Sean Michael Lucas, a professor of Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary, wrote a very insightful and helpful post on his blog entitled Ministerial Students, Calling, and PhD Studies. I never even remotely considered PhD studies before I went to seminary, but, for some of the reasons he mentions and for other reasons that he doesn’t, I have begun to think that PhD studies might be a very strong possibility.
I still feel a primary calling to the pastorate, but I think that getting a PhD would make me a better pastor (an issue that he mentions), and I would also like to keep the option of heavy teaching responsibilities open. For those of you in seminary or headed for it, I would highly recommend reading this, even if you don’t imagine ever desiring to get a degree beyond the MDiv. Your time in seminary might change your mind; that’s what happened to me!
