Academic Theology as it is taught and studied in university faculties (AT in future) has changed progressively over the last 100 years.
It was once seen as the best way to prepare people for ministry, but is now frequently acknowledged to be almost irrelevant to that aim. University theology today is just not intended for that purpose. A senior academic theologian in a university department recently told me that if people wanted training for ministry they should look for it outside the universities, in institutions that aim to provide just that. This is a big change, and churches have not always caught up with the situation. For instance, some Anglican proposals for improving the training of ministers recently urged that there should be more academic theology insisted on for ordinands.
The Bible colleges, while getting their courses validated by universities, have distanced themselves largely from university theology departments. Denominational colleges, however, have still tended to push their students towards doing a university theology course for at least part of their time. All college course are influenced to some extent by the AT tradition. If, however, AT has today quite different purposes from training for ministry, should there not be a better alternative?
