Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 91:363 (Jul 1934)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

BSac 91:363 (Jul 34) p. 369

Book Reviews

The Education of American Ministers. Four volumes. Volume I-Ministerial Education in America, by William Adams Brown, XIV and 232 pp.; Volume II-The Profession of the Ministry, by Mark A. May, XI and 399 pp.; Volume III-The Institutions That Train Ministers, by May, X and 522 pp.; Volume IV-Appendices, by May and Frank K. Shuttleworth, XIX and 481 pp. Institute of Social and Religious Research, New York.

A pioneer volume in the field of the evaluation of ministerial education was prepared by Dr. Robert L. Kelly and published by the Institute of Social and Religious Research in 1924. This valuable work is now succeeded by four volumes which project the investigation into what would seem to be the last detail involved, Similar studies have been made with regard to education in other professions with great profit, and it is to be hoped that this new effort in the field of ministerial education may prove of even greater value. It will be exceedingly helpful to all who are engaged in theological training and upon whom the duties of management and selection of curricula rest. Similarly, the importance to every minister and instructed layman of the material found in these volumes will not be overestimated.

The four volumes, comprising, as they do, an encyclopedia of technical information, could hardly be reviewed in detail. A few quotations from the foreword of Volume I serve to give some impression of the scope and value of the work:

“The study that follows has been made under the joint auspices of the Conference of Theological Seminaries in the United States and Canada and the Institute of Social and Religious Research, under an agreement entered into on May 21, 1929.”

“The plan for the present study was prepared by a -ommittee of three, consisting of the late Dr. Robert J. Leonard, of Teachers College; Dr. Arthur E. Holt, of Chicago Theological Seminary, and Professor William Adams Brown, of Union Theological Seminary.”

“On May 16, 1929, the Conference placed before the

BSac 91:363 (Jul 34) p. 370

Executive Committee of the Institute the name of Dr. Mark A. May, Professor of Educational Psychology at Yale University, as Director, with Dr. William Adams Brown, of Union Theological Seminary, as Theological Consultant. They also nominated a small group of persons in the United States and Canada to serve as advisors in the fields both of theology and of general education. These advisors were as follows:

”Educational Advisors: W. E. Wickenden, Chairman, President of the Case School of Applied Science; Frederick J. Kelly, President of the University of Idaho; Floyd W. Reeves, Professor of Education in the University...