Seminary

Heard in the wild

The longer version

What it means

Seminary is where clergy are trained. The standard degree is the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), typically three years, covering Old and New Testament (often with Hebrew and Greek), theology, church history, ethics, preaching, counseling, and practical ministry, plus a supervised internship. Catholic seminaries add philosophy and take longer — six to eight years including undergraduate work — and form men specifically for the priesthood. Many seminaries also offer academic degrees (M.A., Th.M., Ph.D.) for scholars and teachers.

The word comes from the Latin for "seedbed" — a place where future ministers are grown.

Why people say it

Churches want their leaders to know the Bible in its original languages, to understand what the church has believed and why, and to be able to handle a funeral, a crisis, and a budget. Seminary is how they ensure that. It's also, in most denominations, a requirement for ordination, so "going to seminary" is the standard first step toward becoming a pastor or priest.

How to respond

If someone tells you they're in seminary, they're planning to be a pastor, priest, chaplain, or scholar, and probably working hard for little money; "what are you studying?" is a good question. If a church says its pastor is "seminary-trained," it's a credential, like "board-certified." If a church's pastor isn't, it doesn't mean he's unqualified — many gifted pastors weren't — but it's fair to ask how he was trained.

If you hear it in different churches

Catholic: mandatory, lengthy, residential seminaries forming priests. Orthodox: seminaries (St. Vladimir's, Holy Cross) for priests, sometimes shorter. Mainline Protestant, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican: an M.Div. is required for ordination; many attend university divinity schools. Southern Baptist: six large seminaries; expected but not always required. Pentecostal and non-denominational: often Bible college or in-house training instead; seminary is respected but optional. Some churches are suspicious of seminaries as too academic or too liberal — "cemetery" is the old joke.

Where does “Seminary” come from?

Ezra "devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law" and Paul "studied under Gamaliel"; the rabbinic academy is the ancestor. The medieval church trained clergy in cathedral schools and universities. The Council of Trent (1563) ordered every diocese to found a seminary, creating the Catholic model. Protestant clergy trained at universities (Harvard and Yale were founded largely for this) until Andover Theological Seminary (1807) established the free-standing Protestant seminary in America. The M.Div. became the standard degree in the 1960s–70s, replacing the Bachelor of Divinity.

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