re: How do Preachers become Drs.?

Lots of bullshite "doctorates" out there nowadays.

No. If you have a PhD or a doctorate you can be called a Doctor. A PhD is a step above a doctorate in the scholastic world. Note, when you go to a college graduation the medical docs are not the last to graduate, the PhDs are.

Churches didn't get sick until Preachers started calling themselves Doctors.

Friend,

Most preachers who have their doctorates only have a Doctor of Ministry degree. It is a joke of a degree and is not a terminal degree. Advanced languages are not required nor is their any academic rigor or academic standard to earn the degree. Often the thesis is on something trivial like “Approach to social justice while teaching the Old Testament in Sunday school.” But they couch such a silly topic with jargon, so the actual topic would be “Social justice pedagogy through the lens of the pastoral hermeneutic.”

A PhD in theology, philosophy, or church history from a reputable university like Notre Dame, Duke, or Emory, Chicago, or Yale is respectable and you can be assured that such a pastor is both intelligent and labored long and hard to earn that degree. A D.Min. is nothing more than a drywall degree for the purpose of a pastor’s ego. I would never call a DMin doctor, even though they often call themselves that.

Yours,
TulaneLSU

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Honorary Degree’s. I personally wouldn’t call myself doctor if I had that type of degree, but a lot of people do.

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I personally wouldn't question any degree if I didn't know how to use an apostrophe.

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Doctorate in Theology usually.

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Oftentimes honorary

One of my best friends is a neurosurgeon and also a pastor. Two completely separate paths, unless, you're talking Dr. of Theology or Religion.

You referring to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr by chance? His PhD is from Boston University and in Systematic Theology.

Many come from reputable Seminary’s. My Masters of Divinity took a good bit of work and was twice the hours of a lot of Masters Degrees. I had to take several Greek and Hebrew classes. Preachers that have actual PhD’s are usually pretty brilliant in Greek and Hebrew. I’ve got a lot of friends that have DMins from reputable seminaries. While they certainly are less rigorous as PhDs they still take a good bit of work. Usually those guys that I know don’t want people to call them Doctors they JSU want to be better equipped. The people acting like every preacher with a degree received it on the Internet don’t really know what they are talking about.