I received an email from Eckhart Theological Seminary offering me a discount on seminary degrees. I was curious to know what kind of school it was, so I started doing some research.

"Dr." Daniel Payne is listed as the registrar in one web site and on another web directory he lists himself as president. He lists a bachelors degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Masters degree from a South Africa distance school (not UNISA). Then he lists himself as having a Ph.D. in pastoral counseling from Eckhart Theological Seminary!! How can you have a research degree in pastoral counseling just by writing a thesis? Plus it looks like he started the school and then gave himself a Ph.D.

His school also offers degrees in hypnotherapy, which seems an odd combination at a theological seminary -- but maybe that's just me. He also runs an online counseling service called Maranatha out of Seoul. That's where he lists himself as having a Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling.

The school is variously described as affiliated with the International Quaker Fellowship and the Seoul Fellowship Church. He hasn't replied to my inquiry about what the former group is, but he did tell me that the school is no longer affiliated with the latter. On another web site the church was listed as the Seoul Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. When I checked an English version yellow pages in Seoul, there was no church listed by a name similar to those.

The school claims to be accredited by the International Association for Theological Accreditation. There is a web site -- it's a Yahoo geocities web site!! http://www.geocities.com/ministrydegrees/IATA.html. They list five other schools that are accredited by them. I looked at one of them Southern Bible College & Seminary. Their web site doesn't list this organization as an accrediting agency, but it lists several other suspicious agencies, all of which have PO Boxes for their mailing addresses!

While looking at ESR's listing at distance.gradschools.com, I noticed Eckhart listed on the same page as ESR Access. So I sent them an email reporting Eckhart. Gradschools.com replied shortly saying they had removed Eckhart. That's one down. Too many to go.