wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Seminary teachers, test makers come to a meeting of minds

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Note #8954 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05541
Oct. 10, 2005

A meeting of minds

Seminary teachers, ordination-test makers
meet in an effort to 'get on the same page'

by Toya Richards Hill

CHICAGO - "Unprecedented" and "fabulous".

	Those were the terms the Rev. Jana Childers chose to describe a
recent gathering of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminary professors and
people who create ordination exams for would-be PC(USA) pastors.

	Childers, dean and vice president for academic affairs at San
Francisco Theological Seminary, was referring to an Oct. 7-9 meeting here
involving about 60 faculty members - from all 10 PC(USA) seminaries and one
institution in covenant with the denomination - and four representatives of
the Presbyteries' Cooperative Committee on Examinations (PCC). 

	The event, called the PC(USA) Seminary Faculty Consultation, was
designed to link those who teach students who eventually become pastors and
those who later help test them for fitness for the ministry. 

	By Sunday, both sides agreed that more such meetings should be
scheduled.

	"This is, I believe, the largest-ever representative gathering
specifically designed for Presbyterian seminary faculty ... maybe ever," said
the Rev. Lee Hinson-Hasty, coordinator of theological education and seminary
relations for the PC(USA), and also the "most substantial conversation of
Presbyterian faculty with the Presbyteries' Cooperative Committee."

	"In both those ways, I think we're making history," added
Hinson-Hasty, who also staffs the Committee on Theological Education (COTE),
which sponsored the event. The consultation was funded through the 2.5
percent of the Theological Education Fund (TEF) that is earmarked for special
projects.

	"It's about time, after (about) 40 years, for us to get together,"
Hinson-Hasty said.

	The ordination exams have been administered since 1967.

	The exams developed by the 24-member PCC are anonymously graded by a
group of readers elected from the presbyteries. They cover four main areas:
Bible, theology, worship/sacraments and polity. The presbyteries use the test
as one measure of an ordination candidate's readiness.

	A goal of the consultation is "to increase understanding between the
two groups," and to create "closer cooperation," said Childers, a member of
the consultation planning team. Others on the team were Cam Murchison,
executive vice president and dean of faculty at Columbia Theological
Seminary, and Bradley Longfield, dean and professor of church history at the
University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
	
	Participants talked about "continuity" between PCC assumptions and
seminary teaching, and compiled a list of issues of common interest. They
discussed the role of technology in theological education, and how the
seminaries can work in a more cooperative way.

	They discussed the exams' purpose, the qualifications of the graders,
the timing of the testing, and how seminary curricula relate to the exams. 

	People who know the students "should grade the exam," and "a lot of
it ought to be oral," the Rev. Michael Jinkins, academic dean at Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, said during a small-group discussion. "The
evaluation is leaving a lot to be desired."

	One focus of discussion was the role race and ethnicity play in the
process. Participants questioned the diversity of the group that creates the
questions and the racial-ethnic make-up of the graders.

	"Are the exams really de-culturalized?" asked the Rev. Charles Marks,
chaplain and associate professor of ministry at San Francisco Theological
Seminary, who was part of the first group to take the exams, in 1967.
	
	The Rev. Chris Lenocker, moderator of the PCC's Bible task group,
said the committee asks presbyteries to choose readers "with balance in
mind," but acknowledged that the paucity of racial-ethnic involvement "has
been deplorable. It has been awful."

	"The cultural issue needs to be addressed," he said.

	Lenocker said he and others representing the PCC at the meeting will
"take back to the whole committee the concerns that have been raised here."
As a denominational committee, the PCC must go through the General Assembly
to change the PC(USA) constitution. 

	If the PCC recommends changes in the exams or the testing process,
Lenocker said, it will seek the input of the seminaries and of other groups
such as presbytery committees on preparation for ministry.

	"We think that it is crucial that all of the parties ... be on the
same page," he said.

	Hinson-Hasty said the results of the consultation will be discussed
at the next COTE meeting, later this month, and that committee could make
recommendations to the General Assembly.

	Those taking part in the consultation, he said, have "the opportunity
to shape or re-shape ... what the exams look like. There are a lot of
possibilities."

	At the moment, Hinson-Hasty said, "We're on a flight - but we're not
sure where it's taking us."

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