Christopher Hylton claims to have a “Doctorate of Theology [from] Piedmont Bible College of Theology,” but Piedmont does not confer theology doctorates (Th.D.). Piedmont also does not confer divinity doctorates (D.Div.). Piedmont narrowly offers a “Doctor of Ministry” in “biblical preaching, church revitalization, and ministry.” It is a non-academic, thirty-six credit online program “designed for those who aspire to excel at the highest level in the practice of ministry.” No dissertation is required for Piedmont’s D.Min. Whether a “Piedmont Bible College of Theology” ever existed is doubtful. There was once a Piedmont Bible College that merged with other schools. It now exists as Piedmont Divinity School within Carolina University (a college with a flimsy accreditation claim and a troubling percentage of adjunct faculty). All this reminds me of another blogger’s post on televangelists buying fake doctorates. This shit bothers me.
I earned my doctorate from an accredited R-1 institution that requires a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, sixty graduate course credits, an additional minimum thirty research credits, a minimum year of in-person attendance, and a committee-approved dissertation.
The “doctor” honorific (as in Dr. Smith) harkens to Latin roots. As an adjective, doctus means ‘learned.’ As a noun, doctor means ‘professor.’ The most common doctorate is the academic Ph.D. which abbreviates the Latin Philosophiæ Doctor. In this context, “philosophy” signifies the pursuit of knowledge and the meaningful understanding of things. A person might earn a Ph.D. in many fields like chemistry, biology, physics, anthropology, mathematics, history, literature, kinesiology, business, economics, computer science, philosophy, engineering, art history, psychology, etc. A Ph.D. represents academic expertise acquired through pursuits of knowledge which we call research. Some doctorates are for professional practitioners like Psy.D. (clinical psychology rather than academic psychology) and Ed.D. (education professional rather than education researcher). Those who earn these doctorates are expertly knowledgeable in their fields and are occupationally licensed by regulatory agencies to work in specific real-world settings. The same is true of lawyers (J.D.), physicians (M.D./D.O.), dentists (D.M.D./D.D.S.), veterinarians (D.V.M.), and pharmacists (Pharm.D.). Then there are optometrists (O.D.), audiologists (Aud.D.), and chiropractors (D.C.) who really shouldn’t be doctor at all (and not too many decades ago they were not). The doctor honorific evolved to be synonymous with physician and so everyone doing anything with the human body wanted to be doctor. Is chiropractor on the same level with medical oncologist (M.D.) or oncology pharmacist (Pharm.D.) or cancer biologist (Ph.D.)? Veterinarians know more about mammalian vertebrates than any chiropractor or optometrist! Worse, in the 2010s naturopathic doctors (N.D.) emerged. That isn’t a doctor of any kind. It sounds convincing, but it’s just witchdoctoring.
In Great Britain nearly every medical practitioner is addressed by the default Mr./Ms. honorific. The same is true of many professors. It’s kind of assumed that the hospital personnel in white lab coats and the university lecturer teaching a class all have their credentials.
As the other blogger’s post on Televangelists with fake educations points out, D.Min. is only just barely a doctorate. It is a professional practitioner’s degree, but requires no professional licensure. So D.Min. means that its holder is a professional minister, but not an authority on the nature of God (theology, Th.D.) nor on the nature of religion (divinity, D.Div.). Clergy typically pursue the far easier D.Min. for a pay bump or congregational appeasement.
Shortly after 9/11, televangelists realized that calling themselves “Dr. Smith” garnered significantly greater financial contributions. They began buying fake doctorates from fake colleges. There is even an extraordinary list of preachers with fake degrees.
This shit generally bothers me because it dilutes the solemnity of the doctorate. What specifically bothers me is Hylton’s self-serving, self-aggrandizing dishonesty in stating an even faker subject matter expertise. Hylton’s LinkedIn claims a Ph.D. in “Theology/Theological Studies.” Hylton spins outright lies and demonstrates his complete ignorance of doctorates. The letters have specific significance. The discipline has meaning. The letters and the discipline go hand-in-glove. Hylton evidently knows that his letters and words confer no expertise. Why else upgrade them? It is like saying that a person studied at Harvard or Cambridge after attending a weekend campus seminar. The mere fact that a department teaches a course or two on theology does not give him a theology credential. His diploma damn sure does not say “doctor of theology” nor “doctor of philosophy” so he knows he “bear[s] false witness” contrary to Exodus 20:16. How does Hylton reconcile his substantial embellishments with his supposed studies of “biblical preaching, church revitalization, and ministry”? The person who does not live truth cannot teach truth. The person who teaches truth needs no credential to validate that the teaching is true. What then is gained by imposter credentials?