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 1, 2016
Some things just make life much easier. Air conditioning. Dish washers. Indoor plumbing. We often forget how difficult life can be without them. I’m here to give you some helpful tips on making your seminary work much easier. Now, seminary can have many difficulties and requires hours of reading, writing, studying, and researching. There is Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on June 30, 2016
The Daily Office: Seminarian’s Best Friend For my seminary Internship, each semester we have a different spiritual practice to engage in for the semester. The goal is to expose different people to different ways of engaging God in a deep way so that as they step out in ministry, they have these “tools” in their Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on March 15, 2016
I am notoriously disorganized and undisciplined. I tend to move from thing to thing only as I am inspired to do so. I am not good at putting limits and structure on myself. And yet, Graduate School is something that demands this. It’s a little easier when you are in In-Resident student with a certain rhythm and Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on March 10, 2016
Anyone that’s gone to school over the last two decades knows that more and more of schooling involves the web and technology. At first, this was limited to the fact that we had to type our papers instead of hand-writing them. Then, we started researching things on computers through CD-ROMS and such. Then the web Read More...
By Guest Contributor on March 1, 2016
Organization is an important skill for seminary students. In order to be organized, you will need every tool possible to help you manage your life well. Here is a list of my 13 favorite organization apps for seminary students: Evernote: Let’s be honest – this app just might be the most recommended app for anyone, including Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on February 12, 2016
As part of my two-year Internship process for my seminary, each semester there is a particular Christian Spirituality practice we are to do regularly. We have done the Ignatian Examen and the Daily Office. This semester, we are doing an ancient process of sacred reading called Lectio Divina. Here’s a really great video summarizing it: I Read More...
By Guest Contributor on January 25, 2016
My mom, an avid reader who often is in the middle of four books at the same time, once passed on some counsel to me: Don’t read good books, only great ones. The advice is both challenging and inherently futile; for how can you know if a book is great—or only good—without reading it? Adding Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on January 18, 2016
I’ve written before of my love of the note-taking app Evernote. Today, I want to show some of the slightly deeper highlights to using this app in a seminary or ministry context. Note-Taking (Together?) This may seem obvious, but the best thing to use this app for is taking notes. It’s a great digital version of Read More...
By Paul Burkhart on January 15, 2016
I’m terrible at organizing. Well, that’s not quite right. I can come up with brilliant systems of organization, but just never implement them. This has followed me throughout my life. It was easier when school consisted of clearly laid-out assignments. Going to college, however, it became difficult. Now I was responsible for keeping track of Read More...