Maybe consider becoming a chaplain. To me that seems like a practical job with opportunities pretty much everywhere and pays enough to buy food, etc. Depending on your current master's degree, you might just have to take chaplaincy courses. I looked into it a bit when I was actively working on the NationsU courses. I'm Catholic and it seemed like I might be able to use a NationsU master's to become a Catholic chaplain since at least one of the Catholic chaplaincy organizations takes nationally-accredited theology degrees for certification. I would think that there would be some denominations that would be more or less stringent.
I could envision several advantages of becoming a chaplain. A person could take a chaplain job at a college or a college hospital and maybe get subsidized tuition through the college to pay for more study. Also, the chaplain job could get a a person in the door at the academic institution and then when everybody loves you and sees you working on the doctorate, maybe you get hired as a professor. At the very least, you have practical experience that is at least somewhat relevant to Biblical study. And, at the very least, you have a practical pathway if the pure theology career doesn't work out.
I would also think that there will probably always be a market for chaplaincy degrees and maybe you could become a professor in a chaplaincy program. Who knows?
I could envision several advantages of becoming a chaplain. A person could take a chaplain job at a college or a college hospital and maybe get subsidized tuition through the college to pay for more study. Also, the chaplain job could get a a person in the door at the academic institution and then when everybody loves you and sees you working on the doctorate, maybe you get hired as a professor. At the very least, you have practical experience that is at least somewhat relevant to Biblical study. And, at the very least, you have a practical pathway if the pure theology career doesn't work out.
I would also think that there will probably always be a market for chaplaincy degrees and maybe you could become a professor in a chaplaincy program. Who knows?
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