Catalogue 2008-2009
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1725 Bear Valley Parkway Escondido, CA 92027 (888) 480.8474 (760) 480.0252 fax www.wscal.edu CATALOGUE 2008-2009 westminster seminary california From the President Do you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you want to understand the Bible more deeply and faithfully? Do you desire to serve Christ and his church? If your answer is “yes,” then Westminster Seminary California (WSC) is an excellent place for you. Here you will discover a community of faith and study, of fellowship and prayer. At WSC, you will find an encouraging place to reflect on and prepare for your calling from Christ. We hope that this catalogue will help you get to know us better. As you look through it, you may want to notice, in particular, our commitments, our faculty, our programs, and our facilities. We are committed to the gospel of Christ as taught by the inerrant Scriptures and as summarized in our Reformed confessions of faith. Our faculty is outstanding. Each member is an experienced pastor and an excellent teacher. They are active in their churches and committed to helping students in and out of the classroom. Their academic credentials are impressive, and they are active in research and writing in their fields. The Seminary offers two primary programs of study. First is the three-year Master of Divinity program. This program is carefully designed to prepare men for the ordained pastoral ministry. Second is the two-year Master of Arts program. With concentrations in biblical, theological and historical theological studies, it encourages women and men to pursue their own interests in preparation for various kinds of service in Christ’s kingdom. The photographs in this catalogue will give you a glimpse of the beauty and fine facilities of our campus. However, the catalogue cannot convey the warmth FOR CHRIST, HIS GOSPEL, AND HIS CHURCH and abilities of our students nor the sense of community that we enjoy. We hope that you will visit us and experience for yourself the strengths of WSC. Our prayer is that the Lord will use this catalogue to help you know his call for your life and future service. May the Lord bless you richly. W. Robert Godfrey President TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 LETTER FROM PRESIDENT GODFREY 7 INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINARY 11 THE FACULTY 25 DEGREE PROGRAMS 38 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS 50 ADMISSIONS 59 STUDENT LIFE 63 FINANCIAL AID 72 ACADEMIC INFORMATION AND POLICIES 81 APPENDICES 93 MAP AND DIRECTIONS 94 INDEX MISSION Princeton was devoted to the inerrancy Westminster Seminary California (WSC) of Scripture, outstanding scholarship, fine is a Christian institution seeking to academic education and service to the glorify God through graduate theological church in its preaching and missionary study. Its primary responsibility is to work. In 1929, when Princeton reorganized educate future pastors for Christian in order to tolerate theological liberalism, churches, especially for Presbyterian and several members of the faculty (led by the Reformed denominations. It also provides distinguished scholar J. Gresham Machen) INTRODUCTION theological education for others who will left Princeton to establish Westminster serve the Christian community and the Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, larger society. Pennsylvania, with the purpose of preserving the educational heritage of Westminster Seminary California offers Old Princeton and the scholarship and instruction in biblical, theological, and theology of the Reformation. ministerial disciplines to both men and women in order to help them develop Westminster Seminary California began intellectually and spiritually as leaders. as a branch campus of Westminster permanent campus in Escondido. In 1988, While the primary focus at WSC is to in Philadelphia, and became fully Dr. Strimple returned to full-time teaching educate and prepare men for ordained independent in 1982. WSC established and scholarship and Mr. den Dulk pastoral ministry, the Seminary also a campus with an extensive library, a became president, increasing the size trains women and men who are preparing comprehensive curriculum, and a full and financial strength of the school. In to serve Christ and his church in non- faculty of teachers who were both 1993, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey, who joined ordained vocations, so that the whole experienced pastors and experts in their the faculty in 1981 as professor of church body of Christ may be enriched. academic fields. The first Reformed history, became the third president of the seminary in the western United States, Seminary. Because “zeal without knowledge” or WSC welcomed its first students in the “knowledge without zeal” can only injure fall of 1980 and now, nearly thirty years the church, WSC seeks to develop in each later, remains committed to the inerrancy student a balance of scholarship and of Scripture, the gospel of Christ, and Christ-like piety. Westminster Seminary the importance of the church and her California strives to maintain a community ministry. WSC thrives as a community of Christian research and scholarship of faith where the best of scholarship where the proper cultivation of the mind and piety are combined to serve Christ increases the devotion of the heart. and the church. We are committed to the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and HISTORY we pursue a union of knowledge and zeal WSC traces its commitment to Reformed for the sake of Christ’s church. theological education back to the Reformation and especially to John Dr. Robert B. Strimple and Mr. Robert Calvin’s educational approach in his G. den Dulk shared in founding the Genevan Academy. In America, that Seminary in 1979. Dr. Strimple became educational heritage was maintained the first president in 1982, overseeing at Princeton Theological Seminary in the movement of the Seminary from its the 19th and early 20th centuries. Old temporary home in San Marcos to its 9 WESTMINSTER SEMINARY CALIFORNIA CATALOGUE 2008-2009 DOCTRINAL COMMITMENT ACADEMIC FREEDOM ATS and WASC are recognized by the LOCALE The Scriptures of the Old and New Because leaders confronted with complex U.S. Department of Education. WSC is Located in beautiful, culturally rich Testaments, breathed out by the Spirit of issues in the church need to advance in approved for the Veterans Administration’s Escondido, and situated in North San God through human authors, are the very scholarship, critical discernment, and educational benefits, the California State Diego County, Westminster Seminary Word of God written—the only infallible spiritual maturity, WSC maintains a Graduate Fellowship Program, and the California is just minutes from the Pacific and inerrant authority for faith and life. culture that encourages students in the California Guaranteed Student Loan Ocean. The sunny beaches, Mediterranean exercise of academic freedom. Believing Program. climate, and countless attractions make The doctrines of the Christian faith, held that intense study and rigorous thought this region a popular vacation destination. by orthodox churches throughout the ages, should be an act of spiritual devotion, The Seminary is also authorized under express the central truths concerning the Westminster Seminary California seeks to Federal law to enroll nonimmigrant alien The celebrated San Diego Zoo and San triune God and his works of creation become a community of scholar-servants students under approved F-1 status. Diego Wild Animal Park are in close and redemption, particularly as they who love God with all their minds and proximity. The California Center for the confess the saving work of Jesus Christ hearts, and who love others for his sake. NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY Arts offers live performances ranging from as revealed in Scripture. The Reformed Westminster Seminary California does classical symphonies to modern theater confessions (Westminster Confession and ACCREDITATION not discriminate on the basis of race, productions by internationally acclaimed Catechisms, Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Westminster Seminary California is an age, color, national or ethnic origin, artists. Downtown Escondido features Confession, and the Canons of Dort) are accredited school of theology at the disability, or gender in the administration quaint shops, antique car shows, and a the fullest and most accurate summary of graduate level, authorized by the California of its educational policies, admissions weekly farmers’ market of fresh produce. the system of doctrine revealed in Holy Superintendent of Public Instruction to policies, services, or scholarship and loan North San Diego County also offers some Scripture. The Church is to be governed grant graduate theological degrees upon programs. of the top hospitals and medical facilities according to the principles of Presbyterian recommendation of the Faculty and by the in the nation, including the Scripps church polity, as agreeable to Scripture. authority of the Board of Trustees. WSC believes that men and women are Hospitals, Children’s Hospital in San equally created in the image of God and Diego, and Palomar Medical Center. STUDENT BODY Westminster Seminary California is have distinct and complementary roles in Westminster Seminary California serves accredited by the Accrediting Commission the order of the family and the church. The As one of the nation’s fastest growing regions an evangelical and Reformed student for Senior Colleges and Universities of Board and Faculty understand the biblical for biomedical and telecommunications body from over 21 denominations. the Western Association of Schools criteria for ordained gospel