a seminary with other faith related areas of teaching.

There are also several universities in my home state which have backing from specific Christian denominations, but they do not require students to adhere to certain traditions or publically profess a certain kind of faith. I'm 99% sure you are referring to the first one I mentioned, but the US has a lot of the second type of university too.

 

oh god. oh god its so terrible

how ******* stupid do you have to be to get suckered into a bible college THAT IS ALSO a for-profit scam college?

 

Oh, well then yeah, that is wierd.