2008-12-06 - !
Well. It's been a long, long, long month at seminary, but it's nearly over now. I've been pretty much living, breathing, and eating school since I got back from Victoria at the end of October. There were five papers, ranging from six to twenty pages, three exams (one of which was an oral exam, held in a pub, so don't feel too sorry for me) and numerous weekly assignments. It's all mostly over now, except for the Greek/Passage Identification test for Synoptics. It's fairly straightforward- all I have to is transliterate from the greek alphabet to the latin alphabet (I don't have to know what the words mean) and do an exercise where I'm given a passage from one of the synoptic gospels, and I have to say which one its from, and why. Simple, no?
FIve papers in six classes, four of them due within the last week of classes made for a lot of thinking, reading, and writing. The first paper was for Christian Roots, and we had to read a sermon (I did Martin Luther's Christmas Day Afternoon sermon of 1530) and talk about how the events of the world that the preacher was living in affected the sermon. So, in 1530, the Turks were threatening Europe, the Holy Roman Emperor had just outlawed the Protestants (again) and the Protestants just decided to call themselves "Protestant". I liked doing that paper, because I like history, and I find the social context easier to describe than getting into the theology of the sermon.
There was a short paper for Spiritual Formation, the class on how to pray, where all we had to do was basically sum up the class - what styles of prayer worked for us over the term, what didn't, that sort of thing. No research, but you did have to get pretty personal.
We had to write a twelve page paper on "what is ministry" for Pastoral Theology. It's not as easy as it sounds. This is a precursor to the major position paper that I will have to write at the end of my time here at VST. It was supposed to include issues of Mission, Ministry, and Church. I found this one hard to write. I think I know what I mean by ministry, but it's difficult to lay it out on paper. I ended up talking a lot about the Other, and how we as Christians, and particularly me as an Anglican, see the Other. I'm not convinced that I hit the mark on that one, so I guess I have some thinking to do between now and the end of my time!
Liturgical Studies brought me a paper comparing the Anglican and Lutheran eucharists. This was the second part of a paper in which I described the Anglican eucharist, and some of the historical and theological emphases that led to our practices. For the comparison, I focussed on the use of the common cup at communion (did you know that it's a requirement for Anglicans, but Lutherans can use individual cups? Lutherans also have the option of grape juice, which Anglicans don't), the practice of confession, and the styles of eucharistic prayers (the shortest Lutheran eucharistic prayer is solely the words of institution!). I was done that paper good and early. With four papers due in the same week I had two exams, I've been pretty focussed on getting things done early.
The last paper was the biggie. This was a twenty page behemoth, for Synoptics, where I had to choose either a piece of legend, a parable, a wonder (miracle) story or a foundation story, from one of the three synoptic gospels. Then I had to describe some of the history of the time, do an exegesis (drawing out meaning from what the text is saying) and then apply it to our life and times. I only had two days to write it- last Friday and Saturday. I had the whole day both days, but if I didn't get it done by Saturday night, it would throw off my schedule. Sunday was set for finished Spiritual Formation, Monday after class was finished Pastoral Theology, then Tuesday was doing a last journal article, and Wednesday was studying for the History exam (which was the oral in the pub). Wednesday night and Thursday was studying for Hebrew Bible, and Friday was learning Greek. So. I had to finish by Saturday night. It was a long, horrible two days, pretty much locked in my room, but I did it. I emailed it off, and crossed my fingers.
It came back Tuesday night, which was a pleasant surprise. At VST you don't ever really 'fail' they just give you an 'approved' or 'not approved'. If its not approved, you have to redo the sections that weren't up to par. It's a good system- one that's more dedicated to learning than grades. Anyway, I got an 'approved' on the Synoptics paper, which was awesome.
Of the three exams, I've done two. One was the history oral in the pub, which was pretty simple. Just talking with the prof, discussing the concepts that we had learned in the class. It was a group thing, so I was with two other students.
The second exam was Hebrew Bible. This was a bit more complex: two medium answer questions, one essay, and a map. As I mentioned, I only had a night and a morning to study, but it went well. The questions were fair and straightforward, and I didn't think I had too much trouble with it.
And now, (with the exception of Synoptics) I've finished my first semester. It is sure a different feeling than when I started in September. I like this much more. I hate, as I think said in September, the not knowing. Now I feel that I have a grasp on what they are expecting, I know that I can do the work. I don't mind working hard, but I do get worried when I don't know what they are expecting. So from now on it's just lots of hard work. I can do that!
Classes don't start again in January until the 19th! They have a two week interterm, with some classes, but I'm not taking any of those, so I don't have to be here. I don't think I've ever had a break this long, or spent this much time at home. My parents are going to get pretty sick of me! I can't wait.
