To the Incoming Seminary Freshman

To the Incoming Seminary Freshman,

As I am finishing my last semester at seminary and you are beginning your first, allow me to impart a few suggestions from my own experience which might be of benefit.

Preliminaries:

There are many truths that you aren’t ready to learn and which God is not yet willing to teach you. Just be patient and humble and keep your studying and prayer life going.

The Beginning of Wisdom is the Fear of the Lord. Know that you don’t know anything. Remember the teachings of Socrates and Nicholas of Cusa: when you know that you know nothing you will be able to learn much. Never assume that you have it all figured out (whatever the subject may be) because you don’t. God is infinite and His Word is deep; you’ll never reach the bottom of Him or Hs Word in this life or the next. Which means: give the other guy some slack when you disagree with him; he’s on the same journey you're on.

Never accept what your professor says as “gospel”. Seminary professors are there to teach you how to think and to introduce you to new ways of thinking. You yourself have to arrive at your own conclusions through study and prayer. Professors are there to stimulate your minds and facilitate your learning. The best professors will teach you how to teach yourself so you will be able to continually learn even after your seminary career is complete. Go and research each subject for yourself from a variety of sources, both liberal and conservative. Most of what you will learn (hopefully) will be from the books that you are not required to read.

When Studying the Scriptures … Context! Context! Context!

When doing a research paper, choose a subject of which you know nothing about. Why research something you already know? And remember to use the various magazines and periodicals available; the librarians will show you how.

Know that just because someone is liberal doesn’t mean they aren’t genuine believers. Liberals have much to teach us and we have much to teach them. Don’t belittle them or any other denomination. They are a part of the body of Christ and deserve as much respect as you do. Learn what you can from them and be tolerant.

Every NT manuscript has textual errors in it. Get over it.

Attend chapel … but bring a book.

Always be reading. You’re in seminary and have one of the greatest libraries in the world at your disposal. Duh!

Always be reading a gospel. This is some advice Dr. Crutchley gave me. Wherever your papers or your personal study time take you, always be reading and rereading a gospel.

Never forget your quiet time.

Serve in a local church. Great and necessary experience.

Find a small group in which to participate. For Bible study, accountability, and prayer, always attend a weekly small group. Reading about Spener will give you insight into this practice.

Avoid Secular Politics like the plague!!! You have the greatest weapon ever given mortal man to combat the powers and authorities of this world: it's called the gospel. Why would you abandon that for the weapons of this world?

Regularly peruse the Baptist news websites. Just don’t believe everything you read.

The Seminary Trustees and Administration, as well as the SBC leaders, will make mistakes … and often. However, remember that God is in control of all things.

Avoid the following arguments of discussion: Calvinism, Expository Preaching, Nouthetic Counseling, contemporary worship, and Moral Activism.

Never get in a discussion about God’s Glory with a follower of John Piper. ‘Nuff said.

Make yourself aware of what other Christian groups are doing in this country and in other nations. You can learn a lot from other Christian groups. God does not just work with Southern Baptists.

Always discuss the following arguments: inerrancy, women in ministry, pastoral authority, and evolution.

Never Forget the Social Gospel: Read the Gospel of Luke if you are unfamiliar with what I mean.

Realize that the knowledge you learn at seminary will not make you more spiritual: You could be technically correct in all your theology and still be spiritually destitute. The reverse is also true: you could be wrong in almost all of your theology but be the most faithful believer of your particular Christian body. So don’t judge another’s faith by their knowledge or theological accuracy.

Don’t purchase your text books at Lifeway: Text books at Lifeway are too costly. Purchase used text books either at Half Price books or order them on the web at Amazon.com, Half.com, or Pricegrabbers.com. You save 50-75%.



During your First Year at Seminary:

Classes to take:

Hermeneutics: This will teach you how to interpret the Bible and will prepare you for all that follows.

Hebrew: Get this done early. Make vocab and parsing cards to carry around with you at all times.

New Testament: Take both introduction courses now. It will prepare you for what follows.

Old Testament: Take both introduction courses now. It will prepare you for what follows. If it all possible, take it with Professor Pierce; you won’t regret it.

Books to read:

Kierkegaard: Begin by reading an assorted collection of his best stuff: I would recommend Provocations. Also, read many books about him. After all that info has sunk in then you will be able to read his larger, denser works: Fear and Trembling, Either/Or, Philosophical Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, The Sickness Unto Death, et al.

New Testament: Read Frank Stagg's New Testament Theology. Other good scholars are Moody, Dodd, and Morris.

Areas of study:

The Greatest and Second Greatest Commandments. Start with Genesis 1:26-28.

Be sure to study Eschatology and related subjects. Be sure to consider the various "End-Time" theories such as preterism, dispensationalism, pre-millennialism et al. Be sure to learn the histories of each of the theories as well.

Start Researching the Neo-Orthodox scholars and that movement. Barth, Bonhoeffer, Niebuhr, Bultmann, Brunner et al.


During your Second Year at Seminary:

Second Year Preliminaries:

Start considering doctoral programs. Find a favourite professor and ask him what he recommends. Find a favourite living scholar and see where he teaches.

Start making plans to go on the Oxford Study Tour.

Classes to take:

History: Here is a dangerous class to take, but necessary for giving you perspective.

Baptist History: This can be a dangerous class, but less so now.

Theology: Taking history and theology at the same time is beneficial for putting your Christian tradition’s understanding of the gospel into its proper context.

Greek: Take this class. Summer Greek might be preferable but since it doesn’t count for anything, why bother? Make vocab and parsing cards to carry around with you at all times.

Electives: About this time it would be wise to start taking classes on specific OT or NT books, depending on what ministry you intend on pursing. This goes for worship, education, pastoring, counseling, and missions. Take these electives now.

Books to read:

Biblical Studies: Ralph Elliott’s Message of Genesis and The Genesis Controversy. Both great books. (See below in the Areas of Study)

Theology: You will be asked to read Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Do so. However, always read it accompanied by Erickson’s Christian Theology (it’s better). While your at it, also read Dale Moody’s Word of Truth and E.Y. Mullins’ The Christian Religion in It’s Doctrinal Expression and his The Axioms of Religion.

Areas of study:

Begin to read and research the subject of the Conservative Resurgence and the events leading up to it. Be sure to read material from BOTH sides. Pressler’s A Hill On Which To Die, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's Anatomy of a Reformation, Elliott’s The Genesis Controversy, Dilday’s Columns and Servant Songs, McBeth’s The Baptist Heritage, Ammerman’s Baptist Battles, and many others. A word of advice: this is a ticklish subject matter even to this day. It will make you furious and active. Just remember: chasing after white rabbits is a dangerous past time.

The Anabaptists. Read and research this movement. Start with The Anabaptist Story by Estep.


During your Third Year at Seminary:

Classes to take:

New Testament Greek: This will finish your languages up. Word to the wise: STUDY PARTICIPLES. If you study Greek participles then you’ll master New Testament Greek.

Electives: Try to take one or two classes with Dr. Ellis. He is the best scholar at the seminary and is a voluminous writer. You will learn many things from him.


Books to read:

Anchor Bible Commentary on The Book of Daniel: This is the one by Hartman and Lella. This is a great book but not for the reasons one is expecting. This will give you a whole lot of examples of why the inerrancy issue is somewhat of a silly issue without ever mentioning the subject of inerrancy.

David Bosch’s Transforming Mission: By your third year you should be ready to read this book. This will give you the ultimate sweep of Christian theology and history from the first disciples through to the future. Be forewarned: many seminary students of a more (ultra)conservative bent have been known to throw this book in anger. It’s that good!

Areas of study:

The Corporate Nature of Christ. Dr. Ellis will help you with this one.

Biblical Moral and Ethical Relativism: By your third year you should be ready to tackle this issue. Just be sure that there is not a major moral sin in your life while you’re studying this subject.


I hope this has been of some benefit to you.