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I wasn't sure about putting this here, but since it deals with both academics and careers, I figured it be best in A/T. For the last few years, I've been wondering about getting a degree in theology, either a Masters of Theological Studies or a Masters of Divinity. The problem is, I don't belong to any one denomination. For those of you that have been through seminary or looked into it, I have a few questions: 1) What made you want to go? 2) What did you do with your degree? 3) Is an M.Div worthless without a denomination backing you up? 4) Would you recommend that others study at seminary? Why?
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Nov 17, 2014 04:01
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PM me if you're still looking for some answers here.
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Dec 16, 2014 22:11
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I had planned to become a Buddhist Chaplain in the Navy a few years ago and went back to get my BA towards that aim. Around the time I graduated I realized I didn't have much to do with Buddhism anymore and I also couldn't find any program I would have wanted to be a part of that offered a Buddhist Chaplaincy program. I went to Naropa, a relatively well known school in Buddhist circles, which has an Mdiv program as well, and I also looked at University of the West and Harvard Divinity School. It's that last option that led me to write something in this thread, because it's a good place to check out no matter what your denomination is or might be. So no I haven't used my BA degree yet but it's in Peace Studies and I never ended up getting the MA although I still could through a government program. An MDiv is not worthless without a denomination backing you up, but I don't know why you would get an Mdiv without being interested in a particular faith or practice. Maybe an MTS is more up your alley but that is an academic degree that is only either worth something if it is towards a PhD or it is part of a dual degree program imo. Harvard offers dual degrees through the Divinity School (with HBS, Kennedy School, Education, and others), and they are worth looking into for you because it was started by Unitarians and more recently has a large number of Humanists in attendance and in leadership/teaching positions. Yale is the other big name Divinity School but they are Episcopal. The Mdiv kind of a do-all degree, it all depends on what you want to do, can do, and can sell yourself as doing. If you have to ask it's probably not for you though. I knew people at Naropa going into tremendous debt for their Mdiv and I was never totally convinced that it was really their calling or anything. I know one now makes like 30k a year as a hospital chaplain, not exactly worth it. Military chaplains don't make much more. You could do social work, work in hospitals, prisons, and other large facilities as a chaplain, or become a minister. But you don't even have a denomination. This is kinda funny. Anyway I just wanted to share what I know. Consider an MTS at Harvard first of all, until you have a clearer direction you want to go in. Sign up for their lists, visit, admission isn't as much of a longshot as you think, well maybe it is for vanilla Christian applicants. And once you have a more specific idea you can look at other schools that either specialize or are more realistic to get into (and pay for). I like to aim for the "top" and work my way down as reality sets in, but maybe that's just me. Part of that reality was I wasn't too impressed with the Buddhist department chair when they came to speak near Naropa once. But they've had their Christian programs since 1880 or so.
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Dec 18, 2014 10:46
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May I ask what they teach you there?
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Dec 18, 2014 10:51
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Lord Windy posted:May I ask what they teach you there? Where, Naropa? Or in an Mdiv program
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Dec 18, 2014 10:53
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Lord Windy posted:May I ask what they teach you there? hokey nonsense
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Dec 18, 2014 11:05
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Dec 18, 2014 11:10
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:hokey nonsense alot of it is, yes, im not going to defend Naropa too much. But I don't like anywhere and never liked education. But a lot of people seemed to love the place. It's a very supportive place, in a kind of "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" way in that everyone is almost expected to indulge each others stupid thoughts and feelings. Was kindof cultish actually. But again I would poo poo on any school I attended.
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Dec 18, 2014 11:17
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I just finished my third Semester at Andover Newton Theological School. I'm currently in process to become a Unitarian Universalist Parish Minister. 1. The M.Div degree is a requirement for ordination in my denomination, and for most denominations. 2. I'm planning on going into Parish ministry. 3. A) You can always find a denomination while at school or beforehand. B) Some Div Schools, particularly, Harvard, graduate a lot of folks who have no intention going into parish ministry. Many go into community organizing, or combine it with another degree. 4. If you're using it to find yourself, no. There are much cheaper ways to do that. If you feel truly called to some sort of ministerial work (lay or ordained), than possibly.
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Dec 18, 2014 20:56
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It lives! Thank you all so much.a posting ghost posted:
Some of your post had me seriously confused until I took another look at the OP and realized I'd never clarified that I am a Christian. It's part of the problem- we have so many denominations and most of them are the same but for the wallpaper. The church I belong to is Assemblies of God, and I can roll with them but some of their theology is just stuff I can't sign on to, even though it may be minor. I will try to offer better responses to your posts as soon as I can post from something larger than a phone.
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Dec 19, 2014 04:54
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i worked at a seminary once and the students there were frankly the nicest folks ive ever met in my life.
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Dec 19, 2014 20:58
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tbp posted:i worked at a seminary once and the students there were frankly the nicest folks ive ever met in my life. AGirlWonder posted:I wasn't sure about putting this here, but since it deals with both academics and careers, I figured it be best in A/T. I don't really know much about M.Div's other than what the M.Div students would talk about, but I get the impression that in order to graduate you need to be able to do field work in some church or other, so as long as you have some idea of how to do that (or anyone at the school who cares to help) it shouldn't be a big deal. I would recommend you think on it more than not at all, at least. I got to the point where all I had to do with my MA was my thesis and realized I'm not even really all that Christian anymore. Don't do that, don't spend three years and then find out you don't even know how much you care about that Jesus fellow. It's not exactly work that'll help you out much in your day to day life, after all.
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Dec 19, 2014 22:58
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AGirlWonder posted:I wasn't sure about putting this here, but since it deals with both academics and careers, I figured it be best in A/T. Hi. I just started working in a seminary (no comment on my user-name please...), so my perspective is a bit different than wanting to go to study. 1) It was a very good job that was offered, where i get to use my degree. My degree is neither an MDiv nor a MT nor a MRE (religious education). 2) Most of the people who have an MDiv at the seminary I went to went on to become ordained ministers. Most of the people who were getting their MRE already had jobs and were looking to further their careers by becoming department heads or go into administration. I was told that the majority of people from my (admittedly small) seminary who graduate with a MTS gain employment in a field where they use their degree. 3) I can't comment on that. My seminary has a denomination. 4) If one wishes to get a degree in divinity, theology or religious education, I would recommend going. It depends on what you want to do with those degrees and what career path you want to take. (Sorry for the non-answer, but I don't really know your situation.) That said, I would highly recommend taking courses offered by the seminary that could enhance your understanding of faith or could help with other courses. For instance, if you are taking a counseling psychology or social work degree, check to see if there is a pastoral counseling course.
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Jan 3, 2015 17:42
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I have an Master of the Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity. Currently working on a PhD in Religious Studies at a well-regarded public school. 1) I wanted to study history of religion at the time and was unsure if I wanted to do that work in a History department or a Religious Studies department. My thought was that Masters of Theological Studies would give me grounding in my field of study and give me time to decide on which path I preferred. This wasn't just a professional consideration though, at the time I was an atheist (and still am, albeit a Christian one now) but was fascinated with religion and wanted to be in a community that was conductive to exploring religious ideas and practices, so there was an element of wanting to engage in spiritual self-discovery. 2) I'm planning on staying in academia. Beyond this, during my time in Divinity School I become a member of a religious group and subsequently use my theological and historical knowledge as an active participant in that community. Many of my peers from Divinity School went on to ministry, nonprofits or stayed in academia. 3) Unless you think you might join a denomination or religious group at some point the future I'd say the MDiv isn't too much different from an MA or MTS and could even be a slight liability. Not having a denomination is going to make it hard to get chaplaincy jobs or jobs with churches. At Harvard, as semihippie mentioned, a number of folks try to parley the MDiv into nonprofit work of some kind but they aren't always successful and I don't think there is a real difference in employable between those with the MTS and those with the MDiv in this regard. The real reason a lot of folks not connected with a denomination get the MDiv at Harvard though is simply so they have an extra year to work on ancient languages before applying to PhD programs. This can backfire though as at some institution the MDiv is simply about pastoral training and hence is seen as a less academically rigorous track than the MA or MTS, which is something PhD programs are aware of. If someone else is paying for your program the MDiv may seem like you're getting more for your money, but remember that even if you aren't looking at going to do further graduate school it is an extra year of work. 4) This really depends on what you want to get out of it. I very much enjoyed my time at Harvard, it made me a better scholar and opened my up to a variety of religious ideas that I would never have had otherwise. I realized that much of what I had thought about Christianity and other faiths was simplistic and often wrong. I felt that my education there was very formative, just as my undergraduate education was. On the other hand it did have a few downsides, mainly it cost a lot of money and by itself it opened up no clear doors career-wise. I will say that a lot of your experience would depend on where you went to seminary or divinity school. Far more than undergraduate colleges seminary education varies in tone and content based on where you go. University of Chicago Divinity School is probably the best in the nation for comparative or historical Christianity studies but is generally not interested in religious practice, Yale Divinity still has a lot of followers of Neo-Orthodox theology and hates "heresy," Harvard's Unitarian legacy makes it aggressively pluralist with a large number of Buddhist and Muslim students. Once you get out of the elite Divinity Schools things get even more pronouncedly different. A liberal Christian place like Union Theological Seminary is gay friendly, rabidly left-wing and devoted to helping the oppressed, while an Evangelical school like Fuller exists mainly to train pastors for religious-right friendly churches. The theology you're taught will hugely vary in each place too. There really is no one size fits all mold here. I will lastly mention that religious education is not the most respected thing right now. It is in a very bad place financially, with many schools in dire circumstances. Religion is also hated by many intellectually minded folks, even saying I merely study religion makes many people instantly assume that I'm crazy or ignorant. My friends who are in ministry often get treated far worse. This can be very rewarding, but it is not a path to great wealth or fame.
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Jan 5, 2015 21:02
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Wow, sorry about my disappearance. This year is flying by, and work is sucking my life away.Tautologicus posted:I had planned to become a Buddhist Chaplain in the Navy a few years ago and went back to get my BA towards that aim. Around the time I graduated I realized I didn't have much to do with Buddhism anymore and I also couldn't find any program I would have wanted to be a part of that offered a Buddhist Chaplaincy program. I went to Naropa, a relatively well known school in Buddhist circles, which has an Mdiv program as well, and I also looked at University of the West and Harvard Divinity School. It's that last option that led me to write something in this thread, because it's a good place to check out no matter what your denomination is or might be. Thanks again for your response. I especially appreciate your evaluation of the schools, even if they might be a long-shot for "vanilla Christians" like me. My last few quarters in college were fairly awful due to depression, so I don't have very high hopes for admission at the moment. semihippie posted:I just finished my third Semester at Andover Newton Theological School. I'm currently in process to become a Unitarian Universalist Parish Minister. Speaking of admissions, what were they like for you? I know that Iliff requires a few essays in addition to the standard recommendations and records. Mo Tzu posted:I go to a seminary and the people there steal. A lot. It's funny as gently caress to get an e-mail saying "Hey please put this back in the laundry room, no questions asked, I need it." Like I think there's a commandment or something like that. Thanks, and I'm sorry seminary has been a difficult experience. I appreciate your warning- I don't anticipate losing my faith, but it can always happen. Some of my friends were missionaries, and around the time of moving back to the States and the birth of their daughter, they realized they didn't believe anymore. It's been rough for them. Barlow posted:I have an Master of the Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity. Currently working on a PhD in Religious Studies at a well-regarded public school. This is insanely helpful, and I can definitely follow what you're saying. Going to seminary will be a long and difficult road, if it's the choice I make. Thanks for your responses, and please continue to share if you feel like doing so. I think my biggest question right now concerns admissions, but that obviously differs by the school.
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Jan 26, 2015 03:16
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Wow. Buncha people wasting their lives on 2000 year old desert tribal laws and stories. Are you guys actually religious? Are you in it for the cushy job of being a priest/preacher/whatever? I briefly considered going to seminary because it seems like it'd be an incredibly easy life if you just skated through, said Jesus a few times, and took sermons distributed on the Internet. Are any of you doing that? If so, how hard/easy is it to pretend in a place full of people who are also likely pretending in order to get a really easy job adding literally nothing of value to society? edit: I realize this sounds like a mean question, but I actually am curious about your answers. For me, a nonbeliever, it would be like dedicating yourself to becoming a Lord of the Rings scholar.. except you get paid and respected for it. Yngwie Mangosteen fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 03:55
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There are several threads floating around A/T right now about religion, but yes. I actually am a Christian. It's kind of hilarious that you think being a minister is an easy job, though. My pastor is as busy, if not busier, than his full-time-working wife. I think your assessment of ministry needs another look, because it's incredibly important for those both in the congregation and out. Of course, I am obviously biased. You should take a look at the Buddhism and Liturgical Christianity threads. There are also loads of religion threads in the archive.
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Jan 26, 2015 18:33
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I was/am specifically interested in seminary students. Also lol if you think being a pastor is difficult. Sorry, I'm not trying to be dismissive, but come on. Do you have any experience working in the real world? I realize it's hard to admit that you have it easy, especially for someone who believes or pretends to believe that they have a calling or communication from some divine power, but honestly.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:16
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nucleicmaxid posted:Also lol if you think being a pastor is difficult. I agree. They only work on sundays anyway, for a couple of hours at the time, unless someone wants to get married or happens to die. And for all those things they even have prepared guidelines they only need to follow. It's like being a teacher, who only work for like 9 months a year, or being a soldier, who have it so easy they never have to think for themselves. Or being an entrepreneur, who have no-one to boss them around. Or how about those firemen? I mean, how many times have you burnt down your house? They do practically nothing. And don't get me started on people like office workers playing solitaire and minesweeper all day. I know, I know. Don't feed the trolls and all that.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:50
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nucleicmaxid posted:I was/am specifically interested in seminary students. Also lol if you think being a pastor is difficult. Sorry, I'm not trying to be dismissive, but come on. Do you have any experience working in the real world? I realize it's hard to admit that you have it easy, especially for someone who believes or pretends to believe that they have a calling or communication from some divine power, but honestly. Do you think being a social worker or counselor would be an easy job....how about a professor. being a minister/pastor is kind of like a combination of those two roles, and more. not to mention being a community leader and trusted figure the worst thing is fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 19:50
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As a religion major who isn't sure whether they want to go to seminary next year, what would people in seminary suggest for gap year jobs? And, on the subject, did you go straight in higher religious education or take a year or two to decide whether or not it's what you want to do with your life? Would you recommend it?
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Jan 26, 2015 19:54
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So basically you're saying that no, you have no experience with the real world. Ok. Slim really not a troll, I just appreciate the enormity of the scam you guys are pulling and I thought you'd part the curtain on an anonymous online forum.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:59
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nucleicmaxid posted:So basically you're saying that no, you have no experience with the real world. Ok. So I am not a big fan of organized Christian religions, but due to family reasons have been exposed to them a bunch. 1. For a lot of ministers, priests, whatevers, their religious job is not a full time job, they work another to pay the bills, but still have Sunday service, Wednesday services, and whatever else comes up. 2. Whatever else comes up a lot. A lot of people who go to church are troubled and are looking for help from God. They may be sick, have personal or family issues, whatever. Imagine working a whole day at your regular job, and getting called to get to the hospital asap because someone is dying and you are needed for last rites and family counseling. Imagine staying up all night with the family, giving them someone to lean on, being totally exhausted, and having to go to work the next day. 3. I think you are looking at a ministry job as insert sermon, collect money. I am wondering if you have any experiences with churches besides seeing the big Churches on TV. Most people who go to Seminary will not be TV preachers. Your fedora is showing.
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Jan 26, 2015 21:09
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nucleicmaxid posted:I was/am specifically interested in seminary students. Also lol if you think being a pastor is difficult. Sorry, I'm not trying to be dismissive, but come on. Do you have any experience working in the real world? I realize it's hard to admit that you have it easy, especially for someone who believes or pretends to believe that they have a calling or communication from some divine power, but honestly. You showed your hand too early. But I do live and work in the "real world" outside the Church, so sorry that your preconceptions are wrong. The pastor I mentioned earlier has a part-time job in addition to his full-time position as a pastor. Other ministers I know have full-time jobs to support themselves and their families. Very few people go into ministry for a paycheck.
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Jan 26, 2015 22:16
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I'm not even an angry atheist, I could care less what people do on their weekends, but these students are, presumably, educated, thoughtful people. I went to church for over half my life, and am friends with a married couple who are a pastor and youth pastor, so I understand all the other little things people do, but you're not really looking at the evidence if you think pastors/ministers HAVE to work a second job. Literally two seconds on google brought up this - http://www1.salary.com/Pastor-Salary.html That link actually averages pretty high, but here's another link http://www.ehow.com/info_7894311_average-salary-methodist-pastor.html and here's another, http://work.chron.com/average-salary-youth-childrens-pastors-11679.html So it looks like saying a pastor or minister makes 40-60k a year isn't really too big of a stretch. The very fact that many pastors work a second job to earn even more money while earning 40-60k (unless, of course, you work for a small church in a tiny rural town, but those people probably don't post on SA, and likely don't even attend seminary) makes it pretty obvious that they have the free time to work a second, office job. I'm just looking at this realistically. It's amazing, I wish I could get over the part of me that says it's wrong. I mean, look at this - http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc417.html - If your church designates a portion of your salary as a housing allowance, it's tax free. It's such an amazing deal. I'm not saying that ministers and pastors don't have to do anything, but performing a wedding or a funeral (talking for ~30-45m, then either leaving or attending an event) isn't exactly the most taxing thing in the world, AND you probably get an officiant fee on top of your normal salary. Providing some counseling (I'm not certain if seminary provides degrees in counseling, but I don't believe that it does, I could easily be wrong) to troubled people from time to time is certainly important, though by your own admission, they have enough time to do that AND work a second job, so it can't be all that onerous. I realize that the students are taking this as an attack, but it's really not. This is such an amazing way to live your life if you can find a job with one of the major denominations. Edit: and please, feel free to tell me these numbers are incorrect, just back it up if you do. Because those are in line with what I saw when I first thought about it. Yngwie Mangosteen fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 22:23
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My priest is also a public school teacher, since he only gets a stipend of about $400 a month from the parish.
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Jan 26, 2015 22:42
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Sure, which parish? I'd like to double check that.
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Jan 26, 2015 22:53
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Oh I am sure those 60k jobs are great if you can get them. A lot of ordained folks are supply priests, deacons, youth pastors, etc, or even just doing whatever ministry they can for free in the hope it will get them an in somewhere. At my wife's church, the priest makes very little, basically a fee for officiating on Sunday, but is available almost 24x7 for the needs of the congregation. In addition, he works at a homeless shelter, jail, and substitutes for other priests. Understand when they hired him, they had a lot of other priests that would work for the same rate. And you are confusing making time with having time. Spending time outside of their main job doing pastoral counseling does not mean they live a life of leisure. It means they think it's important. Perhaps you should ask your pastor friends what their day/week is like and how much they make. Edit to add, the problem is you are doing the equivalent of looking up lawyer salaries online, and going into the legal thread and asking why lawyers are complaining, all they have to do it do some writing and show up in court occasionally and they will earn a median salary of 82k a year. There is a large pool of divinity school graduates that may not ever get a full time position. SubjectVerbObject fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 22:53
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Did you read the third link? Over half of all pastors/ministers/whatever make over $44k a year. Over 50%. This is including all the ministers that work in small rural towns with almost no people in them (which means 1-3 per tiny town in America, so that's a large chunk.) I'm not interested in them, they're running their game in a different way, and likely receive all sorts of other benefits from their parishioners. I know what my pastor friend and her husband make, approximately, as it's been discussed, but I hesitate to bring up the obvious fact that there's no way that they believe the stuff that is earning them that much money for what amounts to a part time job. You tried to make some argument about 'making' time vs. 'having' time, but that's not the way that people would view a second job at Starbucks in the evenings to bring in extra money. So ignoring that the pastor is making 2x as much as the barista, they also get enormous social capital and the barista probably has to deal with a far more demanding set of people and circumstances. Either way, salaries aside, I'm pretty sure none of you actually believe, it just doesn't make sense that you do, I just wanted to talk about it openly. If you're unwilling to do that, it's cool, if you want to PM me, I won't reveal anything you say (we can treat it like confession). But I'm intensely interested in talking through that angle. I realize now that your target audience is also reading this thread, so if you don't want to make it obvious, I completely understand. I don't hate you for what you're doing, I won't get mad, I won't reveal anything, I just want to talk about it. Edit: I guess I figured this thread could be like your Telemarketer Confessions thread, or that guy who made porn, or that chick who was addicted to heroin and sold her body, or the guys that went to prison, or the Mason thread. A place where you can share the facts. I didn't think about the fact that doing so would potentially affect the marketability of the whole thing. Yngwie Mangosteen fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 23:18
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nucleicmaxid posted:Did you read the third link? Over half of all pastors/ministers/whatever make over $44k a year. Over 50%. This is including all the ministers that work in small rural towns with almost no people in them (which means 1-3 per tiny town in America, so that's a large chunk.) I'm not interested in them, they're running their game in a different way, and likely receive all sorts of other benefits from their parishioners. I know what my pastor friend and her husband make, approximately, as it's been discussed, but I hesitate to bring up the obvious fact that there's no way that they believe the stuff that is earning them that much money for what amounts to a part time job. The third link gives salaries based off of BLS stats. From the BLS: Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data." http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes212011.htm#%282%29 This is not saying they are getting 44k a year. It is saying that they are getting ~21 bucks an hour. The BLS lumps part time and full time employees together. I dare say that the part timers are skewing things higher. If you make $150 for a 3 hour wedding, including travel time, that's $50/hr. Better than Starbucks. Of course Starbucks hires more folks thank religious institutions, 150000 vs, 23000. Of course we are now arguing about details, where your main point is that most ministers aren't true believers and are just in it for the money and life of leisure. I've got no skin in that game, other than to say that something not making sense to you does not make it incorrect. Good luck!
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Jan 26, 2015 23:59
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You're not even acting like a believer right now. And certainly not like a person who claims to spread the word of God. So I guess thanks for another data point in my favor? Rather than talk and discuss, you argue about the money and how put upon preachers are. Rather than admit that, yeah preachers are paid pretty well, you want to try to make people think you get paid nothing and work long, hard hours as if you were a construction worker. Heck, I brought up the nonbelief thing in my first post, and not one of you has said 'No I totally believe' you've just gotten mad that I said you didn't work very hard for a pretty decent check. But even with your new information my point still stands, they're making $21/hr. There are not many other part time jobs that you could do for that. It's silly how offended you all have been over what are simple facts. You get paid well in that job, and it's a cushy, not at all physically demanding job that puts you into a position of respect and reverence for most of the people you interact with.
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Jan 27, 2015 00:12
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nucleicmaxid posted:You're not even acting like a believer right now. And certainly not like a person who claims to spread the word of God. So I guess thanks for another data point in my favor? Rather than talk and discuss, you argue about the money and how put upon preachers are. Rather than admit that, yeah preachers are paid pretty well, you want to try to make people think you get paid nothing and work long, hard hours as if you were a construction worker. Heck, I brought up the nonbelief thing in my first post, and not one of you has said 'No I totally believe' you've just gotten mad that I said you didn't work very hard for a pretty decent check. You've been trying to make the argument about the money the entire time. That's not why people enter this profession. That's why people keep talking about the money, since you keep bringing it up. Should they be paid less? Nothing? What would make you happy. Do you imagine a world without religion? What is religion to you? Why troll this thread? Take a stand on something. Your points are pretty stupid so far.
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Jan 27, 2015 00:48
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There are ministers and pastors and chaplains because there are believers. Who is scamming who? Are they wrong to believe? Do you have something better to offer them? What do you have. Science? You take science on faith. And science does not have a thing to say about ethical or moral questions ("what ought I do?"). It intentionally limits itself to be effective. Secular humanism only addresses questions like that in the driest way possible, in a "but it's obvious that you need to be a good person" although they never identify what exactly it means to be a good person and why, or what suffering signifies. It depends on the shadow of Christianity for its morality while swearing up and down that it has escaped. the worst thing is fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 00:53
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I know what you're trying to do, nucleicetc.. You're trying to draw somebody out. I'm a troll too, I know how it works, at least in theory. Well it's your lucky day. I'm out. You don't have to needle your way through someone's comfort zone to get what you're looking for. I've got no comfort zone, it's all face up. Say what you feel. Go on now. But if all you were looking for was offense and a reaction then I'll expose you
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Jan 27, 2015 01:33
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I'm not a troll, I don't know why it's hard to parse my question(s). Are you a seminary student? I'll do a more thorough discussion of your posts in a bit, I'm about to start a thing.
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Jan 27, 2015 02:00
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No but i heavily considered it and it runs in the family so i understand the sentiment pretty well. It's not about the money but just like any profession that gets in front of groups of people there is some self-gratification involved so a minimum standard of living (feeling compensated and respected) is important. No one who likes to work a crowd is a charity worker at heart. Chaplaincy is different and I don't know why you would criticize them. (That's what i really considered actually) it fills a need. Not about the money either but who wants to starve when they had to get a master's degree to get to that point. the worst thing is fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 02:07
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If someone is motivated, capable, and willing to spend a bunch of years studying something and pretending to believe in it, that same effort would make them a ton more money in any other field.
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Jan 27, 2015 03:18
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Ya just became a doctor, lawyer, or banker like every other principle-free hack-in-training does. Some good doctors out there but they mostly do it for the prestige. And being an admin assistant pays as much as most chaplaincy gigs, and for the same amount of work or less, depending on what your idea of work is.
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Jan 27, 2015 03:30
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nucleicmaxid posted:Sure, which parish? I'd like to double check that. Haha she's not going to tell you where she lives, dude. Anyways, I'm super pumped to spend three+ years of my life and $60,000 to maybe land a job making <$60,000 a year. No, but really it's about how much I love my faith. Since I am not currently in seminary, I know you don't actually care , but I think God is pretty cool and that's about it.
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Jan 27, 2015 03:44
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Ah yes, the well known Internet stalker method of finding the general vague area of the church one attends. Which could be several miles away from your home, or even in a different city. Anyway, I'm actually curious so I'll come back tomorrow, my thing ran late tonight. But as a quick note? 60k isn't a bad salary, especially for what has been described in this thread multiple times as the time commitment of a part time job. But again, I'm not interested in the money argument, I merely mentioned it as one of my motivations for thinking of the idea before dismissing it. I only replied because people got REALLY paranoid and upset when I pointed out that it's a sweet gig. I'm sure there are pastors or whatever who are actual believers, but I'm also certain that there are a large number, perhaps even a majority, who are not. I'm curious about those people.
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Jan 27, 2015 05:10
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