By Guest Contributor on September 8, 2016
Most of what we learn in life is determined by the questions we bring to it. As a young seminarian, fresh out of college, I don’t have significant pastoral experience. In my classrooms are older men and women, several of them in their sixties, who know quite a bit more than me about the work Read More...
By Guest Contributor on September 5, 2016
When I first arrived at seminary, they sat us all down and gave us lecture after lecture about all the rules and guidelines for graduating with our degrees. They told us the required courses, the available concentrations, and gave us tips on scheduling. What you don’t often hear, though, are just how few of the Read More...
By Guest Contributor on September 1, 2016
You have so many books to read, who can afford to read any more? That’s an excellent question, and a justification I used for burying my head in theology text after theology text. But I’ve starting asking a different question: “I have so many theology texts to read, can I afford to focus so single-mindedly Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 29, 2016
I do not enjoy details. I do not enjoy rigidly structured environments. I do not enjoy tedium. And as a child, I loved the open window more than I loved the chalkboard. So why then, do I enjoy taking biblical Greek? Going into my first Greek class last semester I assumed that it would be Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 26, 2016
Imagine a very little boy sitting on his father’s lap, watching a basketball game. The father talks with the boy about the game as they watch, telling him all sorts of things about the players and the rules and things like that. Most of these things make very little sense to the very little boy, Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 22, 2016
Is it worth it? The time? The money? The sacrifices? Those were just a few of the questions running through my head and heart as I stood over the washing machine a number of years ago moving a load into the dryer. It was not a good season in many ways. I was serving full-time Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 19, 2016
Learning the biblical languages can be very discouraging and frustrating. Studies and experience have shown that this is the most difficult aspect of theological training for students over the centuries. Many theologians have come to believe that a proper understanding and mastery of the biblical languages is what makes one “thick” theologically. Just like learning Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 18, 2016
In the beginning of seminary, I felt like more of a distraction than a priority. If I needed to talk to my sem hub (seminary husband) about something, I tried to wait until his mind was not occupied with his work, but found those moments few and far between. Once he read the book, “Good Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 15, 2016
There is a common misconception among Christians about Seminaries and seminarians in general. The misconception is that going to the Seminary gives one an automatic guarantee to be spiritual. In other words, people feel that by just being in the Seminary, one’s spiritual life gets an automatic ticket to blossom. While there is a particular Read More...
By Guest Contributor on August 12, 2016
During seminary, you’ll develop a unique set of skills. You’ll be able to parse every Greek verb in the New Testament, list the minor prophets in canonical and chronological order, create Turabian or APA style footnotes in a flash, and meet deadlines you thought weren’t humanly possible. But if you’re like me, you may be Read More...