For some time I’ve noticed a trend within the Charismatic world that is troubling. For some reason, the title of “Dr.” has been cropping up. Folks who have typically prided themselves on never “setting foot in cemetery, er…seminary” are suddenly being introduced as Dr. So-and-so, a great General of God.
I grew up in the Southern Baptist world, and if the pastor advertised himself as Dr. Smith, you could bet that there was a diploma on the wall from an accredited institution awarding a Ph.D., Th.D., or the like. I know how much work goes in to any degree, and I respect anyone who has education.
I’ve been digging around a bit and have discovered that places like Oral Roberts University award quite a few Honorary Doctorates to various pastors. Typically, when an honorary degree is given, it’s just that – honorary. You didn’t earn it – somebody was just being nice.
Why is it that these “super preachers”, who typically gleefully disdain education from the pulpit (see the cemetery comment above – I’ve heard that more than twice), suddenly start advertising themselves as having a higher education? Jesse Duplantis, a well known evangelist from the New Orleans area, was a rock singer when he got saved. He started preaching not long after. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Oral Roberts University in 1999. In 1999 he started being introduced as “Dr. Jesse Duplantis”. Interesting, since this is the only “education” has has on any bio… Here’s the information on the ORU site from 1999.
I’m not picking only on Bro. Duplantis – this is widespread. The pastor at our former church would be “Dr.” at random times, and has often mentioned that he “has more letters behind his name than most.” Odd, since he became an evangelist at 17 and has never actually attended college…
Here’s an interesting quote from William Alnor:
A second problem within the church is the astonishing number of people who have been given “honorary” doctoral degrees, who then turn around and call themselves “doctor,” thus quietly implying they have earned degrees. This is deceptive and goes against academic protocol. In reality, although many institutions of higher learning give honorary doctorates, the secularists — those outside Christianity receiving them know better than to take them seriously. Thus they don’t refer to themselves as “doctor” at all, since it would be a joke to do so.
Among the institutions most responsible for contributing to the confusion is Oral Roberts University of Tulsa that seemingly doles out honorary doctorates like candy at Halloween to children. ORU has even presented honorary doctorates to some of the most questionable figures imaginable, even con men and known purveyors of false doctrine and at least one accused sexual predator. After some of these people are awarded an ORU honorary doctorate, sometimes without serving any time in higher education, a good number of these men and women have gone on to publicly call themselves doctors in their books and in teaching materials.
ORU has doled out honorary doctorates to the late Kathryn Kuhlman and Rex Humbard, both accused of multiple imporprieties; the late plagiarist and false teacher Kenneth E. Hagin; prosperity teachers Frederick Price, Creflo Dollar, Marilyn Hickey, Joyce Meyer, Jesse Duplantis, Paul (David) Yonggi Cho, his wife, and Kenneth Copeland; former NFL player Roosevelt Greer; the late entertainer, Bob Hope; false teachers and founders of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Paul and Jan Crouch. But most egregious was ORU’s awarding of honorary degrees to the following teachers who were exposed in international scandals for various instances of crookedness: Bishop Earl Paulk (who has faced a slew of sustained sexual misconduct accusations over the years); disgraced television preachers Robert Tilton and Larry Lea (who were both targets of PrimeTime television exposes by Diane Sawyer); and faith healer Benny Hinn, who has faced dozens of major scandals during the past 15 years. And there are many other lesser known false teachers given honorary doctoral degrees since ORU began the practice in 1972.
For fun I went to the Oral Roberts University website, put honorary in the search box and got two pages of hits. Here’s an example from 2003:
Honorary doctorates were given to Memphis pastor James Netters, Peniel College founder Dr. Michael Reid, and Patricia Salem White, a devoted “prayer warrior” (and First Lady Lindsay Roberts’ mother) who was cured of cancer after reading a book by Oral Roberts in the 1950s.
Is it deceptive to use this honorary degree as though it were real? Yes. How ’bout we call it what it really is? It’s a LIE. There have been some well-known cases in which individuals in secular jobs have been fired for “stretching the truth” about their education. Why is it not only allowed in the church, but seemingly encouraged?
who cares? “Judge ye not another man’s servant.” I know and you know (hopefully) that the goal of the message of the cross is to save souls and to transform people’s lives. I’m one of those who needed a man like “Dr. Whoever” or “Sister Nobody” to preach to me. I didn’t care the title, nor do I now –earned or not. All I need to know is if they know the Lord. It’s funny because Paul had every physical and religious qualification to minister and to distinguish the will and move of God, but he was as spiritually ignorant and deceived as Ever! because he trusted in his own wisdom and not the grace of God. Yet, many of the plain ol’ fishermen who were with Jesus were given the honor by Him w/o works or rabbinic qualifications to be called disciples, teachers, apostles and ministers. For who were among the twelve? I don’t remember any rabbis, pharisees or sadducees. Yet, Jesus gave his disciples honorary titles. Furthermore, any minister or teacher who has disgraced theselves, they would have very well done it w/o the honorary degree. In fact, I had someone who changed my life disgrace the faith yet, I love him with the love of Christ, and I am thankful that he obeyed God to even speak His word unto me, no matter what he ended up later doing in his life. That part is the Lord’s cause and business. You should think about that and seriously repent because I definiately wouldn’t listen to you try to tell me anything about God based on your disposition. I thank God that my soul doesn’t depend on it ’cause I’d be going to hell.
Dinah,
You are mistaken. Sadly mistaken. The Bible clearly tells us that false teachers will arise, and that we are to take care not to be deceived. Parading around under false pretenses – like these preachers do with their phony doctorates – is a pretty good sign that they are deceivers.
I think it’s sort of funny that you blast us for pointing out the deceptiveness of using a fake degree and tell us that such a thing shouldn’t matter because we are not to judge anyone.
But the you turn around and judge us, saying you “definiately [sic] wouldn’t listen to you try to tell me anything about God based on your disposition.”
That really doesn’t make any sense.
Take care, my sister in Christ, and again, remember – Christ Himself warned us to watch out for deception.
Blessings!
I question this practice also. I think that lifetime achievement awards are one way of honoring individuals who have made significant accomplishments in a nontraditional way without the formal college training other individuals receive.
We also have certain positions of elected office that in themselves are significant accomplishments that really do not need an extra honorary degree, especially since they already hold traditional doctorate degrees from accredited and often very reputable institutions. In the entertainment field we have the Grammy, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy. There are many civic awards for those who have made contributions to society. Also physical structures and scholarships are named after individuals. I don’t oppose recognizing achievement. I just think that we need a different way to recognize those who have not attained that level of education from those who have. I doubt that they will discontinue this practice; however, at least I think they could designate the initials HD (honorary doctorate with the field) when they list their credentials). At least this way, people could tell who has traditional earned the education and who has been awarded, and consumers could make the decision whether or not they want to recognize this. We also have streets and highways, fountains, parks, and flowers named after individuals. There may be instances when a person has earned this level of expertise and recognition, but these achievements have to be made known to the public and when honored, i don’t think it should be with an honorary doctorate, but another recognition is fine. In respect to the law, they are as accountable as anyone else and subject to the same consenquences. I don’t think a speech should be a reason to grant one an honorary degree though, but since so many grant honorary degrees to those who make speeches, I doubt this practice will be stopped. This is why, I suggested using the initials HD to distinguish those degrees from the traditional degrees. I think it sends the wrong message to those who have earned traditional degrees. I do think institutions need to be regionally accredited and leave the issue of public or private funding to that institution as a separate matter. We need to know that the education that is earned through time, effort, and financial investment will be recognized and transferable and acknowledged in respect to employment. In occupations where state licensure is required, I do not think honorary degrees should be issued at all. There is a certain level of training and professional conduct and ethics that are associated with professional occupations.
Dinah, I couldn’t agree with you more. I work at a University around Ph.D’s who seem to believe that nobody knows more than they about any subject. They look down on people that “only” have Master’s degrees and won’t even entertain anyone with a Bachelor’s degree or less.
In the Christian world, WHO CARES about titles? If they were given honorary doctorate degrees, SOMEBODY thought they were worthy of it. They are not claiming to be “medical doctors who can do surgery”. Good grief! At my University, even Christian Ph.D’s who have gone to Seminary to study theology are some of the most arrogant people I’ve ever encountered. They get so caught up in the “history” of the Bible, that they present it as a history book while proving how knowledgeable about “facts”. They kare Pharisees who embrace the letter of the law and jeer at anyone who calls themselves capable of preaching the Gospel without a degree at all. Yet, some of the people in this day and age who have brought more people to Christ than anyone else on this earth don’t even have a Bachelor’s degree, and I believe that God is raising up more and more people like this every day just to prove to the “elites” that He has the ability to call and prepare those who are “available”, which includes those with OR without a Ph.D.
I know I have digressed here, but my point is if someone has “earned” a Ph.D. in someone else’s eyes based on their contribution to the Kingdom, let it be! Stop being so concerned about whether or not they CALL themselves doctor. The question is, “Are they making a difference in the KINGDOM?” That’s all that God is concerned about, and we (the educated or the non-educated) shouldn’t be putting emphasis on anything that God does not. Get over the TITLE issue. Stop straining on a gnat and swallowing an elephant with no problem. Sometimes the highly educated are some of the most sickening people with which to deal. I deal with it daily; many of the alleged Christians. They aren’t even realizing that looking down on non-Ph.D. Christian leaders are so much NOT like God. THIS is my definition of “ignorance”.
I agree with Ghandi when he said, ““I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Jean, you’ve missed the point entirely. It’s the pastors and other Charismatic leaders parading around under phony titles who need to “get over the title issue.” They are the ones who care about titles – they care so much that they are willing to compromise their integrity by pretending an honorary degree has real academic merit and is something they earned.
Show me in the Bible where God has ever indicated that He cares more about “results” than about honesty and integrity.
Just because someone is able to gather followers who believe that he somehow has “anointing” does NOT mean that God’s kingdom is being advanced in any real, meaningful way. True Christianity is marked by love and truth, not trumped-up miracles and fake degrees.
This is laughable.
Honorary degrees are awarded in a myriad of subject areas, and are usually awarded based on the full encompassing body of work the person has accomplished in their lifetime to date… the volume of which would equal (or sometimes surpass) the work needed for a graduate level dissertation.
There have been linguists, humanitarians, scientists, artists… preachers and pastors, through the years, all of whom have received honorary degrees.
To suggest that for one to accept an honorary degree means that they are somehow joining the ranks of “false prophets” and charlatans makes this blog (and blogger) lose all creditably in my eyes, as you obviously are willing to take on topics of which you have no understanding… nor do you show the slightest interest in researching these areas prior to rambling.
Thus I will move on, and pray that your silly uninformed words do not do much harm to the unsaved or new believer.
Learn something:
http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees
http://secretary.yale.edu/governance/honorary-degrees
Oh my goodness.
Please, did you even READ what I originally wrote and what I have written in many, many comments since this post was published several years ago?
I never said that merely ACCEPTING the honorary doctorate made a preacher a “false prophet.”
But USING an honorary doctorate as though it were a real, legitimate degree without clarifying that it is an honorary degree MOST DEFINITELY IS deceptive.
That’s it.
How ’bout YOU learn something. Like reading skills.
Honorary-degree recipients may be addressed as Dr. (Name) in correspondence from or conversation by the granting university. But not at other universities – and not in their professional life off campus.
They may use the pertinent post-nominal abbreviation for the honorary degree if use the words honoris causa with the post nominals to note that the degree is honorary, not earned.
Honorary doctorates are listed as an honor or award on your resume, rather than part of education with earned academic degrees. In a complete introduction it would be stated that “Marc Coffey received an honorary Doctorate in (field) from …”
It’s a great honor, but it is an honor, not an earned degree.
A good source on this topic should you want more detail is Academic Ceremonies: a handbook of traditions and protocol by April Harris. It’s the bible.
http://www.formsofaddress.info/Degree_Honorary.html
It is one thing to award an honorary degree, but quite another to attach “earned doctorate” to an honorary degree.
Who is doing that? Life Christian University has awarded doctorate degrees to just about any Word of Faith Preacher who asks. How do these illustrious men and women of the cloth qualify?
“It has been the privilege of Life Christian University to recognize their published works, along with their lifetime ministry achievements in consideration for earned degrees from LCU.”
In other words, NOTHING. No need to get an associate, bachelor and then a master degree first (the normal path to an earned doctorate) – all that study and evidence of real academic achievement is waived.
(You honestly think Rodney Howard Brown is capable of writing an extensive and comprehensive doctoral dissertation? Not with all that Holy Laughter doing on.)
This then allows them to further fleece those of the flock foolishly impressed by “Dr.” in front of a name. What about the admonition to “provide things honest in the site of all men.”