The annual GOEs are underway across the country. According to the website of the General Board of Examining Chaplains, it was established by canon of the 1970 General Convention, issued its first set of General Ordination Examinations in 1972, and has administered them annually since that date. From the website:
- The canons (III. 8) require that before ordination a Candidate must be examined and show proficiency in (1) The Holy Scriptures; (2) Church History, including the Ecumenical Movement; (3) Christian Theology and Missiology; (4) Christian Ethics and Moral Theology including the Theory and Practice of Ministry; (5) Studies in Contemporary Society, including Racial and Minority Groups; and (6) Liturgics and Church Music. These are known as the seven canonical areas.
A more recent tradition is Dean of Bexley Hall Seminary Tom Ferguson’s parsing of the questions posed in his Crusty Old Dean blog. He is careful to remind commenters who might be taking these very examinations not to discuss their answers online, so as not to identify themselves to readers who evaluate the papers, a caution worth repeating here.
COD’s discussion of yesterday’s questions can be found here.
Posted by Rosalind Hughes