For the past four years, Carroll Institute has been in a partnership with the St. Petersburg Evangelical Theological Academy in Russia, offering courses for a Master of Arts in Theology degree. Dr. Sergei Nikolaev, President of the Academy and Pastor of Temple of the Gospel where the Theological Academy is housed, is so grateful to Carroll Institute for this collaborative teaching effort that has made the dream come true for Russian theology students to receive an accredited degree.
In October of 2014, Carroll granted degrees to its first graduates in St. Petersburg, Russia. The four graduates, who received the Master of Arts in Theology degree, were prominent pastors in Russia. In the years that have followed, they and other graduates have expressed a desire to apply for Carroll’s Ph.D. program.
The first cohort of theology students from Russia have been accepted as doctoral candidates and have been admitted into Carroll’s Ph.D. program. Although these students have a working knowledge of English to use in research, their primary language is Russian and their dissertations will be in Russian. This experiment of preparing international Ph.D. students in their own context and primary language is part of Carroll’s “International Language Option” for doctoral students.
The three doctoral candidates have varied backgrounds and interests. One student is a lawyer who has completed Carroll’s MAT and wants to do doctoral work to prepare her for teaching New Testament studies. Another is a full-time pastor with a gift for teaching who felt called to develop that gift through Ph.D. studies, specializing in historical theology. A third student has served as a director of an arts school and is an academic director in the St. Petersburg Academy while also teaching Old Testament at the bachelor’s level. She desires to study leadership in academic settings as part of her doctoral studies. The students will work with local Russian Ph.D. supervisors who are bilingual.
Dr. Sergei Nikolaev recognizes that the need is great to have Russian theology professors with the qualifications to teach doctoral studies. When you share what the Lord has given to you with B. H. Carroll Theological Institute through the Gift it Forward Christmas Fund, you are providing an opportunity for Carroll students in Russia to pursue an accredited Ph.D. degree which would be unavailable to them otherwise. They in turn will be able to train and equip other leaders to further Christ’s Kingdom in Russia and beyond. Please pray with open hearts as you watch this video.
