The purpose of this study was to identify a set of perceived indicators of institutional quality for theological schools. To identify the most commonly agreed upon indicators of perceived quality for theological schools, 69 variable indicators of quality were selected from research regarding quality in higher education and in theological schools and compiled into the Inventory of Determinants of Quality for Theological Schools (IDQTS). This instrument was mailed to presidents or deans of non-Catholic theological schools, theological school faculty members, theological school graduates who are practicing ministers, and church leaders. Of the 487 surveys mailed, 288 were returned to be included in this study. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was executed for each of the 69 IDQTS items to determine if the group means of the four study group responses were significantly different. The level of significance was set at .01. Thirty-nine IDQTS items were found to have no significant difference in the group means for responses at the .01 level. Twenty-nine of these 39 items were rated as Important or Most Important perceived indicators of institutional quality for theological schools with overall means of 3.00 or higher. Ten other items were rated as Less important to Unimportant perceived indicators of institutional quality for theological schools with overall means of 2.99 or lower. When the four study groups were treated as four individual raters and Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance was applied to their responses on the IDQTS, a W of .8881 was calculated with p < .01. Of the IDQTS items perceived to be ranked in the highest one-third of indicators of institutional quality in theological schools, eight were associated with student outcomes, five were associated with faculty, four were associated with administration and organization, four were associated with curriculum, one was associated with institutional demographics, one was associated with student services and none were associated with institutional resources.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Problem The problem of this dissertation is to discover through a pilot research project some of the family planning attitudes of Methodist seminary husbands and wives. Method Through the use of a 70-item pretested, precoded, printed, and mailed questionnaire constructed by the author, 60 couples in each of 10 of Methodism's 12 seminaries were tested. The sample was constructed so as to give every Methodist married student in all 10 seminaries an equal chance of being selected for the study. Because no comparative data existed, a smaller number of couples in 13 non-Methodist seminaries were chosen in order to provide two comparison groups, not discussed here. Two follow-up efforts. A response rate of 92.4 per cent was achieved for the 1,980 questionnaires mailed. Validity was sought through the use of experts, a Background Group, interviews, a Sentence Completion Test, and a frequency distribution. A reliability index of 96 per cent was obtained through a test-retest procedure. All data analysis was done on an IBM 1620 computer. The dissertation consists of a backgrounds chapter (Chapter II), a chapter on methodology (Chapter III), a chapter on results and interpretation (Chapter IV), a chapter on results of chi square tests (Chapter V), and a conclusions chapter (Chapter VI) [TRUNCATED] / 2031-01-01

Grounded in practical theology, this project examines the practices of accreditation exhibited by the American Association of Theological Schools, its predecessor body, and its constituent member institutions in order to explicate the evolution of values in accreditation and to map a history of accreditation in theological education in the United States from 1918 to 1968. Examining accreditation history through the lens of practical theology elucidates the ways in which practices inform and are informed by the theologies of stakeholders in theological education. An analysis of practices of accreditation in the early and mid-twentieth century also helps contextualize contemporary practices of adjudicating orthopraxy, both through Association of Theological Schools accreditation and through the work of organizations that support and coordinate professional religious leadership formation for non-Christian communities. Chapter 1 provides background on the intersections of the study of theological education with research in practical theology and organizational behavior; outlines the recorded history of accreditation in theological education; and establishes the method of the study. Chapters 2 through 4 engage different periods of accreditation history by analyzing the information about accrediting published by the Association and quantifying data provided in its publication, the Bulletin. This data is amplified with analysis of cases that reveal particular aspects of accreditation practice as they developed in member schools of the Association, utilizing primary source materials from leaders of the member schools. Chapter 2 examines the Association’s identification and early regulation of “right” institutional practices and situates the Association as both designer and arbiter of institutional orthopraxy. Chapter 3 follows the evolution of the Association’s adjudication of institutional practices and how those efforts are influenced by individuals and member schools. Chapter 4 traces a shift in the Association from expecting conformity to a singular orthopraxy toward embracing a multiplicity of best practices, happening alongside expansions in the diversity of the Association. The final chapter suggests that contemporary administrative practices should be informed by institutional history, and it proposes other implications for the practices of the Association of Theological Schools, its member institutions, and emerging graduate programs for the training of religious professionals in non-Christian religious traditions. / 2023-09-08T00:00:00Z

This thesis will critically examine the project on globalization as articulated by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) in an effort to uncover the presuppositions and motivations that underlie the project, and to situate them historically and with reference to current North American trends in education and politics. It will argue that the project, as it has been described and defined, comes out of the ethos of Protestant liberalism, particularly as this is embodied in missiology and the 19th century Social Gospel Movement, and that this liberal foundation has been influenced since the 1960's in North America by the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement and the more recent concern related to minorities and North American pluralism. Although lip service is paid to evangelism, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the globalization agenda is expressed in terms of social ethics, predominantly justice or liberation theology.

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This study is comprised of four chapters and an Epilogue. Chapter 1 treats, by way of historical description, the founding of America's institutions of higher learning as defacto centers of evangelical Protestant indoctrination and ethos. Chapter 2 is a record of the rejection of evangelical Protestantism in the interest of making the colleges and universities nonsectarian. This was accomplished first by a gradual "broadening'' of the curricula. Later, the schools became altogether secularist in disposition. Chapter 3 recounts the factors leading to the changes in the institutions. Chapter 4 is an evaluation of competing truth claims in the aftermath of the demise of Protestantism and a review of the gains and losses that came with the change. Finally, the Epilogue is a case study of one institution that reversed the trend. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This study is comprised of four chapters and an Epilogue. Chapter 1 treats, by way of historical description, the founding of America's institutions of higher learning as defacto centers of evangelical Protestant indoctrination and ethos. Chapter 2 is a record of the rejection of evangelical Protestantism in the interest of making the colleges and universities nonsectarian. This was accomplished first by a gradual "broadening'' of the curricula. Later, the schools became altogether secularist in disposition. Chapter 3 recounts the factors leading to the changes in the institutions. Chapter 4 is an evaluation of competing truth claims in the aftermath of the demise of Protestantism and a review of the gains and losses that came with the change. Finally, the Epilogue is a case study of one institution that reversed the trend. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)