It used to be that going to seminary was simple. Students, called by God, directed by their church, and committed to spiritual discipline and study, entered their denomination's seminary—a school designed to prepare them for the exercise of the pastoral offices, ordinances, sacraments, and preaching.

Whether attending a newer evangelical seminary or an older seminary with roots in the historic mainline churches, almost every seminarian in evangelical America studied the same core curricula, emphasizing biblical languages, historic theological disciplines, pastoral theology, and counseling training. This model was so ubiquitous that the core elements of most seminaries' catalogues were indistinguishable. A seminary's unique denominational and theological distinctives were discernable not so much in their core curricula but in their programs, electives, the work of their professors, and the expectations of their internship and clinical pastoral educational programs.

"In 1980, Biblical Seminary's constituency would have expected its graduates to be pastors who would be articulate male leaders, well-versed in the original biblical languages, theology, and biblical studies," says Pam Smith, Biblical Seminary's vice-president for student advancement.

The homogeneity of mid-century evangelical seminary education extended to how schools prepared M.Div. students to engage the churches and mission fields they were preparing to serve. Seminaries assumed a consistent American cultural zeitgeist—in both the church and the broader culture.

"The graduating modern-world pastor would have been equipped to preach well-crafted sermons, conduct weddings, funerals, and visitations," Smith says. "His counseling load in this world of more stable marriages and families would have generally been light. Students coming to seminary in those days would have sought a more academic, scholastic approach to their ministry. Advancing the kingdom, even problem-solving would have been done through more study, books, and seminars. Graduates who became missionaries were sent overseas to spread the gospel."

Seminaries also expected denominational loyalty to largely drive their recruitment. They assumed students chose to study with them because of church affiliation, and those same churches recommended students in whom they perceived God's calling, knowledge of Scriptures, and the character necessary for Christian leadership. Pentecostals called to ministry pursued their education in Pentecostal seminaries. Baptist seminaries taught Baptist students about the primacy of the Scriptures and the separation of church and state. And reformed schools emphasized sola scriptura, and the sovereignty of God.

Seminaries also enjoyed a unique, reciprocal relationship with the churches and denominations they served, receiving both direct and indirect financing through denominational funding and church subsidies of student costs. In turn, even independent seminaries had denominational and congregational representatives on their boards, directing their long-term policy and development goals.

All of this led to a culture where evangelical seminaries and their constituencies assumed the stability and efficacy of their work—whether recruiting, fundraising, or teaching and training students. They were doing a good job because they had done a good job last year—and this year would be like last year.

The Landscape Changes
Over the past 25 years, however, this landscape has experienced a dynamic and highly charged evolution. At the core of this rapid—and drastic—transformation has been the erosion of the very notion that there might be a stable cultural arrangement at all. Emerging in its place was a worldview reluctant to make—and often antagonistic toward—universal truth claims. By the mid-1980s academia had given this epistemological shift a name: postmodernism.

For Christians, postmodernism represented unique challenges, because, as Timothy Larsen, associate professor of theology at Wheaton College, says the worldview "is incompatible with orthodox Christianity. "

But postmodernism, as popularly understood, was more than just an epistemological shift. Rather, it was the conjuncture of that intellectual shift with the far-sweeping changes and cultural instability caused by the decline of the American industrial economy. For example, the often-chronicled demise of the traditional family was a result of this shift, as family structures and values (both in the broader culture and church) adjusted to the demands of shortened tenure, unraveling pensions, job mobility, two-parent working families, latchkey kids, skyrocketing divorce rates, the affluent single-parent family, and the cross-mobility of the two-family child.

Likewise, the increased hegemony of the information economy's media culture has made the once unseen extremes of human nature common media currency. The average home has multiple televisions, often with more than 100 stations catering to ever more specific viewer interests. And increasingly complex video games have transformed adolescence. Combined with the Internet, the best and worst in human nature are available via a dizzying array of media, but most often it is the worst that is most readily seen.

All of these changes, frequently understood as a byproduct or function of postmodernism, left many Americans—and especially evangelicals—dizzy, and at times outraged. As believers sought to respond to these changes, by the turn of the 21st century it was clear that one of the core battlegrounds—and fundraising tools—of the culture wars was post modernism.

The Changing Face of Ministry
Ministry, in any age, has never been easy. But postmodernism has meant that difficulty is magnified endlessly by a rapidly changing world. The challenges for new ministers (and their teachers) are inescapable—in the attitudes, values, and expectations of their parishioners and neighbors. New M.Div. grads are seeking out what Toffler called "islands of stability" as they grapple with the notion that postmodernism has made even everyday parish ministry a cross-cultural experience.

"Today's seminarian is also a sent missionary," says Smith, "but sent to the local community. The seminarian of today knows better than his or her predecessor that America in 2005 is a mission field as much as Africa and Asia are. They know that the people they minister to today are more sophisticated, tech-savvy, and knowledgeable about the world than any previous generation. Just take a look at your church's youth group."

Postmodernism fundamentally altered our expectations for churches, pastors, and ministries—and therefore seminaries as well. As seminaries began to adapt their curricula, postmodernism became at once a favorite, if slippery, cultural whipping boy. It was also a missiological panacea, less a movement than a broad category describing the changing way we have come to think, act, believe, and more specifically, think and believe about thinking and believing.

Narrowing down a useful definition of postmodernism is difficult. John Stephenson, formerly of Toronto's Master Seminary, says, "The only thing agreed upon with regard to postmodernism is that it is highly marketable."

But we must start somewhere, and the observations of Wheaton College's Larsen are suggestive of the immense challenges—and opportunities—postmodernism brought to seminary and seminarian alike. "Cultural postmodernism … defines the way that the gospel needs to be presented in a particular contemporary context. Some of these cultural changes … make it harder to pursue a faithful Christian witness, some make it easier, and some are neutral," says Larsen.

Due to the increasingly visual nature of modern media, attention to the written word has diminished. For Christians, dependent on the Word that became flesh, this presents opportunities and challenges. "A postmodern move from a word-based culture to a visual culture seems to have something to teach the church," Larsen says, "but it also poses challenges to a Protestant witness that is committed to the authority of Scripture and the ministry of preaching." Larsen also notes, "A growing concern among our faculty is the decline in biblical literacy that has happened in the last couple decades."

Yet, the postmodernist desire for relationship presents many opportunities in a culture increasingly disconnected. Introducing people to God and to the church can have very positive outcomes. "Our students now have, if anything, a stronger appropriation of their own personal commitment to Christ than they did a decade or two ago," Larsen says. "Postmodern hungers for spirituality and for community seem to be welcome trends for those who wish to foster the life of the church."

Postmodernity also presents the opportunity to critique an ungodly worldly system using its own methods. Manfred Brauch, former president of Palmer Theological Seminary (formerly Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary), says, "Modernity … sees reality primarily in terms of rationality and totality and order … in terms of completeness or systems (social, economic, philosophical, religious), guided and maintained by grand narratives. These are stories a culture tells itself about its practices and beliefs. In contrast, postmodernity is at heart a critique of grand narratives … and therefore ideologies, philosophies, and religious belief systems with their dependence on absolutes." The modern gods of individualism, materialism, consumerism, or scientism are grand narratives ripe for a postmodern critique.

By emphasizing church traditions, individual testimonies of changed lives, and the narrative of church history, Christians can reach out to their postmodern neighbors. "Postmodernism favors mini-narratives which explain small practices—local events rather than large-scale global or universal concepts," says Brauch. "Postmodernism emphasizes that which is situational, provisional, contingent, and temporary, making no claim to universality, truth, reason, or stability."

As might be expected, reactions to such potentially polarizing understandings of postmodernism by evangelical gatekeepers, including seminary leadership, have been as diverse as they are profoundly thoughtful.

For some, postmodernism is pure boogeyman, involved in the collapse of reason and the unraveling of morality. For others, postmodernism provides the key to unlocking the gospel for a new generation, the hermeneutic of a new missiological age.

Against this tension, from the '90s forward, evangelical seminaries have entered a period of deep reflection motivated largely by the challenges of postmodernism. This reflection has resulted in a careful retooling of nearly everything under their roofs. However great these changes, an examination of them reveals the unflinching desire on the part of evangelical seminaries to equip themselves and their graduates to be more responsive to the times, more committed to the authority of Scripture and to witnessing to the kingdom of God in our congregations and lives.

Eric Ohlmann, retired academic dean of Palmer Theological Seminary and currently a consultant to Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Institute for Worship Studies in Orange Park, Florida says, "My mantra as an academic dean was constantly to ask: What kind of ministries would most advance the kingdom of God today? What kinds of leaders do they require? What kind of theological education would best prepare such leaders?"

"In a less Christian-friendly culture," says Smith, "the current seminarian will expect that their training will help them understand and communicate in that culture. Seminarians want training that's biblically based and practical and relevant as well."

Differing Responses to Postmodernism
Two basic reactions informed how American evangelical seminaries have responded to postmodernism. Some see postmodernism as a threat and have reworked their programs and course requirements to emphasize the authority of Scripture and arm students against postmodernism's dangers. Others consider postmodernism a useful ally, and they have reevaluated core curricula to include and emphasize new critiques and formulations of the "old, old story," as well as the centrality of relationships to the kingdom of God.

Most evangelical seminaries and professors find themselves somewhere wisely between these two extremes. For Phoenix Seminary, postmodernism provides a new opportunity to defend a more modern understanding of truth. For professor of theology Wayne Grudem, students who understood the need for strong biblical values and scriptural authority were the best response to postmodernism's popular view "that there are no absolute standards of right and wrong or of truth and falsehood. This is increasingly important in a day in which so much of the culture is morally adrift and is also looking for authenticity, genuineness, and a connection between what people say they believe and the way they act."

Biblical Seminary's R. Todd Mangum takes a different tact, and while never wavering from the evangelical commitment to the authority of Scripture, he suggests that the first response to postmodernism must be self-critical rather than defensive. "Postmodernism," he says, "is that framework of thinking that recognizes that every human viewpoint represents a finite, fallible perspective. That does not mean that every view is false, and it does not mean that some views are not more correct than other views. Nor does it mean that there is no way one can tell which views are more correct than other views."

Postmodernism may mean that Christians, especially seminary-trained leaders, need to focus just as much on being winsome as on being right. "It does mean that we do well to recognize that even our correct viewpoints are only finitely correct and have the penchant to be misconstrued," Mangum says. "A high degree of humility is in order, even when we are confident that our convictions are well substantiated."

This emphasis on personal experience has the advantage of allowing students to focus on their relationships with God. Lyn Perez of Reformed Theological Seminary describes how this creative opportunity manifested itself at RTS. "Students [ask] more personal questions about their faith. They want to know not only what the Bible means in a historical context, but also what it means to them personally.

While teaching the absolute truths of the Bible, today's seminaries teach students to turn those truths into everyday realities. "They are aware of the pitfalls and limitations of a purely rationalistic, empirical understanding of truth, and they are not content to stop there, wanting to understand the application of theology in cultural contexts," says Perez. "On the other hand, a significant challenge today, given the postmodern skepticism of authority and absolute truth, is a strong defense of the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. There is no other time in which this has been a more important issue."

Shaping the Postmodern Mind—The Changing Syllabi
The first structural changes instituted by evangelical seminaries have been in the course curricula. Given postmodernism's emphasis on the personal and experiential, many had worried that contemporary seminaries would de-emphasize the historic, classical components of the divinity degree, envisioning a generation of M.Div. grads who had studied neither Greek nor Hebrew, church history, or systematic theology.

On the whole, the fear was unfounded. In fact, most seminaries, like Phoenix Seminary, increased their emphases on mandatory core courses. Other seminaries, like Palmer, Regent, RTS, and Canada's Masters and Tyndale not only emphasized classical core studies, but added electives and mandatory courses focusing on apologetics and the defense of scriptural authority.

Some evangelical seminaries lessened classical educational requirements, but many divinity students responded positively to the change, anxious to make their M.Div. experience less about scholarship and more about hands-on training.

For example, Biblical Seminary's response to postmodernism has been to introduce a parallel, community-based, missiologically-focused, English-based M.Div. program called LEAD. Biblical's president Dunbar describes what he hopes is a more balanced, holistic approach to their training. "What we are trying to do is think comprehensively about the impact of the current cultural situation on the mission of the church and even more specifically on the seminary's mission to train future leaders for the church. This educational outcome needs to be more than simply tweaking our programs or adding a special course in postmodernism."

Sherry Kull, dean of academic advancement at Biblical Seminary, describes LEAD's approach. "We have maintained our traditional M.Div. because we believe that the Church needs men and women who are fully trained in the original biblical languages. But not everyone needs Greek and Hebrew to be effective in ministry."

Because ministry today means so much more than exegeting Scriptures, hands-on experience is essential. Those who have grown up in a culture set adrift from any biblical foundation need examples of the Christian life. They need friendships with people whose relationship with God makes them unique. And they also need guides who can show the way, caringly, gently, yet persuasively, toward the gospel.

Today's seminaries are training those leaders. "Our conviction that our call as a seminary is missional greatly informs the way we instruct and develop course content," says Smith. "Among our goals is taking seminary from a text-driven learning environment to one that focuses on helping people become incarnational with their neighbors. We want to supply the church with Christ-centered leaders who express their Christian spirituality within their local cultural context and who want to build church around people."

Postmodernism's experiential focus allows for this more pragmatic approach to evangelical seminary education. Palmer not only completely overhauled its M.Div. curricula (increasing its mandatory courses), but also created a new Master of Arts in Theological Studies (M.A.T.S.) degree which emphasizes academics for students not necessarily called to ordained ministry, but who want to pursue further study or undergird their work as lay leaders. Likewise, Reformed Seminary created its Masters of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), a 60-hour academic degree that allowed students to complete almost all of the degree requirements via distance learning and requires only two week-long sessions, one at the beginning of the program and one at its end.

Experience has also become necessary for seminary professors. While students want to learn from top-notch scholars and bright thinkers, they also want to learn how professors themselves evangelize, pastor, or build a missional church. In a culture where it is not only difficult to encourage someone to go to church, but also to show them why they should, experience and example are just as important as theoretical know-how.

"There is no workbook for doing missional church," says Biblical Seminary's Smith. "It's a conversation that addresses pastors and congregations where they are. Those to whom you witness will see things differently than you do. The professor is no longer the answer man. He or she needs to be out there living what they are teaching and reflecting their experiences in the classroom. Christian community can't be formed if you are leading in one way and talking in another."

Seminaries have also made spiritual development integral to the M.Div. curriculum. Using creative ideas, these seminaries ensure a more holistic approach to ministry. For Sherry Kull of Biblical Seminary, this is a clear and positive function of postmodernism. "Seminaries had punted on this for quite some time, believing their job was academic preparation while the church was responsible for spiritual preparation. Modernism allowed for this kind of bifurcation in thinking, but one of the strengths of postmodernism is to call us back to an authentic, holistic approach."

Eric Ohlmann, however, sees an oddly contradictory tension in the increased demand for spiritual formation and discipleship as part of their core divinity program. "There is now a greater emphasis than before on a healthy knowledge of God, self, others, and of ministry … that is reflected in wholesome persons and spirituality; knowledge of God both academically and experientially; wholesome interpersonal relationships, or at least the potential thereof; and demonstrated abilities at the practice of ministry. Ironically, however, there has never been lower chapel attendance."

A Changing Student Body
Postmodernism also brings an emphasis on a diverse student body. Because of its emphasis on mini-narratives, postmodernism focuses on those who have often been left out of the grand narratives. This is why many evangelical seminaries have focused on recruiting minorities and women. Not only does it give opportunities to those who might not have had them, this focus also enriches the education of non-minority, male students. Biblical Seminary's Smith says, "In1980 [our class] mainly consisted of white, middle class men in their 20s." Now, all that has changed. Students are "older … [with far more women] … In 1980, just a fraction of a percent of our community were people of color, while today almost half of our student community is represented by students of various ethnic backgrounds (including) Asian, Hispanic, and … students from the African-American community."

Palmer Theological Seminary's divinity classes are genuine patchworks of color, language, economic, race, gender, age, and denomination. According to retired president Brauch this change—especially the growth of second-career seminarians—is "due to inescapable cultural realities which have impacted people in significant ways: the stresses and strains of an ever-increasing consumerism, volatility in the economy and lack of job security due to corporate mergers, business failures in a highly competitive global market, pervasive breakdowns in marriages and families, increasing secularization of the culture and questioning of traditional moral values."

In addition, more women have entered the traditionally all-male M.Div. programs. Over the past 25 years, broadening ministry opportunities for women have changed the seminary landscape. Smith describes Biblical Seminary's new student body: "In 1980, women represented 6 percent of the total student population, about half of whom were auditing courses. Today, over a third of our students are women pursuing a variety of ministry degrees."

The expanding diversity of the typical evangelical M.Div. class is discernable in ways beyond age, gender, and race. Grudem insists that while Phoenix Seminary's student body was always diverse, today's seminarian comes to study with "very little Bible knowledge because they have only recently been saved." Joseph Umidi, professor of practical theology at the School of Divinity at Regent University in Virginia Beach, echoes Grudem's observation. Regent's newer students have received, he says, "less discipleship from [their] churches, less development from the home, [and] less holistic formation." In the past 25 years, older, second career students have become the largest group of the typical divinity class. For these students, most with families and many with full-time jobs and far less time to give to the seminary experience, the traditional structures of the divinity degree—full-time residential requirements, and short multi-day classes—simply do not work. Given this, and the difficult financial situation many seminaries found themselves in by the '90s, the schools were forced to make a choice: either embrace these new students and adjust their degree programs accordingly, or turn them (and their tuition) away.

Almost universally, evangelical seminaries chose to rethink how they constructed their classes and programs. Classes that once met for an hour, three times a week were clustered into a single weekly three-hour meeting. They introduced more evening and weekend classes, expanded summer courses, reduced (and in some cases eliminated) the residency requirements for M.Div. programs, and introduced satellite campuses allowing more distance and part-time study. Perhaps most helpful was the creation of block scheduling that allowed full and part-time students to take a full course load and only have to come to the seminary one or two days per week.

While these shifts opened the door to an expanded and diverse student body, they also created tension with some of the other demands of postmodernism. Sherry Kull of Biblical Seminary laments that the" shift from full-time to part-time seminary students over the past 30 years resulted in a loss of community among students. … It's hard to build meaningful relationships when you see fellow students once a week, and perhaps see a different group of students each semester."

During his time at Palmer, Brauch also observed this double-edged shift. "More part-time students … creates huge challenges for the seminary as it seeks to guide and shape the divinity experience for those students, especially as it relates to the spiritual health and maturity of the student body."

Globalization of Ministry and Minister
The increasingly diverse seminary student body has led to the globalization of both seminary curricula and spiritual formation. Today, many evangelical seminaries intentionally help students deconstruct the distinctly Western and American assumptions that color our hermeneutics and homiletics. Palmer Seminary, for example, works closely with the graduate programs in international economic development of its sister school, Eastern University, ensuring that its divinity students are exposed to a wide variety of non-Western perspectives. Indeed, cross-cultural experience and sensitivity are considered essential elements of the M.Div. program at Eastern.

Biblical Seminary's LEAD program, says Kull, "recognizes the global nature and beautiful diversity of the kingdom of God." This recognition culminates in a small group-based overseas mission trip that intentionally focuses on the variety of ways that God is at work in other cultures.

At many seminaries a broadened cross-cultural emphasis also includes more actively welcoming students of color. Many schools, like RTS and Biblical, have added satellite campuses in communities more accessible to minorities. Other seminaries have added courses in specific ethnic theologies and experience, while others have intentionally sought out African-American and Hispanic professors. Seminaries also have begun to offer classes in cultural criticism—essentially the application of the traditional missiology to contemporary culture.

Diversity and Its Effects
Increased diversity at evangelical seminaries has led to many institutional changes. The demise of denominational loyalty has forced seminaries to reevaluate the way they teach liturgy, sacramental and historical theology, and homiletics. Perez of Reformed Theological Seminary says, "Seminary students are more often choosing to attend a seminary close to home rather than uprooting and attending a seminary that has historic roots to their church or denomination. For the seminary, this has created a student body of a much greater denominational diversity. This affects the campus community, but also recruiting activities today have enlarged to include a much greater number of denominations and ministry groups." Schools are now shifting toward more universal approaches to worship, theology, and politics.

The second change is the increased cost of seminary education. Having lost much of their traditional funding base, seminaries have increased the share of the costs that their students pay. In turn, students take larger loans, attend part-time, and become active fundraisers themselves. Likewise, the seminary president's role has expanded to include chief fundraiser and seminary brand manager. For many presidents, learning the nuances of fundraising and finance on the job puts a huge pressure on them.

Dwight Gibson, senior vice-president of Geneva Global (a venture philanthropy foundation) and a well-respected expert in missiology and evangelism, recently met with a group of 20 new denominational seminary presidents and asked them how many had any direct fundraising or development experience. Only one could answer yes.

"We wouldn't allow a seminary leader to not have studied theology; neither should we expect them to lead without understanding and experience in branding and fundraising," Gibson says.

Many seminaries have discovered the threat of postmodernism to be a blessing. As they develop new resources and opportunities to reinforce their core commitments to scriptural authority, seminaries are finding new ways to empower their students. And at the heart of that reevaluation is a commitment to discerning another wind that yearns to transform and renew our world—that of the Spirit of God.

Ronald Jack William is a retired writer and minister who now teaches occasionally at local seminaries and serves as a communications consultant to writers and organizations.

Postmodernism stands as a major challenge to evangelicals and the seminaries training their leaders. As cultural mores have shifted, and continue to shift, challenges in the larger culture affect seminaries and the ways they minister to their students.

In many ways, postmodernism has fostered a lack of basic scriptural knowledge (as both literature and a guide to life) by removing the possibility of a consistent hermeneutic. "A significant challenge for seminaries today, given the postmodern skepticism of authority and absolute truth, is a strong defense of the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture," says Lyn Perez, of Reformed Theological Seminary. "There is no other time in which this has been a more important issue."

By deconstructing the "canons" of modernity, without replacing them with anything, a new generation has grown into adulthood without knowledge of the foundations that built it—whether they be Shakespeare, C. S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer, or the Scriptures themselves. Without those foundations, glaring holes are left in our culture's understanding, especially when it comes to Scripture.

On a secular level, this means the average college graduate entering seminary can't watch a Shakespeare play (or read T. S. Elliott, Tennessee Williams, or even watch the more literate television shows, for that matter) and pick up on the major biblical, literary, or Western cultural allusions. However, it also means these cultural references no longer do the work of pre-evangelism they once did. Therefore the basic ideas of the gospel—Creation, man's fall and need for redemption, and God's sacrificial provision for salvation—are new to the growing legions of the unchurched.

This "cultural amnesia" has touched evangelical Christians as well. Without basic scriptural knowledge, typical seekers within or outside the church, and even young believers, go about their spiritual journey without cultural assumptions based on the Bible. Therefore, the postmodern journey to faith is largely self-defined. Cut off from the Scripture-infused Western tradition, postmodern seekers are far more captive to the dominant and pervasive culture surrounding them.

Evangelical seminaries are learning to address these issues in their curricula and with their students as they prepare individuals to minister in today's world. Postmodernism has created an intensely individualized understanding of Christian discipleship. In addition, the looser identification with a local church body on the part of many seminarians means that these students have less context for discipline or direction or commissioning. Seminaries must work to create communities of accountability and guidance that promote a broader view and practice of discipleship, while also ensuring that students receive teaching in hermeneutics, sound biblical and historical theology, and the classic biblical disciplines and languages.

Postmodernism poses significant challenges to seminaries. Preparing future Christian leaders to engage a culture with shifting values is certainly a difficult task. It is admirable that so many evangelical seminaries have risen to the challenge by adjusting curricula and programming to meet the needs of those who will minister to a culture whose foundations are constantly in flux.

—RJW

For many, postmodernism does not represent one more threat to the evangelical commitment to the authority of Scripture. Rather, postmodernism's challenge is a healthy one, demanding evangelicals foster a vision of spirituality that is orthodox, dynamic, authentic, and transparent. Postmodernism proponents say evangelicals must rethink how to read the Scripture and begin a process of self-criticism to understand the ways in which experience and culture impact how we read God's Word.

"We see postmodernism not simply as a threat, but also as an opportunity," says Dave Dunbar, president of Biblical Seminary. "Our assumption is that every culture contains elements inimical to the gospel. However, every culture also contains aspects that reflect the presence of God's sustaining and preserving grace. Is postmodernism a threat? Yes, in some ways, but of course modernity posed a threat to the church as well. The difference is that many of us grew up with modernity so it doesn't seem quite so dangerous."

Many evangelical seminaries have used postmodernism as an opportunity to rethink and retool their curricula, programs, and daily life, in order to make the most of this extraordinary and creative tension. Postmodernism pushes seminaries beyond emphasizing propositional education toward a more holistic understanding of the importance of incarnational orthodoxy and practice. This greater emphasis on practical education in the M.Div. program led to a greater emphasis on learning through internship and chaplaincy experiences.

Further, postmodernism has led to a greater emphases on authenticity, transparency, and intimacy in the classroom. Contemporary divinity students have a greater interest in hands-on learning and heartfelt spirituality. They demand an integrated, holistic approach in their studies that sees every aspect of their program not only teaching the specifics of their ministry but also nurturing their own spiritual life and formation.

In this context, seminaries are far less likely to expect an individualistic vision of ministry. Instead they are putting a greater emphasis on a vision of ministry grounded in teamwork and teambuilding. Pam Smith of Biblical Seminary says, "Today's typical seminarian is less inclined to be preparing for a senior/solo pastoral ministry and more inclined to seek training that prepares them for functioning in a teaming environment."

Postmodern-minded seminaries hope to develop a broader understanding of faithful Christian practice. This leads seminarians to a creative openness and willingness to hear the Spirit and the Word from other voices and cultures. Postmodernism has also encouraged evangelicals to see how their hermeneutic is shaped by the culture in which they work.

This critique of civil religion allows evangelical seminaries to shape a vision of a Christianity that is a worldwide faith. This view of the Body of Christ understands that the church and the kingdom belong to the world and that ministry occurs in that broader context. "The seminarian of today knows better than his or her predecessor that America is a mission field as much as Africa and Asia are. They know that the people they minister to today are more sophisticated, tech-savvy, and knowledgeable about the world than any previous generation," says Smith. Postmodernism also reminds evangelicals that Christians in the U.S. make up only a small percentage of Christians in the world.

—RJW

A remarkably universal response to postmodernism has been a reexamination of the role of M.Div. faculty members. Today, evangelical seminaries increasingly emphasize authenticity and transparency in their teachers, valuing their personal piety as well as intellectual acumen, teaching skill, and publishing. In addition, seminaries desire professors to play an active part in the spiritual life of their students.

Phoenix Seminary expects faculty members to demonstrate a "strong emphasis on personal relational ability, the faculty member's life as a model for others to imitate, and the faculty member's personal spiritual life," says professor Wayne Grudem. "I see this emphasis as increasingly important in a day in which so much of the culture is morally adrift and is also looking for authenticity, genuineness, and a connection between what people say they believe and the way they act."

Manfred Brauch, while president of Palmer Theological Seminary, led a decade-long reexamination of his school's programs. His study led to "an increasing commitment to secure faculty who have significant ministry experience, who are deeply committed to the equality of men and women in all areas of the church's life, who are committed to a holistic understanding of the gospel, and who have cross-cultural experience."

Biblical Seminary seeks an irenic spirit in new faculty. According to associate professor of theology Todd Mangum, while Biblical remains committed to hiring committed Reformed theologians, they now insist "that our faculty manifest a generous and charitable expression and propagation of these convictions; likewise, we expressly discourage doctrinaire or disdainful attitudes, even in regard to those convictions to which we, as a school, are committed."

Mangum says Biblical has a commitment to developing a faculty that is wise and winsome.

"We place more emphasis on dialoguing fairly with people holding views with which we disagree, and we are greatly interested in having winsome, authentic, give-and-take conversations with unbelievers about spiritual matters. This, in turn, means that we place less emphasis on constructing arguments that demonstrate an airtight case for why we are right and others are wrong.

"We still expect our faculty to be competent scholars in their fields, but we are more conscious and deliberate about fostering fair-minded styles of engagement and generous, charitable attitudes toward people of other persuasions. Many people have been won to Christ through the joyous, loving testimony of Christians who reached out to them and were willing to engage them where they were. We think that the lesson implied by that observation can be applied to theological education as a whole. We seek faculty who live out and apply that lesson even to their fields of expertise."

Reformed Theological Seminary's Perez echoes these commitments when he suggests that at RTS "the integration of faith and practice is a much greater emphasis today than in the past. Students are more oriented today to the application of what they are learning in the classroom. They want to know not only what the Bible teaches us we should believe, but also what it teaches us about how we are to live our lives." Students expect that their instructors reflect their teaching in their lives. Because of this, "character, integrity and godly living are of more conscious concern today than ever before," he says.

Some observers even fear that these changes are not happening quickly enough. They fear that too many seminaries emphasize scholarship over leadership and historical relevancy over culturally currency. However, Eric Ohlmann, who has supervised professors at several seminaries, understands that expanded expectations for the postmodern divinity professor are already standard. "Now, more than 25years ago," he writes, "faculty members are expected to be interdisciplinary, reflect the diversity in the student body, be skilled in student-centered learning and adult education, be committed to spiritual formation, have ministry experience in addition to academic expertise, understand contemporary social needs and issues, and be technologically literate."

—RJW