With the present Dean of Bishopdale Theological College (BTC) in the Diocese of Nelson, Rev. Dr. Tim Harris on transfer (so to speak) to Adelaide to become Bishop for Mission and Evangelism, a new Dean has been looked for. In the end the looking has not had to extend to the ends of the earth as the new Dean will be the Rev. Dr. Andrew Burgess, Vicar of All Saints, Nelson and already on the staff of BTC.
Andrew has an Oxford D. Phil. on the theology of Barth, and will have been vicar in his parish for just over nine years when he takes up his new role in early 2012. This is a great appointment which will ensure the vision for BTC continues to shine strongly.
Peter, I would be interested to know just how many full-time students there are at Nelson's Bishopdale Theological College? Also, how many faculty? I am really interested!
ReplyDeleteHi Ron,
ReplyDeleteKey weblinks re BTC are to its home page, http://www.bishopdale.ac.nz/ , to its calendar/handbook for 2012, http://www.bishopdale.ac.nz/documents/BTCHandbook2012Final.pdf, and to its staff, http://www.bishopdale.ac.nz/staff.htm.
The numbers you ask are tricky. On the student numbers I do not know about the present, but when I left BTC at the end of 2009 we had about ten 'full time equivalents" of whom half a dozen were literally full time students and the remaining FTEs were made up of part-time students.
As for staff, if you look up the weblink you will see the details of a lot of staff, but most of them are part-time, with some teaching courses in 'satellite' places such as Greymouth and Tauranga. The actual full-time staff focused on teaching theology are two, with a third being full-time but having a large focuse on diocesan ministry education.
Thanks for the info, Peter. That help readers put the strength of the College into a proper perspective.
ReplyDelete