A Tough Eight Weeks

christian theology1

christian theology1I feel such a relief after finishing up another eight-week seminary class. I’ve been putting off taking Systematic Theology as long as I could, but I finally jumped in and finished it. I have to say, that it’s been the roughest 8-weeks of the last few years for me. The amount of reading and coursework were overwhelming, and it was a class that I simply didn’t enjoy. I’ve learned a lot in seminary, but this class really highlights some of the problems with the seminary experience for me.

As a practical, logical, left-brained thinker and former engineer, this class seemed to lack purpose and application. I’m sure it appeals to those who like philosophy, but for me it seems like a futile attempt to describe God in human terms. I am a little strange because I have always loved school and I even love the process of learning. I take 2 Timothy 2:15 seriously, and I think all pastors should be students of the Word. But this class was detached from real-life ministry. The goal of seminary is not to produce academic thinkers, but world changers who know how to understand, interpret, and share God’s Word.

Now, I can get back to blogging and serving God with energy and passion. I am blessed and thankful.

#EndOfRant  #BacktoRealLife  #3ClassesToGo

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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1 Response

  1. Trae says:

    I’m glad to hear this from you. I don’t know how many times that whole Systematic Theology portion has made me cringe with seminary students. I used to go to this one church in the area and we were looking for a Small/Life/Community group. We went to 4-5 and in each of them I felt like I was getting spit back Systematic Theology instead of actual critical thoughts. In fact at one of these, when questions were raised the leader went to the ST textbook instead of the Bible to answer things. Since then I’ve always been turned off by seminary students. Have always felt that we’re educating a world of drones and not people with genuine relationships with God able to come up with personal examples and experiences that effect those around them. But it’s posts like this and a few other friends help restore my faith in people that attend seminary.

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