This week I have been busily preparing to return to seminary. I am filled with excitement and dread. I am filled with excitement because I love school. I am filled with dread because this means 360 miles of extra driving per week, two and a half days a week away from my family and my church, and though I will greatly enjoy the work, the additional study time will be taxing my schedule.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have had to decide on what sort of Ph.D to pursue. It came down to either Systematic Theology or Church History. I have chosen Church History. Here is my reasoning.
1. History is filled with wonderful teachers, pastors, and Christians. By studying them, I will be a better teacher, pastor, and Christian myself.
2. Ecclesiastes teaches that there is nothing new under the sun. Most thoughts and questions have come up before, so I believe by understanding the past, I will be better equipped to handle the present and future.
3. I enjoy reading dead guys. Their theology doesn't change, they don't complain when critiqued, and they do not become puffed up with accolade. Also, there is no temptation to suck up to them to gain prominence. Dead guys are safe studies.
So that's part of my reasoning for choosingchurch history. I should probably also mention that reading a church history book does not give me the same sort of headache that reading a systematic theology book does.
Please pray for me as I work this new schedule out. I'm going to get extremely busy soon, and also extremely poor. Pray for me to be a good steward of my time and my money. Thanks.
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12 years ago
4 comments:
I most certainly will (continue to) pray for you...
God bless you, and blogging your way through it, though even more work to add, will help others, ahem, me, in understanding the trials and such of my possible further studies...
Just came across your blog recently. God bless as you begin PhD studies. What seminary are you attending?
You will keep us updated on how seminary is going, won't you? Glad to know that they liked your GRE scores and let you in. I will certainly be praying for you and your family.
So, reading church history gives you a different sort of headache?? ;-)
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