Category: Featured
A Little Seminary Is A Dangerous Thing
Beginning seminary students are often flush with excitement of the prospect of learning the deep things of God. With a legitimate hunger for God’s word, we tackle our language and theology study with great rigor, and begin having conversations with our fellow students, challenging each other’s understanding of the scriptures. A little knowledge, however, is [...]
Train for Godliness at Seminary
1 Timothy 4:7-8 – Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Why are you at seminary? If you are [...]
Master Your Seminary’s Required Reading in Half the Time (or Less)
Seminary requires a massive amount of reading. Often the workload for even a single course can go over a thousand pages. Multiply that by four or five, and it becomes daunting, especially if you’re not a natural reader. The numbers of people who struggle with reading seems to be growing, and I’m sure that’s the [...]
Live Off Campus
Seminary housing is often more affordable than comparable accommodations in surrounding communities, and it is definitely more convenient. However, there is a snare associated with it. Seminary is not the real world. It is a bubble, insulated both physically and ideologically from the lost culture in which it stands. In one sense, this is good. [...]
Avoid the “Seminary Church”
Particularly around larger seminaries, you’ll find what I call the “seminary church.” It’s almost always a large church. Often it’s close to the campus. Many professors and students attend it. The culture and theology of the seminary often bleeds over into the church. For seminary students, it’s a comfy place to be. There were a [...]
Learn to Confess Your Sins
Confession is a much neglected discipline in Protestant life, despite the clear biblical command to “confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed.” (James 5:16) Speaking your depravity out loud to a listening brother or sister in Christ is one of the most powerful means of sanctification [...]
Category: Featured, Spiritual life
Is “Calling” a Biblical Idea?
A few days ago, I got a great question in the comments on a post I’d written on calling to ministry. It’s a topic on which I have well-formed opinions. Here’s the question: Where does this concept of a “call” come from in Scripture? I mean, some of the great men of the faith were [...]
Seminary Time Waster #6: Saying “Yes” to Every Request
Seminary students who can’t say no give permission to others to waste their time. We’re nice people. We like to say yes. Jesus knew this. He advised us, “Ask and it shall be given to you.” (This verse is not primarily about prayer; it is about human interaction.) He knew that people’s default response to [...]
Category: Featured, Time Management
Writing Learning Objectives for Your Seminary Experience
I worked four years in a church staff position during and after college before deciding I needed to further my education by going to seminary. Those years were invaluable to my development, because I experienced ministry and discovered what I didn’t know and needed to learn before starting my studies. I wish all incoming students [...]
Using Mentors in Seminary
Having a learning coach or ministry mentor is a great way to leverage your seminary experience. Our research on theological education as well as surveys with people in the field led us to make mentoring a significant part of our learning model. Many seminaries will involve mentoring during the last two semesters of their study [...]
Category: Academics, Featured, Spiritual life
