ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — A moderate Baptist seminary and a historically African-American college in Virginia have reached a unique degree-granting agreement for undergraduate students.
The John Leland Center for Theological Studies, based in Arlington, Va., and Hampton University in Hampton, Va., reached an “articulation agreement” Oct. 17, according to a news release from Leland. The agreement allows Leland students who have completed the seminary's diploma in theology program to count all of their 48 hours of credit toward a bachelor's degree in religion from Hampton.
Hampton was founded to educate freed slaves in the Tidewater area of Virginia following the Civil War. Famed African-American educator Booker T. Washington graduated from the school, as have scores of other black leaders.
The Hampton religion degree, according to the seminary statement, is one of the few in the nation available to students entirely through online coursework. Many of Leland's students already serve as ministers to minority and immigrant congregations in the fast-growing Washington region.
If they complete their Hampton bachelor's degrees, then Leland students may return to the seminary to earn masters' degrees in divinity or theological studies. Leland is one of several seminaries founded by moderate Baptists disenfranchised from Southern Baptist seminaries in recent decades. It is also one of two seminaries supported by the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
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