A More Solid Foundation ---- The ThM Class for Advanced Study

In 2000, the Seminary founded its graduate school, which offered a Master of Theology Program and subsequently in 2013, it began offering a Doctor of Theology Program.

We seek to nurture ministerial workers who can shoulder the responsibility of shepherding, missions, and the preaching vocation for our churches through our two basic degree programs: Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) and Master of Divinity (M.Div.). The graduate school was established to provide those pastors and ministers who have completed the basic programs with advanced theological education that enables them to have further studies in the Bible and theology so that they can become even better equipped, spiritually renewed, as they pursue their teaching and pastoral ministries.

Through this issue of the Seminary’s Newsletter, we hope to give readers a better understanding of our graduate school’s Master of Theology Program. When the Program began in 2000, there were only six students. However, after different stages of development and more than ten years, the number of students has steadily risen with over 30 currently enrolled in the program.

A Hardworking Learning Community

　　A strengthened faculty and an improved curriculum have significantly accelerated the development of the Th.M. Program. Additionally, as the basic degree programs and the postgraduate program are closely linked, development and upgrading of the former have led to a corresponding increase in the number of students applying to study in the Th.M. Program. This marked increase is partly due to a group of outstanding students from our seminary that hopes to continue their studies here and partly due to the program’s attractiveness to outside students who aspire to do better academically and find that opportunity at the seminary. At present, half of our Th.M. students come from within our own seminary and half are from outside.

　　Most of our Th.M. students are serving as preachers who are taking on full-time ministry positions and taking on part-time programs in graduate studies as they seek holistic training in the Bible and theology. Classes are scheduled on Mondays to allow these hard-working ministers to temporarily put aside their work and pursue further studies in the seminary. Because students attend lessons on Mondays and dedicate the rest of their week to ministry, they do not actually have much time to get together with fellow students. However, while on campus many students take time out off their busy schedules to revise together, have lunch, and pray for one another. To pursue further studies while taking on a full-time position in ministry is not easy, but God enables them to support each other and become a group of co-walkers who bless one another. During these last two years, a group of like-minded students have formed a book club to share their passion for reading. In this way they can learn from each other by sharing and reflecting on what they have read, making their intellectual lives more colorful and their friendship stronger.

Program Characteristic: A Seminar Mode of Learning

　　The program is composed of two major components: class time and thesis composition. Students’ presentations and the teacher-students’ discussion in seminar form are always integral parts of each lesson. This form of seminar learning is characteristic of HKBTS’s Th.M. Program and takes place within a small class ranging from 3 to 8 students. Each class focuses on sharpening students’ analytical thinking and enhancing their capacity for independent reflection.

　　While every subject is distinct, each teacher utilizes a similar cognitive apprenticeship method of teaching that helps individual students build strong, solid foundations of knowledge in different subject areas. For example, in a biblical studies lesson, the teacher will ask students to read several biblical passages in their original language prior to the class. While in class, the teacher will then guide each of the students to reflect on their translations and interpretations through a series of questions in order to sharpen their thinking and reinforce their knowledge and understanding of biblical exegesis. As for the lessons in theological studies, students will have the opportunity to focus on reading an important theological classic under the guidance of a teacher. It is through the process of students making presentations, responding to questions, and interacting with teachers and fellow students that the class as a whole explores the author’s work and some of the important theological issues involved.

　　It is through this kind of seminar form of learning where the emphasis is on interactive discussion that the teacher instructs students to interpret and grasp the information, thereby sharpening their way of thinking, reading, and problem solving. It is hoped that this method enables students to gradually master the methods needed to conduct research as they practice both independent thinking and independent study when they dedicate themselves to thesis writing. They are also gaining the ability to draw parallels through inference to further apply what they have learned to different subjects. For ministers who are currently pastoring churches, this practice of exercising their powers of discernment is very practical; ministers need to have sufficient powers of discernment when they handle various difficult problems within the church setting. They need to discern whether the ways members of the congregation think and act are compliant with the Christian faith so as to teach and lead them in the most appropriate way. In addition, students’ research studies can encompass even more practical components, for example, they can look at preaching and missions from biblical and theological perspectives. The Seminary also anticipates that the Th.M. Program can be further developed in regard to practical theology.

　　After completing all the required courses, a Th.M. student will then be asked to write a thesis under the guidance of a professor. A student chooses his/her thesis according to his/her own research interest. Theses that our former Th.M. students have completed fall under many different areas. Topics on the Old Testament include: Thematic studies on the book of Job, a literary study of the book of Exodus, and different biblical themes (for example: The motif of warfare). Topics on the New Testament include: Viewing the emergence and development of the Early Church from a sociological perspective, the view of justification from the New Perspective on Paul, and different hermeneutical methods applied to the study of each of the books in the New Testament. Topics on theology include: Colin E. Gunton’s view on personhood, Jürgen Moltmann’s view on suffering, the implication of Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics on preaching, and the praxis of Vanhoozer’s sola scriptura.