Is a theology degree worth it?

Over the past few years, I spent thousands of dollars and three years of my life getting a theology degree from Moody Bible Institute. And now my job has nothing to do with it. Was it worth it? That's what we're going to explore today.

My journey to getting a theology degree

My path to getting a theology degree was a bit nontraditional. Coming out of high school, I actually wanted to go into medicine. I had been accepted into a fantastic, accelerated program, I had my deposits in, and I was ready to go. But, at that time, I had been interning at my church, and much to my surprise, they offered me a full-time job. I didn't know what to do. I took some time to think about it, and eventually, I decided to say yes and try it as a gap year. Then I fell in love with ministry.

However, they made the mistake of letting me teach me, and I found something that truly set my heart on fire. As I began teaching, I had a deep desire to know more about theology.

After about two years in full-time ministry, I said, “Hey, guys, thanks for the job. This has been a great past year or two, but now I need to go somewhere where I can figure out some of the stuff that I’m now realizing I don't know. Because teaching when you don't know that much is terrifying.

My time at Moody Bible Institute

I went into Moody thinking I was going to be the next mega church pastor. But somewhere along the lines, I became fascinated by church history and began this wild exploration into the roots of the church that has sprouted into my YouTube channel, Gospel Simplicity, where I get to explore the beauty and messiness of church history with some of the best scholars on the planet.

Life after bible college

And now I find myself where I am today, a young married person that needs to pay the bills, and YouTube doesn't quite do that. And believe it or not, theology degrees, don't quite do that all too well. I work doing, of all things, business-to-business (B2B) public relations for tech companies. Which, as you might guess, doesn’t have a whole lot to do with theology.

So how do I look back on that experience? Were the past three years a mistake? Was that a lot of money and time wasted when I could have gotten a degree in medicine or software engineering, something that would make me more money since I haven’t gone into ministry anyway? Let's explore that.

Here are three questions to ask if you’re considering getting a theology degree:

Question one: Can you afford it?

If you're considering getting a theology degree, the first question I would ask you is, “can you afford it?” I loved my time at Moody, and I would do it again, in a heartbeat. I enjoyed it greatly. I got to spend three years studying the thing that lights my soul and brain up more than anything else ever could.

But if you're going to have to go into like mountains of debt for this, I might tell you to just read the books on your own time. You can message me, and I will give you all the books that I read in my undergraduate career. Read them, and that will teach you a lot. Will it teach you the same things? Not quite. I think there's something really valuable being in a college setting, but I think we all have to be honest and have this conversation where we ask if the added bonus of being in class is worth the money. I don't think we have this conversation enough, especially in the US where there's a strong college-first mentality.

You need to ask, can you afford to get a degree that might not lead to a job? Is that okay with you? If it is, and you love it, and you have the flexibility in your life like I had, as a young 20-something, no married with low expenses and going to a cheap school, then by all means do it. But that would be the first question.

Online theology degrees as a cheaper alternative

One way that a lot of people are finding flexible ways of getting a theology degree is by exploring new hybrid methods. They’re going partially online, partially in person. Others are doing it fully online. I am partial to doing it in person. But there is a myriad of options. You can go anywhere from being on campus every day and fully entrenched in the culture, which I think is amazing, or you can go all the way on the other spectrum, not going at all, but reading all the books, or somewhere in between doing it online doing it hybrid, you've got options.

Question two: Are you ok with getting a job that’s unrelated to theology?

The second question I would ask is, “are you okay with getting a theology degree, knowing that you might not get a job related to it?” Now, maybe you want to be a pastor. In which case, should you get a theology undergraduate degree? I think you probably should. For your undergrad, you could do other things that could be helpful, as well.

However, if you’re not planning to be a pastor, and your idea is you're going to get a theology degree, and then you're going to go teach, I don't want to rain on your parade, but I do want to say that is going to be incredibly difficult. If you want to teach, you're going to have to get a PhD, but not just any PhD. You'll need to get it from a top research university, if you want any shot at getting a tenure track position. This is not impossible, but it is difficult. Only a miniscule fraction of people with theology degrees will successfully traverse this path.

Therefore, my question for you would be, are you okay with just doing this for the love of doing it? Getting a job writing about theology or teaching theology is possible, but it’s unlikely. In fact, I would not get this degree if that is the only thing that you think it's going to lead to. I look back on my classmates, some of whom are absolutely brilliant. Many of them are taking odd jobs, some of them find themselves in a position like myself.

In fact, it was just today that I was scrolling on LinkedIn (I know. I'm boring), and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary put up a post saying, “you know, 10 years ago, when I graduated from seminary, I never would have thought I'd be where I am today.” Today, he does sales for an AI company. And he loves it. In the post he talked about how he does sales for AI during the week, and.\ he reads biblical commentaries on his weekends for fun. He teaches at his church, and he is fully engaged in ministry, while having a job in the marketplace. Does he regret his degree? Not at all. What fascinated me was, as you scroll through the comments, there were dozens of people that echoed this experience. They loved the fact that they got a degree in theology, or in Biblical studies. Many went to seminary and got an MDiv. and today, they find themselves doing things that are completely different.

If you're okay with that. I think getting a degree in theology is amazing. You will get to learn things and deepen your faith in a way that is difficult to do outside of such a focused setting. Of course, there's other ways to deepen your faith. Of course, there's other ways to learn, but entrenching yourself in the study of theology is something almost magical. It is a time in my life that I will forever cherish, and I think you will, too.

But I don't want you to go into it with the wrong expectation. Are you willing to echo the sentiments of all those people on LinkedIn who said, “I went to seminary, I still read commentaries, I teach at my church, and during the week, I work in sales, I work in Marketing, I work in publishing, I work in this I work in that - all things that I never would have seen myself doing”?

Question three: Are you willing to let a theology degree shape you?

My third question would be, “are you willing to let it shape you?” I know that might seem a bit strange.

I see a lot of people go into getting a theology degree or Biblical Studies degree, thinking they already know it all. They want to stay in the exact position they are today, but they just want to be armed with knock-down arguments and be the guy that's going win all the debates against Calvinists or Catholics or Orthodox. Whatever their denominational background, they just want someone to validate their opinions they already have. In these cases, I don't think a theology degree is a idea.

I'm not saying you have to change your theological tradition by any means. I think in many ways, a theology degree should deepen your commitment to the tradition you come from. But it will change you. It will shape you. It will expose you to different ways of thinking. And above all, it should form you as a Christian.

If theology for you is just about gaining more Bible facts, or being able to quote the church fathers better than the other guy in the YouTube comment section, so you can make them look dumb, it's really not worth it. I don't think it's ultimately going to be helpful. It very well might ultimately be a waste, and I think you could spend your time doing better things.

But if you're willing to let a theology degree, shape, not just how you think, but how you relate to God, if it leads you to greater prayer, if you allow it to change the way that you show up in your devotional life,  ifyou allow theology itself to be an act of worship, something where you when you study the Trinity, you sit in awe, and allow the beauty of God to shape you and to want to live into the life that he's calling you to, if you're willing and open to going into your theology degree and allowing it to shape how you think and how you live and how you relate to God, then I can't think of a better thing you could do with your time.

Was a theology degree worth it for me?

So here I am today. I work by day in public relations where I write about big data and AI and the next tech trends. I help random companies sell stuff to other random companies. And you know what? I actually really enjoy it. By night, well, I find myself doing this, talking about theology, leaning on the education I had that forever shaped who I am and set me on a trajectory to never stop reading, to never stop learning, to never stop digging deeper.

It was worth it for me. I can't answer whether it'll be worth it for you. But hopefully these questions are helpful for you to ask.