Danny Lovett, president of Tennessee Temple University, resigns

Larry, my point wasn’t that this is acceptable, or less wrong, because it is a DMin project. Here’s an analogy. Let’s say you know two construction companies. In the first one, the management is very strict about policies and protocols, regularly maintains equipment, enforces safety regulations, and checks completed work. In the second, the management take a more laid-back approach to, well, managing. The “spirit” of the law is more important than the letter. Bending rules in order to save time and resources is overlooked. Which one do you think is going to have a track record of major accidents and sub-standard construction quality?

Evangelical (including fundamentalist) seminaries are notorious for their lack of academic rigor. DMin programs are known as being the worst of all. When sloppiness and minor errors are routine, can we really be surprised that major ones occur? Lovett was terribly wrong to do what he did, but we have a system in place that is bound to produce more Lovett’s.

Also, I think the whole “doctor” of ministry is disingenuous. When people hear that someone has a doctoral degree, they assume a level of competence and scholarship that simply isn’t required by the DMin program.

Which one do you think is going to have a track record of major accidents and sub-standard construction quality?

There’s not enough information there to draw any sort of legitimate conclusion from. There are a lot of factors that are not included in your description. In a bit of irony, this question is a DMin type question. It requires field research. You have to go and observe and ask questions and analyze the data. It cannot be answered by original languages, reading and analyzing the views of past construction experts, or contributing something new to the field of construction.

Evangelical (including fundamentalist) seminaries are notorious for their lack of academic rigor. DMin programs are known as being the worst of all.

I have not found the DMin to be academically challenging in the least. But “academic rigor” isn’t really the goal of a DMin program. It is designed to help pastors be better pastors. Depending on the particular program you choose, it can be better or worse, and the particular classes you choose can make it better or worse.

Generally speaking, if you want to be a better pastor, a PhD is probably not the best way to go about it. It isn’t designed for that purpose. If you want to be a better scholar/writer/teacher, a DMin is a poor way to go about that.

… we have a system in place that is bound to produce more Lovett’s.

Not sure who “we” is, nor what sort of “system” you speak of. In my DMin program, this would not be acceptable. I don’t know of any where it would be.

Also, I think the whole “doctor” of ministry is disingenuous. When people hear that someone has a doctoral degree, they assume a level of competence and scholarship that simply isn’t required by the DMin program.

As you acknowledged above, the “Doctor of Ministry” is a professional degree, like the JD or the MD. Yes, some DMins are deficient, just like some PhDs are. But like PhDs, not all are equal, and they serve a different purpose than PhDs anyway. I am not a big fan of the DMin (and I don’t think I would do it again), but “disingenuous” is overstated, I think.

But back to the point, this whole DMin/MDiv/PhD discussion is a red herring and irrelevant. It has nothing to do with the issue at hand. I could point you to people with PhDs who are also guilty of plagiarism (a simple google search will give all sorts of data). Should we tar all PhD programs because of that? Of course not, you would argue. And that’s my point. You can’t tar the whole DMin degree because someone plagiarized or did faulty research or whatever.

Again, I am not a big fan of a DMin so don’t confuse me with an ardent defender. I do think that (1) you are being a bit hard on the idea because you are expecting it to be something it isn’t, and (2) you are misdirecting attention because this issue has nothing to do with what degree the guy has.

I to also have d-min and reely reely lik it. and whin I comperr it to them reel doccorates, i dunno see no diff’rence. (p.S. - I didnt coppiy this - promiss)

conjures up disturbing images (lik = lick?)

Blush ;-)