Some of us observe with amusement, and some impatience, the ongoing occasional conversations in theological education about the legitimacy, value, or congruence of online delivery for seminary education. At one time it was appropriate to include in that conversation talk about “emergent technologies,” but that epoch is past. Despite the track record of the effectiveness of online learning in just about every field of education, and the increasing number of schools, from kindergarten to graduate programs, that embrace online learning, theological education as a whole has been left in the dust.
I can appreciate that some of the reticence may stem from the desire of most theological schools to be both church and academy. I’ll spare you my rant about “a school is not a community; a seminary is not a church.”
Every now and then the virtual world of the internet also challenges the concept of Church. Here’s an item from The Christian Century:
It’s probably inevitable that it would come to this: the online Eucharist. Thomas Madron, a former technology company CEO and now a United Methodist pastor in Nashville, has built an interactive Communion site (holycommunion-theweb.com). “There’s a whole long list of people who just simply can’t make it regularly to a church—for example, people in the military, or people whose jobs require them to travel a lot, or students.” Anne Foerst, a Lutheran theologian who teaches computer science at a Catholic university, says that the sacrament “cannot be simulated. The experience is not about you and the Eucharist. . . . If you can’t make the time to experience the community, then why do you need the sacrament?” (“On Faith” at washingtonpost.com).
A virtual church is one thing, a virtual school is another. Some in the realm of theological education like to site “philosophical” issues with online learning. But that’s not a valid point, I think. There is no (bona fide) educational philosophy that would argue (philosophically) against online learning as a legitimate vehicle for the educational enterprise of teaching and learning. And there are dozens of studies citing “no significant difference” in learning attainment between courses taught online and those taught in the classroom. My observation is that when push comes to shove the argument against online theological education comes down to “I don’t wanna do it.”
