Grand Rapids—Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (“PRTS”) announced today a newly accredited program: Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree program.

Foundational to an accredited Doctor of Ministry program at PRTS is the academic and spiritual formation of the student. Commencing August 2021, the DMin degree program is designed for those who desire to advance their ministry skills, particularly in preaching and homiletics, and is developed for those who have a passion for preaching, are gifted communicators, have a minimum of three years of pastoral ministry, and show promise in their local and regional ministry of teaching, homiletics, and preaching.

Joel R. Beeke, President of PRTS stated, “We trust that by God’s grace the Doctor of Ministry (homiletics) program, which stresses both solid Reformed academic training and vital piety, will serve the church and the academy in unprecedented ways, strengthening the Reformed community worldwide.”

The specific focus of the Doctor of Ministry program at PRTS is on biblical, Reformed, experiential, and practical preaching. PRTS seeks to adhere to the Reformed and Puritan tradition of homiletics, exemplified by John Calvin, William Perkins (Art of Prophesying), Petrus van Mastricht (Best Method of Preaching), Jonathan Edwards, and many others. We aim to do so by offering a Doctor of Ministry program that is distinctive in its academics and biblical piety; this will be evident in the admissions requirements, as well as in the program’s academic rigor, and spiritual and practical formation components.  The Doctor of Ministry program will be academically rigorous and practical—resonating with the Reformed and Puritan tradition of preaching—as we seek to offer a comprehensive program with high, measurable, and peer-reviewed academic standards. Spiritual components of the DMin program may consist of assigned readings and preaching (in theory and practice). The program will be further enhanced by homileticians and preachers serving as subject experts and co-advisors for the DMin student.

Begun in 1994, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary is now an accredited educational institution for MA, MDiv, ThM, and Ph.D. degrees. Its mission is to prepare students worldwide to serve Christ and His church through biblical, experiential, and practical ministry.  The seminary numbers more than 200 students, has twelve professors, twenty globally renowned scholars as adjunct faculty, and a support staff of fourteen.

CONTACT:

Dr. Jonathon D. Beeke, Registrar <[email protected]>
Dr. Adriaan C. Neele, Director Doctoral Programs <[email protected]>

Consider showing your support for Dr. Adriaan Neele as he defends his second PhD dissertation, “‘That Which We Have Seen’: Philosophical-Homiletical Foundations towards a Phenomenology of Sermon Preparation and Preaching,” from 7:00-8:30 am EST, June 15, 2021, at the Theological University of Apeldoorn.

To watch it online, follow the Zoom link below at 7:00 am EST, June 15, 2021.

TUA Zoom Meeting Doctoral Defense Prof. Dr. Adriaan C. Neele

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84378834463

Do you enjoy reading theological papers and editing that one sentence to make it just right? Well, we have an opportunity suited for you! Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary is looking for four to five volunteers to assist graduate students (especially ESL students) in their paper-writing skills. Ideal volunteers would have a degree in English, familiarity with Turabian citations and bibliographies, ability to note the logical (or illogical) flow in writing, and/or experience in the editorial process. If you are interested in assisting our students on a volunteer basis (usually most urgent near the end of a semester), please contact our librarian, Mrs. Laura Ladwig. For more information on our Writing Support program, please see here. We appreciate any help you can provide!

Please note the following correction to the May/June 2021, Vol. 18 / No. 2 issue of the PRTS Update. Dr. Daniel Timmer, not Dr. Greg Salazar, will be teaching “Minor Prophets, Major Theologies” at the Summer Colloquium for the Evangelical Theology Faculty (ETF) in Leuven, Belgium.

For more information please visit https://www.etf.edu/en/minor-prophets-major-theologies/.

Congratulations to Dr. de Blois and Dr. Stanton for their successful doctoral defenses. A historic day @PRTS celebrating our first PhD graduates.

CONTACT: Chris Hanna, Director of Development & Marketing

For immediate release: May 1, 2021

Grand Rapids – Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (“PRTS”) announced today that a grant by Lilly Endowment Inc. for ministry development has been awarded to the institution.

The Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant of $50,000 will support PRTS’s Competency Embedded Ministry Education Model (CEMEM), which will enable the seminary to work closely with pastors, provide a relevant education and support structure to students, and enable churches to continue to operate, especially those in rural and/or inner-city areas, while their ministers are receiving specialized education and support.

Joel R. Beeke, President of PRTS comments, “We trust that by God’s grace, this significant grant will serve the church and the academy in unprecedented ways, strengthening the Reformed community. We greatly appreciate Lilly Endowment for supporting our vision.”

Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative focuses on:

• Exploring emerging challenges and opportunities facing their institutions as well as the Christian congregations that they serve
• Gaining clarity about their mission in light of these challenges and opportunities and in relationship to the leadership needs of their constituent churches
• Assessing the effectiveness of their educational strategies and financial operations for preparing and supporting pastors and congregational lay ministers
• Designing and implementing plans to launch new and/or strengthen current projects to address their key challenges and opportunities and to make their institutions more educationally effective and financially viable for the continued preparation and support of pastors and congregational lay ministers into the future

Started in 1994, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary is an accredited educational institution for MA, MDiv, ThM, and Ph.D. degrees. Its mission is to prepare students worldwide to serve Christ and His church through biblical, experiential, and practical ministry. The seminary numbers 200 students, has ten professors, twenty globally renowned scholars serve as adjunct faculty, and has a support staff of fourteen.

Don’t miss your opportunity to apply for the PRTS Doctor of Ministry program starting this August!

This is a four-year program (maximum 6 years) designed for those who desire to advance their ministry skills, particularly in preaching and homiletics.

The specific focus of the PRTS Doctor of Ministry program is biblical, Reformed, experiential and practical preaching. Courses in the DMin homiletics program will be taught by Dr. Joel Beeke, Dr. Gerald Bilkes, and Dr. Adriaan Neele.

The upcoming August course offering is Introduction to Homiletical Studies. This course is an introduction to homiletical studies, including the history of homiletics, and will be primarily based on primary source readings, secondary literature overview, developments in homiletics, and research method. The classical Roman and Greek rhetoric and oratory will be studied, as well as transitional moments from Augustine to the mid-1800s. In addition, attention will be given to the trajectories of homiletics in the Reformed tradition including the Dutch experiential tradition of preaching and Dutch handbooks of homiletics from the 17^th to 20^th century. These primary sources will be set in historical context, and trajectories of continuity and discontinuity will be discussed. Attention will be given to the classical structure of the sermon, as well as a discussion on the intersection of preacher, audience, psychology, affections, and communication.

For a little less than $325.00 USD per month over four years you can earn a fully accredited Doctor of Ministry degree grounded in biblical, Reformed, experiential and practical preaching from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.

This degree program is designed to equip you to become a more effective communicator, both in your pulpit and writing ministries. Multiple church-matching scholarships are available up to a maximum of $1950.00 per year. This Church-Matching Scholarship is awarded to a DMin student whose church agrees to financially support their studies.