This dissertation examined how the more recent graduates of The Southern Baptist Seminary (SBTS) are incorporating the twenty-one core values of the institution into their present ministries. The data garnered from this present research will enlighten interested parties to the world of assessment in higher education and the role that core values play in that process. Future graduates of SBTS will be impacted in their education due to the findings of this dissertation. A researcher-designed survey was placed before the recent graduates of SBTS under the direction of the Office of Institutional Advancement of the seminary. The raw data received through this research was tabulated and put into visual formats to aid the reader in seeing what these findings mean. Graduates from across the spectrum of theological education are in no way to be generalized by this research. Only those graduates across the spectrum of the four graduate school of SBTS are represented in the research population for this study. The findings have shown that while the high majority of those graduates that were surveyed had no prior knowledge of the existence of the core values the core values nonetheless existed in their ministries. The graduates reflected a trace of each of the core values throughout their ministries with the core values that focused on the glory of God, surrender to the Lordship of Christ, and a trust in the fidelity in the Bible to be the values that emerge over all others. Core values that collect the least amount of prevalence in the ministry of recent graduates were those that focused on new technologies and denominational affiliation. The overall picture of an average SBTS graduate is one of a studious student who carries a love of continued learning throughout his or her ministry. The recent graduate of SBTS does not lay claim to a vast knowledge of the historical setting of the seminary. With that understood, the history of the core values can be seen in his or her life due to the fact that such a large number of the graduates had no prior knowledge of the existence of the values, yet many of the values appear in their ministries. Across the spectrum of the four graduate schools, the number of respondents and the type of core values they responded to remain the same. The top three core values in positive or negative responses remained true from The School of Theology, The School of Music, The School of Leadership, and Church Ministry or The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. Further research is needed to reveal the thoughts on and impression of the core values of the seminary on the ministries of future graduates. Further research is also called for to examine if the present day core values add or detract from the past seminary training of older alumni. Any future research will add to the literature base for this area of study while at the same time keep the accreditation protocols and practices of training fresh among those tied to SBTS and the mission of the institution.

A survey instrument was mailed to a random sampling of wives of graduates of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, from 1982 to 1986. The purpose of the survey was to determine if wives of seminary graduates have ministry-related educational needs during the first five years of professional ministry that can be met by an educational program. Furthermore, demographic and attitudinal variables were investigated as potential contributing factors. Finally, suggestions were sought from the wives themselves for the implementation of an education program. For each wife, a total educational need score was calculated from her responses. Of the 240 respondents who completed the entire survey document, almost 42% of the respondents indicated a high educational need score with 5% producing a very high need score. Of the top twenty educational needs, only one was from the Theological/Christian Education category; the top three were all from Self Needs regarding stress management, dealing with criticism, and conflict resolution. The Chi Square Test for Independence was used to identify contributing factors, both demographic and attitudinal. The following were validated at the .05 level (unless indicated otherwise) as having a relationship to the wives' scores: Year of Husband's Graduation, Husband's Degree, Size of Community (.06), Wife's Age, Wife's Field of Highest Degree, Age of Youngest Child, Type of Wife's Most Recent Position, Number of Educational Opportunities Participated in while at the Seminary, Satisfaction with Current Roles, and Perceived Education Gap. Variables for which there was not sufficient evidence of the existence of a relationship were: Number of Years of Husband's Full-time Ministry, Husband's Most Recent Position in Ministry, Size of Largest Congregation, Highest Level of the Wife's Education, Date of Marriage: Before or After Seminary, Number of Children, Age of Oldest Child, Employment during Seminary, Current Employment, Primary Reason for Current Employment, Number of Current Leadership Roles, View of Role of Minister's Wife, Satisfaction with Previous Training, and Satisfaction with Current Training.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-211).

This dissertation examines the role of ethical monism in the theology of Augustus Hopkins Strong. Chapter 1 discusses some of the reasons for examining Strong's theology and some of the difficulties entailed in such a study. Chapter 2 surveys the life of Strong up until the time when he returned to Rochester Theological Seminary and assumed the dual role of president and professor of theology in 1872. Special attention is given to factors which affected or pointed toward his later decision to embrace ethical monism. Chapter 3 explores the writings of several German thinkers who seem to have provided some of the philosophical building blocks which Strong used to construct his ethical monism. It also examines the writings of several English-speaking philosophers who emphasized the doctrine of divine immanence and who appear to have pushed Strong's thinking toward ethical monism. Chapter 4 discusses the various stages in Strong's decision to adopt ethical monism. It also traces his early incorporation of ethical monism into his larger theological system. Chapter 5 examines the impact which ethical monism had on other areas of Strong's theology. In particular, it discusses how ethical monism affected Strong's view of Scripture and experience, evolution and miracles, and sin and the atonement. Chapter 6 explores how other theologians viewed Strong's final theology and how Strong's theological journey affected the institution and people whom he impacted most. It argues that neither Rochester Theological Seminary nor the integrity of his theological system remained unaffected by his decision to embrace ethical monism. It also notes that both theological liberals and theological conservatives were generally critical of Strong's ethical monism, though for different reasons. This work contends that ethical monism was a means by which Strong attempted to reconcile Christian theology and modern thought while also trying to solve tensions within his own theology. In the end, Strong was unable to persuade modernists to embrace ethical monism or to convince conservatives that ethical monism was a legitimate theological option. Strong's attempt at a theological synthesis failed due largely to the contradictions which ethical monism produced within both Christian theology and philosophical monism.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-132).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract . Description based on microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-180).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes abstract and vita. "December 2000." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-117).

Thesis (D.Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-190).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / "August 2006" Includes bibliographical references (l. 114-117)