kata Drew

Thursdays in the chapel services here at Southeastern we pray for North American missions, and today the gentleman who was asked to lead in prayer started by saying, “Sweet Jesus…”

I wouldn’t recommend starting this way given the cultural connotations.

A family friend was asking my mom what her about-to-graduate-from-high-school boyfriend should study in college to prepare for seminary. Through a series of text messages, this is the advice I had my mom relay to the couple:

We need Christians/seminarians/ministers/pastors/missionaries of all backgrounds. If you’re interested in chemistry, by all means go hard after it. If you’re interested in psychology, get it. If you really click with languages, study linguistics. If you’re thinking of being super-practical, become a nurse or maybe an accountant. But what we don’t need is homogeneous Bible degree seminarians.

Will a Bible degree put you ahead in seminary? Sure. Will not having a Bible degree automatically put you behind? No. If you love philosophy and theology, you’ll study philosophy and theology, or philosophy with a special view to theology. College is equipping you to learn on your own. So what better way to put that into practice than by studying theology, the Bible, biblical languages, etc in addition to your studies on your own. We need theocentric and biblical microbiologists and P.E. teachers and businessmen.

At the same time, however, be focused: don’t study architecture just to get a degree so you can go to seminary. Study architecture because you’re interested in the Sagrada Familia and you love Jesus and want to help people build efficient and appropriate church buildings.

Even with that said, I would study classics, history, linguistics, English, philosophy, and/or nursing. Yep, nursing.

Lastly, keep an Amazon wishlist and every book you hear recommended, add it. Tell people that for your birthday, Christmas, Easter, Kwanzaa and Flag Day, you want something off that list. Go ahead and get all you can: you may not have time to read them now, but they may serve as references or your curiosity. You might just eventually have time to read them, but for the time being, your book shelf will look impressive.

You can’t read enough. But remember:

This is going to be one of those entries where I wish I knew more about what I wanted to talk about than I actually do. So, don’t let me give you the impression by posting this that I know more about classical music or Mendelssohn or Elijah. But this I kataphorically do know: praise for SEBTS’ production of Mendelssohn’s Eljiah tonight. The timpani rumbled the pews. The sopranos found all the notes. The little boys in front of me rattled their coloring pencils. Another little kid chanted almost on beat, “Come on, concert. Go faster.” At two hours the frosty chapel did become slightly less homey than my couch, but the demulcent instruments and voices lent their softness to the pew on which I sat. Overall, a delightful experience hearing the narratives of Elijah’s life, ministry and ascension put to such moving music by a full choir and orchestra.

Of course, what would a concert be without a bootleg? I bet Mendelssohn’s never seen a bootleg before. Anyways, praise for Dr. John L. Davis and tonight’s uplifting performance of this masterpiece. I bet you’ve never heard Binkley Chapel like this before:

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The latest post on the new Sovereign Grace blog recaps the sermon delivered by C. J. Mahaney at SEBTS’ 2008 20/20 Conference Missio Dei just a week ago. Find there an overview of the conference, an outline of Mahaney’s message “The Cup”, and Dr. Akin’s conclusion:

I was listening very carefully when C.J. preached. Sometimes at a conference like this people are very enthusiastic and demonstrative in their response to the preaching. But tonight as C.J. preached, there was a holy silence in this room. There was not much stirring because we were standing on holy ground. I’ll never, ever look at the Garden of Gethsemane the same again.

Download the entire message at the SEBTS chapel schedule page.

It is my honest hope and intent that the following post will by no means bring disrespect to the persons and families of the about-to-be-mentioned. The passing away of a loved one is indeed a sensitive time, but nonetheless a part of life, and with this in mind I would like to proceed with an observation:

Within the past two weeks, and within a week of one another, two religious figures have passed away: Dr. L. Russ Bush of Southeastern Seminary, 22 January, and Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), 27 January. After attending a Friday night lecture on the Mormon view of the soul, death, and the afterlife at the local LDS stake in Wake Forest, I was interested to read how the death of their president would be presented to the public. This would be a prime opportunity to demonstrate through the death of President Hinckley their views on death and the afterlife. I expected headlines on the official LDS web site to contain some sort of religious euphemism that would hint at their beliefs, such as: “President Hinckley Has Gone to Be with the Lord” or “Hinckley Now Becomes as God Now Is.” Nothing to this effect was published, but “Beloved Church President, Gordon B. Hinckley, Dies at 97.”

Call this a missed opportunity or professional journalism avoiding religious jargon, but I, honestly, was surprised. I clicked the headline to read the whole article, thinking that surely inside would be the religious language the title had forgone. “President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97…President Hinckley was known, even at the age of 97, as a tireless leader who always put in a full day at the office and traveled extensively around the world to mix with Church members, now numbering 13 million in 171 nations.” No mention of what I was looking for; but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

I wouldn’t be writing this, however, if Dr. L. Russ Bush hadn’t passed so closely to Hinckley. The title of the article written bringing the news of his passing is very different than that of Hinckley: “The Homegoing of Dr. L. Russ Bush.” “Homegoing ” says it all. Dr. Bush has not become a homemaker as Hinckley, but has gone home to be with the risen Savior. President Akin remembers Bush as “a champion and faithful warrior for the cause of Christ.” Dean of the Faculty at Southeastern, David Nelson, sums up what is contained in the article’s heading when he says, “We are truly grieved at [Bush's] passing, because he was a kind, gracious friend and leader, but of course, because of his faith in Christ, ours is a hopeful grief as we know he is in the presence of the Lord he loved.” Dr. Bush preached the Gospel in life but also in death: when he passed it was said of him that he is in the presence of the Lord he loved. Journalist opportunity seized: the result of a life lived in devotion to Christ is shown to the public.

Maybe I’m making more out of this observation than it merits, but nonetheless, it is an observation. Has Mormon journalism merely foregone religious jargon or absconded with their beliefs? Baptist journalists and spokesmen gladly publicized the Christian view on death and the afterlife, giving the reader a peek into Christian theology, a theology that doesn’t have anything to hide to save face. Contrasting orthodox Christianity and Mormonism on such basic tenets as death and the afterlife show them to be very dissimilar, and for a faith that considers itself Abrahamic as well as Christian, it has much to fear in open, public juxtaposition of the two which could have taken place had Mormon journalists openly shared their beliefs. It then makes sense why a non-religious obituary should be published.

It looks like it’s going to be a fun semester for chapel messages at Southeastern. I’m particularly excited (and you should be too) to hear John Lennox of the University to Oxford throw down. Just look at his jolly face…and you haven’t heard him speak yet. What a gracious, calculated (yes, pun intended–considering he’s a reader in mathematics) fellow. March 11-12 he’ll be here, Lord willing. Please, Lord. What you’ll want to do in the meantime is familiarize yourself with Dr. Lennox’s demulcent voice, and you can do that by clicking around at bethinking.org (his “God and Richard Dawkins” talk available there is a good intro to the man) and by smuggling yourself into Darwin’s Rottweiler’s den and listening to a debate between Lennox and Richard Dawkins.

Moreover, we have Mark Dever Tuesday, February 26 (cf. Capitol Hill Baptist Church [that this page has a Netscape fav icon is stultifying]). His current sermon series is entitled “Pierced for Our Transgressions.” You can most likely guess the inspiration for such a series and the content thereof considering his endorsement of the book by the same name. We can only hope that he brings a sermon in this vein.

Lastly, get ready for a Canadian kerfuffle on April 8 when Dr. Hogg brings history, humor and homily.

Anyone I missed that you’re looking forward to? Student preaching week? Here’s the full lineup.

In doing an intensified language course, like J-Term/Summer Hebrew or Greek, having a ready-to-go flashcard program for the computer is where it’s at. Talk about maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. I found the below Microsoft Excel flashcard file for Seow’s Biblical Hebrew vocabulary. I had no idea that Excel was capable of this, but boy is it sweet. I snagged it from Lionel Windsor. His language tools pages are a little treasure trove, and it looks like we get the booty! Thanks, Lionel.

Download Seow Biblical Hebrew Flashcards

[Edit: check the vocabulary list in the Excel file against the chapter's vocabulary list in the book which you are trying to learn first before studying that chapter. I think there are a few discrepancies.]

To be honest, sometimes I wonder how practical a seminary education is. Will I graduate from seminary and be in the same situation that I was in when I graduated from college? College degrees are a dime a dozen, the same as graduating from high school nowadays. How practical is a Masters of Divinity from a seminary then? It depends on what you want to do when you graduate I guess. I want to be a full-time minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s my ambition. Seminary equips for that “vocation.” (Formal education will never be an adequate ends in itself. It can only feed the intellectually hungry to learn on their own. Formal education equips autodidactics. Seminary equips pneumadidactics and bibliodidactics.) Still though, I can’t help getting the feeling sometimes that what I’m learning is not very practical. Read my September post, A Plea for Multi-Learnedness, for an example: the lemon crisis that changed my life. I guess it really depends though on how you define “practical.”

Anyways, check out what happened today that gives seminary practicality. Sitting in church today for a children’s nativity presentation the young girl with whom I was sitting (aged 9) turns to me and asks, “Drew, do you believe in God?” Not something I was immediately expecting considering the farcical spectacle going on at the front of the church.

“I do, Martha. Do you believe in God?”

“No.” Blank stare.

“Well, why don’t you believe in God?”

“He ain’t done nuffink for me.”

“Are you breathing right now?”

“Not very well. I’ve got a cold at the moment.”

Haha. This was going to be fun. From here, she and I had a lovely conversation about the reliability of Scripture, the historicity of Jesus, the eyewitness accounts of Jesus contained in the Gospels, intelligent design, the teleological and cosmological arguments for God, the transmission of the Bible, the law of non-contradiction and persecution (she had been laughed at by the boys at her school for going to church). Of course, in talking about these things, I didn’t use all this hifalutin language, but these are the very subjects about which we spoke. She was intelligent, asking pointed questions about the the veracity and reliability of Scripture. Nine years-old mind you! I ended by sharing the gospel with her. Martha was for whom the gospel was meant. It’s not meant to be locked up in a bricked building in Wake Forest.

I get frustrated at seminary often. Will I have a “proper” job when I graduate? Is it even worth it? Do I even care about having a “proper” job? (I just want to provide for my wife and future family.) Is the stuff I’m learning practical? Today it was worth it: being able to share the firm foundation that has been laid for our faith in his excellent word that speaks of Jesus coming to rescue us. As Dr. Lanier reminded us in Greek this past summer “Do it for Jesus!” I add, “and do it for Martha.” Study for the nine year old that wonders about God and asks questions that most adults push out of mind. Jesus loves this little child and desires to have a relationship with her. That I can play a part in that gives me tears.

As long as Dr. Hogg teaches, there’s only one choice for Church History at Southeastern. Dr. David S. Hogg is also the only Church History professor I’ve taken at Southeastern. But as I say to people who ask why I got married so young: why keep looking if you’ve found what you were looking for? There’s only one choice for Church History at Southeastern. What I can appreciate about Dr. Hogg is that he hasn’t gone through the “Southern Baptist” education system, majoring in Bible at Famous Baptist of Yesteryear College in Podunk, South, but has worked through the University of Toronto, Westminster Seminary and the University of St. Andrews. As one reviewer noted on RateMyProfessor, he is “quite possibly the coolest Canadian in existence.” Why he is at Southeastern we may never know, but that he is we can rejoice for the way he de-homogenizes our SBC milk. In summary and because I’m enjoying lists at the moment, here are some further pointers evincing the notion that one should take a professor and not a course, in this case Hogg:

• No textbook.
• In place of a textbook are primary sources that are freely available in the public domain. Instead of reading what someone has to say about Athanasius, you read Athanasius. What a concept.
• Direct application to ministry. Hogg asks, what can we learn from the ministry of John Chrysostom? Nobody asks that question and for three reasons: (1) they don’t know Chrysostom, (2) they don’t know to even ask about Chrysostom’s ministry, and (3) they don’t know Chrysostom’s ministry and the practical import thereof.
• Hard exams. You actually feel like you’re in seminary, not a Sunday school class.
• Balance. We considered the basis for the papacy. Not only that, but we did a long section on the popes of the Middle Ages.
• Regular writing exercises instead of regular quizzes. Last semester’s syllabus contained this quote by Augustine: “I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.”
• History is narrated instead of regurgitated from a Powerpoint.

I’m excited to see that he has also taken on teaching Theology. My Friday’s will be spent with him next semester in Theology II.

Our SEBTS president, Dr. Akin, emailed to the student body and posted on his website the paper he delivered at the SBC Building Bridges Conference this week entitled “Answering the Call to a Great Commission Resurgence.” I’ve yet to give it a gander, but can guess where he’s going to go with it and am interested to hear comments on it and the Conference in general around the blogosphere. It seems like Timmy Brister’s blog is a good place to keep up with things and download MP3s and PDFs of the presentations.

Here are links to Akin’s paper:
PDF
Online (Google Documents)