Seminary Week 1

I meant to do this last week, but I didn’t have a chance to get to it. Last week I promised a recap, so here it is:

Last Thursday I started classes in pursuit of a Master of Divinity degree at Memphis Theological Seminary. I went into the day nervous, to say the least. Why was I nervous? Here are a few reasons:

· I graduated from Auburn University in December 1996. I have not been in an academic setting since. 14 years removed from my undergraduate degree I decided to take on graduate school. Not just graduate school, but seminary. Which leads to the next reason…

· A Master of Divinity degree takes 87 credit hours to achieve. That’s a lot of school. There is also a ton, ton, ton of reading and writing. I knew that going in.

· The cost is another issue that scared me to death. 87 hours equals a lot of money.

· Then there is the general nervousness associated with a drastic life change. Fun stuff.

I went in nervous; I came out giddy. Really. Seriously. After my first day I could not hide my excitement. It starts with my classes. Those classes are:

· Intro to Pastoral Care – Probably not my favorite, but still a fun class. Plus most of the writing is reflection type stuff. Not much citing/research.

· Intro to Interpreting the New Testament – I’m pretty excited about this class as well. The only drawback to this one is the class size. There are about 50 people in the room. Most of them are Type A personalities. It’s going to be hard to get a word in during discussions.

· Formation for Ministry – This is a ‘sit in a circle and share your feelings’ class. I think people either love it or hate it. I don’t expect to hate it.

· Faith and Hope During the Interbiblical Period – I’m probably most excited about this class. It deals with the period of time between the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and how the events of that period impact the culture of New Testament Judaism. Fun.

As I sat through my first day of classes some of my initial fears proved true. The workload is going to be immense. Lots of reading. Lots of writing. Every week. The cost…well there was never any doubt that the cost would be high. And talk about life-change. I’m going to be spending at least one night a week away from home. I’ll drive to Memphis once a week. When I’m home, I’ll be reading and writing and reading and writing. I became acutely aware of each of these as the day wore on.

But as I became more aware of the issues, they bothered me less and less. Yes there will be lots of work, but I love this stuff. Reading through the syllabi for my classes actually made me smile. Even as I read about 10-page research papers and oral presentations and 6-page exegetical analyses and critical book reviews it made me smile more and more. The subject matter is fascinating. My professors are intelligent and engaging. This is going to be fun!

Let me point out, though, that this is based on the first day. As of now, I am excited. In five weeks when I am armpits-deep in papers and readings I may feel differently. I don’t think that will be the case, but I’ll let you know or sure then.

I plan to give weekly updates on my experience. I’m not sure at this point what form those will take. I hope to post those updates each Friday. We’ll see how that goes.

As for now, I am happy. I am anxious (meaning eager, as opposed to last week’s nervous brand of anxiousness) to get back into class. I just hope my books get here before I leave Wednesday night…