Marbaniang, Domenic

Since the Early Period of Christian history, the world has presented an almost inescapable allurement of dry logic or fake glory to divine faith. The world challenges faith to fight with it on its worldly ground, the ground of space-time reason (which apologists, sadly, find very compelling). On the one hand are the contextualists who try to localize revelation in terms of contexts, which attempts, most of which, have certainly been quite helpful, though some idolatrously inclusive. But, nothing has been more devastating to the cause of theological education than the allurement of the secular "university" system in modern times. In 1520, Martin Luther talked about the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. The Protestant Church soon forgot the lesson as it continued to be enamored with the gods of the surrounding nations, the gods of Enlightenment, Scientism, and Modernism. The chief warriors who fell to this honey-trap were theological professors who wished to appear as intelle...

SIMPLY STATED, theological education is education that one receives in the discipline of theology. Here, “theology” doesn’t merely refer to Systematic Theology or Dogmatic Theology; it is that avenue or field of study that has as its objective a clear understanding of the Christian faith. It may be defined as the discipline that aims at an appropriate understanding, interpretation, defense, and application of the Christian faith in the world. Thus, it is the Christian faith that lies at the heart of theological education. Graham Cheesman defines theological education as “the training of men and women to know and serve God”. 1 He distinguishes it from Christian education in that its specific objective is the training of individuals for Christian service and leadership. Christian Education is generally seen as for all and takes place generally in the church. Theological Education is not for all, usually results in special service and leadership and usually takes place in a college or i...