Comments on: My Crummiest Classes

By: Shaun Tabatt

Shaun Tabatt — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:42:04 +0000

I once had a theology class that met one day a week for 4 hours. As it turns out the teacher lectured for less than 1 hour per night. The other 3 hours were filled with short student-led presentations and discussions. While I’m all for student-led discussion and participation, I wasn’t paying over $1000 to hear what the other students thought about theology. If I want that, I can invite some of my friends to a coffee shop and spend 5 bucks. Needless to say, it was one of the most disappointing classes I’ve ever had.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:22:19 +0000

Wow. Must have hit a nerve. Thanks for the reports from your experience. Notice how D.Beirne (and my) reports from a distance from seminary sound… grittier? more cynical? My hope is that we can give some perspective without stealing the wonder of the experience.

By: D.Beirne

D.Beirne — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:58:34 +0000

To answer teh question: Crummiest class

A class on leadership. “Leadership in Ministry” I think. We read a book, the prof talked about his ability to find cheap suits at good prices. And he said our churches need better leaders. He brought in a “guest lecturer”, a pastor who discussed his leadership style. After the guest left, in the final 10 minutes of class, prof said, “You know something about his style? It doesn’t work.” Gee, thanks, prof. How much tuition did I pay for this?

And I mentioned a counseling class in my post above. Just give me my book and my 3 hours and don’t put me through this charade on Tues and Thurs for a whole semester.

By: D.Beirne

D.Beirne — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:37:52 +0000

I finished my m.div. in 1988 so it would be hard to remember percentages, but 80/20 is about right. My better classes, the more transformative ones, were taught by the same guys. Biblical Theology taught Bible study methodology, and yeah baby that was transformative. Homiletics was inspiring because of the prof. OT classes–loved ‘em, taught by a geeky Hebrew scholar who was stereotypical nerd. But I liked the OT intro classes and assignments spawned a love for OT that still exists. My NT intro prof turned the gospels into dull dull dull….

I took a counseling class with a prof who was left at the end of semester due to clinical depression. We each read a book and did an oral report. Since then, most of my counseling training has been reading.

The big influencers were the prof himself–was he contributing to me? a new skill set, something to inspire me, point me to great books? Second would be the texts and books. To that I add, were the notes worth keeping? Systematic theology, still refer to those notebooks.

Why is it that Religious Ed classes have to be so dull, yet that factor is so important in ministry?

Seminary taught me NOTHING about people skills nor leadership; reality check is that people skills and leadership are as if not more useful than preaching skills. And of course, as Napoleon Dynamite might add, chicks dig guys with skills.

By: Joshua Stewart

Joshua Stewart — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:16:51 +0000

“Inter-personal Relationship Skills”
This class was extremely boring, bad books, busywork, and topics that could have been covered in a two hour seminar. I am sure that I can figure out how to be nice to people. I get frustrated having classes that are fillers in order to ensure a certain number of hours.
O well I guess it is just a negative part of the seminary experience.
Thanks for your post.