MDiv and theology doctorates are certainly advanced degrees in that they require a BA as a prerequisite to be admitted, in that they require a level of academic writing well beyond BA level, and in that they cover much more than "faith."

The MDiv alone has about twice the amount of material to cover and intensity of study of a Master's in teaching or nursing; that's one reason the MDiv is almost never done part-time while working and is almost always a residential program. The exams are more like the bar exam than master's theses-- heck, they write the equivalent of a master's thesis several times a year, in seminary!

These degrees also provide systematic tools for examining personal belief, as well as scholarly historical reviews of beliefs and systems (detailed church history for example) in their programs. In fact, most seminarians experience their formation as a time when their faith had never been so shaken, because a tremedous amount of form and source criticism challenge the simplistic view of faith most believers and attackers-of-belief share in common.

Most people don't have the slightst idea about any that. They just know that somebody who understands THEIR particular struggle seems to be able to respond with a depth of knowledge and compassion they find helpful. The don't ask how such a person GETS that way. They either make casual use of it, or just-as-casually bash it.

Belief = stupidity? Hey. How stupid is this: There are a good number of people around here who don't even know about any of that as basic information about someone who has hosted them in his home, and who has laughed politley all evening at the preacher jokes he's already heard ad nauseum that these otherwise well-mannered folks just cannot seem to resist telling us. After a round of those, sharing his personal education and formation experience sorta hasn't been the first thing that came to mind to talk about.

~Token Clergy Spouse