Is There A Doctor In The House?

Jason Clark has been blogging on the various forms of doctoral study and what the title Dr, implies. I myself have always struggled with putting a professional doctorate on the same standing as a research doctorate. However, my experience of being part of a research centre has even left me skeptical about the value of research doctorates in theology, or at least about placing too much prestige and status in them.

In the end all positive doctoral programmes are also professional programmes. After all, what is the point of any doctorate if it does not prepare you in practical ways for a career? One of the big weaknesses of many UK research doctorates are that they pay little attention to the future teaching vocation of postgraduates. Moreover, since so much of the progression of students is unclear and ambiguous till the final stages, it makes the research community very prone to political games and machinations.

Nonetheless, it is good to see that the field of doctoral study in theology is changing and my hope is that the line between the professional and research doctorates will continue to be blurred.