On Biblical Scholarship
By way of explanation, in the days of yore the first professional/academic degree conferred by a seminary was that of Bachelor of Divinity, or B.D. For those interested in academia, the B.D. was followed by both a Master's degree and a Doctoral degree. Although the nomenclature of the first professional/academic degree was changed to a "Master's" level by the development of the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in the late sixties and early seventies, along with the development of the advanced professional degree Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at about the same time, for academicians one still needs to spend significant time in residential university study in order to qualify to teach in a seminary. Such advanced academic study leads most commonly in this country to a Master of Theology (or Master of Sacred Theology) and a Doctor of Philosophy (or Doctor of Sacred Theology). Here is a simple chart: Collegiate degree = B.A., B.S. or similar (a prerequisite for any of the be