LETTER FROM DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY TO LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH READER REVEALS "REQUIRED" SPIRITUAL FORMATION COURSES
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A
Lighthouse Trails reader sent Lighthouse Trails a copy of a letter he
recently received from Dallas Theological Seminary. DTS has consistently
said the school does not promote the” bad” Spiritual Formation, but we
have reported on a number of occasions that the Spiritual Formation
taught and promoted at DTS IS contemplative spirituality (which is bad).
As we have maintained since the inception of Lighthouse Trails – there
is no “good” Spiritual Formation as it always leads to the mystics and
puts practitioners in harm’s way. DTS is no exception. Our reader (who
is a DTS alumni) told us he has been receiving update letters from DTS
for years, and this is the first time he has seen them actually mention
Spiritual Formation in an alumni letter. You can read an enlarged
version of the letter by clicking on the letter below.
One
thing to note about this letter is the following statement: “Most
students are required to be part of a spiritual formation small group of
six to eight students who meet weekly for two years.” This lines up
with the special report Lighthouse Trails released in 2013 titled “An Epidemic of Apostasy – How Christian Seminaries Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited,” which shows how many, if not most, Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities must
include Spiritual Formation into their students’ lives if the schools
want to receive accreditation from “distinguished” accrediting
organizations. Dallas Theological Seminary was mentioned in that report:What do Abilene Christian University, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Bethel Seminary, Biola Seminary, Briercrest College and Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Moody Theological Seminary & Graduate School, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Regent College, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and around 240 other seminaries and colleges throughout North America all have in common? They are all accredited or in the process of being accredited through the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).
As you can see here, https://www.ats.edu/member-schools/member-school-list#D,
DTS is included on ATS’s member school list. On the ATS website,the
term “spiritual formation” shows up over 540 times on its search engine (https://www.ats.edu/search/google/%22spiritual%20formation%22). The term “Christian formation” (another term for Spiritual Formation) shows up over 440 times.If you would like to learn more about how accreditation organizations are requiring Spiritual Formation, please read our report.