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Table of Contents A SELF-STUDY REPORT ON COVENANT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI Presented by the Self-Study Executive Committee Chaired by Sean Michael Lucas, PhD Vice President for Academics and Dean of Faculty 4 September 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 1: PURPOSE, PLANNING, AND EVALUATION . 15 CHAPTER 2: INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY . 37 CHAPTER 3: LEARNING, TEACHING, AND RESEARCH . 49 CHAPTER 4: THEOLOGICAL CURRICULUM . 75 CHAPTER 5: LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES . 155 CHAPTER 6: FACULTY . 187 CHAPTER 7: STUDENT RECRUITMENT, ADMISSIONS, SERVICES, AND PLACEMENT. 217 CHAPTER 8: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE . 243 CHAPTER 9: INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES . 265 CHAPTER 10: MULTIPLE LOCATIONS AND DISTANCE EDUCATION 319 APPENDIX: COVENANT SEMINARY’S RESPONSE TO NCA CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION . 351 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS (SEPARATE BINDING) TRUSTEE ROSTER FACULTY ROSTER STAFF ROSTER FACULTY INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CHARTS (INCLUDING SEMINARY ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS) KEY INSTITUTION STATISTICS FY1998-2007 1 INTRODUCTION Covenant Theological Seminary celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2006. As part of that remembrance, the board, faculty, and staff of the Seminary recommitted themselves to its mission: “Covenant Theological Seminary trains servants of the Triune God to walk with God, interpret and communicate God’s Word, and lead God’s people.” While this mission statement has been reflected in a variety of ways, as manifested in this self-study report, perhaps the clearest evidence of our commitment to our mission might be found in the Seminary faculty’s anniversary volume, All for Jesus. In essay after essay, the faculty reflected the Seminary’s commitment to training its students and ministerial candidates to walk with the God who has revealed himself in Jesus by the Spirit, motivated by the gracious Gospel; to interpret and communicate God’s Word convinced of its inspiration and inerrancy; and to lead God’s people in a relational manner, focused on the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the work of the church. We are eager to demonstrate this continued commitment to our mission through this self- study report and the subsequent site visit by the joint team from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) and the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). History Covenant Theological Seminary started in 1956 as the theological school of the Bible Presbyterian Church (Columbus Synod). The Seminary was originally related to Covenant College, which had started the year before. Both schools were located on the Conway Road 2 campus in Creve Coeur, Missouri, occupying twenty-one acres previously leased as a Roman Catholic retreat center. The two schools shared the property until 1964, when the College purchased a mountain-top hotel in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and relocated there. The original Seminary faculty was led by the founding President, Robert G. Rayburn, who guided the school as its parent denomination went through name changes and mergers, being known as the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (1961) and later as the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (1966). The final denominational affiliation, accomplished in 1982 through the process of joining and receiving, resulted in Covenant Seminary becoming the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). By 2005, the PCA was the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States with over 330,000 total members and 1,300 congregations. Since 1994, Dr. Bryan Chapell has served as the institution’s fourth president. During Chapell’s tenure, the Seminary has experienced an expansion of the student body, an increase in its overall budget, significant growth through two major capital campaigns (one completed in 2001 and another in 2007), and enlargement of the faculty. Covenant Seminary is increasingly recognized as a leader in theological education; for example, the Seminary has partnered with the Lilly Endowment Inc. on two major grants, placed administrators on ATS committees and site teams, provided seminar speakers at ATS and Lilly Endowment functions, and has led the Institute for Theological Studies’ Dean Council and the Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents. In addition, our faculty members participate as speakers and leaders at academic conferences such as the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Society of Oriental Research, and the American Society of Church History. Our faculty members publish books with mainstream religious, academic, and university presses, and serve on church judicatories, 3 committees, and boards. Never before has Covenant Seminary exercised as much influence for the good of the church and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom. The Seminary’s continued growth during this period can be viewed by looking at our faculty and our student body. Since 1997, we have added twelve new faculty members, including the institution’s first two minority faculty members, as well as a faculty member focused on globalization and world mission issues: • J. Nelson Jennings, Associate Professor of World Mission (1999) • Zack Eswine, Assistant Professor of Homiletics (2001) • David Chapman, Assistant Professor of New Testament & Biblical Archaeology (2001) • Jay Sklar, Associate Professor of Old Testament (2002) • Greg Perry, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies (2005) • Sean Lucas, Assistant Professor of Church History (2005) • Mark Dalbey, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology (2005) • Anthony Bradley, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology (2005) • Daniel Kim, Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Educational Ministries (2006) • W. Brian Aucker, Assistant Professor of Old Testament (2007) • Robert Burns, Associate Professor of Educational Ministries (2007) • Clarence Dewitt (“Jimmy”) Agan, III, Associate Professor of New Testament (2007) From 1997 to 2006, the Seminary’s Faculty Head Count faculty grew from sixteen members 55 50 (with an FTE of fourteen), two 45 40 35 emeritus members, and thirty-three t 30 25 Head Coun adjunct faculty to twenty-one 20 15 members (with an FTE of 23.95), 10 5 0 four emeritus members, and thirty- 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Fiscal Year three adjunct faculty (with an FTE of Prof's Assoc. prof's Asst. prof's Adj. prof's Vist. Instr. Emerit 8.29). 4 Not only has the faculty experienced growth since the last accreditation visit, but the student body has continued to grow as well. As the chart on this page displays well, the Seminary’s enrollment has increased by every measure, save for a downturn in FY 2006-07: CTS Enrollment: Credit between 1997 and 2006, headcount 950 850 increased from around 675 to over 900 750 650 and FTE from just over 350 to 450; 550 s similar trends can be found in the St udent 450 350 Seminary’s bell-weather program, the 250 150 Master of Divnity (MDiv). This increase 50 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 in growth of the student body and faculty Fiscal Year CTS HC CTS FTE MDiv HC MDiv FTE has brought the institution into a new era of leadership and responsibility not only within the PCA, but also within evangelical Protestantism and the religious academy. Accreditation Covenant Seminary was initially accredited by the NCA in 1973 and by ATS in 1983. Since then the institution has gone through two major reaccreditation reviews. The first, in 1987, addressed a number of concerns that were fairly unique to the institution’s life in its history; both our study in 1987 and subsequent reports addressed the issues raised at that point. We had further accreditation actions in 1989, when the Seminary successfully petitioned ATS for approval to grant a Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC); in 1990, when a joint NCA/ATS focused visit led to the formal approval of the Seminary’s pilot program of Seminary Extension Training; and in 5 1995, when ATS permitted initiation of a pilot program with up to twenty-four students at three extension sites to award a Master of Arts (MA) degree entirely by extension. During our second reaccreditation review in 1997, we participated in the initial cohort of the ATS Pilot Schools project as they implemented new standards, developed the previous year. Out of that process, reaccreditation was reaffirmed until spring 2008, approval was granted to our various degree programs, and approval was granted to offer the MA (General Theological Studies) at extension sites in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, and in Naperville, Illinois. The ATS Commission on Accrediting noted four major areas of concern that required attention: • “The number of faculty, administration, and staff members needs to be increased.” • “The library needs seminary-wide attention.” • “The Seminary needs to give continued attention to racial-ethnic minority representation in the Seminary community and the needs of women students for models, mentors, and guidance in expressions of ministry, appropriate to the Seminary’s confessional constraints.” • “The Seminary needs to give continued attention to coordinating and learning from its various evaluative efforts.” The Seminary responded in March 2002 by filing a report with ATS on the four areas of concern cited in 1998 by the joint NCA/ATS site visit team. At that time, the Seminary also filed requested reports on extension learning and evaluation of data showing student use of Seminary resources by distance education students. These reports were accepted by the ATS Commission on Accrediting, but the Seminary has remained mindful that these areas
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