Seminary to Teach Homemaking Skills

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Seminary to Teach Homemaking Skills

Special Report - August 16, 2007
Women at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) can learn the basics of hospitality, cooking and child-rearing in a new concentration set to debut during Fall 2007. The seminary, located in Fort Worth, Texas, offers the homemaking concentration to women only, and includes 23 credit hours that count towards a bachelor of arts degree in the humanities. Women will receive instruction in nutrition and meal preparation, sewing and textile design, and general homemaking, including courses on “the biblical model for home and family.”

Though SWBTS is one of the largest Southern Baptist seminaries in the nation, some in the denomination have criticized the new concentration. Robert Parham, the executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, said the courses are a waste of resources. “Christian education needs to major on moral values, not to minor on the non-essentials such as using zip lock bags,” Parham told the Baptist Associated Press. “It’s OK for men and women to learn about organizing a closet, just don’t claim there is a Christian way to do so.”

Several other Southern Baptist seminaries offer programs similar to the homemaking concentration at SWBTS. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, offers a master of divinity and master of arts in women’s ministry. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, also offer coursework to women that includes both theology and “lifestyle” training, according to the Baptist Press. All Southern Baptist seminaries allow women to enroll in a variety of degree programs.

The trustees for SWBTS approved the homemaking concentration last fall. Seminary President Paige Patterson announced its implementation at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual conference held in San Antonio. “It is homemaking for the sake of the church and the ministry and for the sake of our society,” Patterson said while introducing the concentration. “If we do not do something to salvage the future of the home, both our denomination and our nation will be destroyed.”