Bible colleges primarily offer undergraduate degrees, but may also offer graduate degrees, lower-level associate degrees, certificates or diplomas in specialized areas of Christian training where a full degree is not required.
The American Bible college movement developed in reaction to the secularization of U.S. higher education. The "Bible institute/college movement" has been described as "a protest to the inroads of secularization in higher education and as a base for the education of lay workers and full-time Bible teachers, evangelists, and pastors".[4] As one historian put it, "It is not a coincidence that the Bible institute movement grew up during the very period when the philosophy of naturalism became prevalent in American education".[5] Between 1882 and 1920, 39 Bible schools were founded in the United States.[6]
In 1995, a campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in the United States was established at the Louisiana State Penitentiary following an invitation from the prison warden, Burl Cain.[7] The school has contributed to a significant reduction in the rate of violence in the prison.[8] In 2016, Cain founded the Prison Seminaries Foundation, an organization that has various member seminaries in American prisons.[9]
Beyond the undergraduate level, some others have established seminaries and graduate divisions.
At some Bible colleges, associate's degrees, diplomas, or certificates are available. These programs are generally designed for laypersons (such as Sunday school teachers) who neither want nor need a bachelor's degree to perform their Christian service, but who desire additional training in such areas as Bible studies or the teachings and practices of their denomination.
Many Bible colleges offer correspondence or online training.[11][12]
In the United States the average salary for a full professor at a Bible institute was around $49,000 in 2012. The student-to-faculty ratio is around 13 students to one instructor.[16]
^David Emmanuel Singh, Bernard C. Farr, Christianity and Education: Shaping Christian Thinking in Context, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2011, p. 173
^ abBible Schools, in The Canadian Encyclopedia (1st page in online version of article)
^Larry J. McKinney, "THE FUNDAMENTALIST BIBLE SCHOOL AS AN OUTGROWTH OF THE CHANGING PATTERNS OF PROTESTANT REVIVALISM, 1882–1920", Religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association, 84:1, 589-605. Page 594
^Frank E. Gaebelein, quoted in McKinney (1989:590)
^Michael Hallett, Joshua Hays, Byron R. Johnson, Sung Joon Jang, Grant Duwe, The Angola Prison Seminary: Effects of Faith-Based Ministry on Identity Transformation, Desistance, and Rehabilitation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2016, p. 234
^Michel Deneken, Francis Messner, Frank Alvarez-Pereyre, La théologie à l'Université: statut, programmes et évolutions, Editions Labor et Fides, Genève, 2009, p. 61
^Christianisme aujourd'hui, École biblique ou fac?, christianismeaujourdhui.info, Switzerland, March 24, 2008
^Bernhard Ott, Understanding and Developing Theological Education, Langham Global Library, UK, 2016, p. 23
^Brian Stiller, Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, Thomas Nelson, USA, 2015, p. 170
^ abBible Schools, in The Canadian Encyclopedia (3rd page in online version of article)
^Todd C. Ream, "Protestant Bible Institutes in the United States", in The International Handbook of Protestant Education, ed. William Jeynes, David W. Robinson, Springer, 2012, pp. 123-136.