Yes, we’re still alive…
Hey all:
Sorry for not posting in like 8 million years…but, we FINALLY got Internet at our house, so that will hopefully help me get my act together about keeping up with this the heady business of mass media.
So, I realize I haven’t said a whole lot about what we’ve been up to here…allow me to rectify. We moved into our on-campus married-student apartment, and are very happy with it. We’re on the ninth floor, and have a “spacious” one-bedroom unit with a study. In truth, it’s just the right size for us. The kids share the “study” as their bedroom, and I’m soon going to order a loft frame for our bed so we can get that up in the air and create some more room in our bedroom for an office (come on, if college kids can do it with a twin-size, we can do it with a queen!).
Our apartment building has two swimming pools (one for kids–4 inches deep at one end and 18 inches deep on the other), four gas grills we can use whenever we want, and a nice playroom for the kids. But the best part is that it is only across the street from my school, so I’m able to just walk back and forth (for lunch, etc…).
I am enjoying my classes immensely, and have been learning a lot. The nice thing is that, generally speaking, everything I’m studying and working on is exactly the sort of stuff I’m interested in. For example, for one class (OT History I), we’ve spent nearly a month studying through the book of Genesis, and I get to do a hefty research paper on a correct definition of the sovereignty of God vs wrong conceptions (Yay!). Here’s what all I’m taking:
Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics:
This is the class I was most looking forward to when I came. It is taught by Dr. Howard Hendricks, who is something of a legend in Christian circles. He is a renowned teacher of the Bible, and has taught here at the seminary for over 50 years. To give you an idea of his legacy, he was a teacher and mentor to Chuck Swindoll when he was a student here (That was a long time ago!). Dr. Hendricks is in his 80s now I think, and is an incredible example for us, chock full of wisdom concerning studying the Bible and life in general. So far in this class we have focused on nothing but the first step of Bible study, which is observation. So far I’ve learned a lot more about how to better observe and analyze the scriptures before turning to other aids like commentaries.
Old Testament History I:
This class covers Genesis through Judges. We just started Exodus today. It has been good to carefully go through this book in class, and to study through it on my own (I also had to synthesize the entire book into a large chart, which really forced me to get familiar with the book). I now know more about Genesis than ever, and it’s great! My professor has written extensive expositional notes on the every book of the Bible, and he has posted them online for anyone to use. I highly recommend these. For example, he has a 300 page pdf file on the book of Genesis…I would urge you to download some of these and make use of them in your own Bible study. People have often offered to publish these in book form, but each publisher also wants the electronic rights. This means Dr. Constable would no longer be able to have them online for people to use free, and so he has decided to not publish them (Which I think is really cool!). Anyway, go to www.soniclight.com and download whatever book of the Bible you are interested in. I would suggest picking a book of the Bible to study and read a few chapters a day as well as the notes from Dr. Constable. Please let me know what you think if you do this!
Intro to Theology:
This is the first theology class here, and has been great. Here’s the course description: “A study of prolegomena as the nature, method, and sources of theology; revelation, especially the inspiration, authority, sufficiency, inerrancy and canonicity of the Bible; and theological hermeneutics, including an introduction to dispensationalism.
“ This is one of those classes that makes you think and challenges you so much that it seems to just fly by. So far we’ve been dealing what what exactly theology is, the need for theology, and the various forms it takes. So far so good!
Educational Processes of the Church:
This class focuses on just what the name implies…Christian education in the church. We are focusing on strategic planning concerning education, and are talking about topics like core values, mission statements, etc… I think this will be very helpful, and the main project has me designing the perfect discipleship program I’d like to see in a church.
Orientation and Research Methods:
This is just a one-credit hour course dealing with research writing. It’s not the most exciting stuff in the world, but critical to the rest of my time here. This class is done in two weeks.
Introduction to the New Testament:
This class doesn’t start for two more weeks. However, I’m very excited about it because it is taught by a renowned NT scholar, Dr. Darrell Boch. I primarily used his book on the DaVinci Code back when we were dealing with that, and it was very helpful. I’m looking forward to learning from him! (Here’s his blog: http://blog.bible.org/bock/)
I also have chapel four times a week, which has a variety of good stuff. For example, this week we have a four-day theological lectureship on Archaeology and Early Libyan Christianity. I have learned something I didn’t really “know” before…that Africa made unbelievably huge contributions to early Christianity. Augustine, Tertullian, and many others who were crucial to the early church’s theological development hailed from AFRICA. In fact, the first two centers of Christianity were in Asia Minor (say, in Antioch), and in northern Africa (Alexandria, etc). Isn’t that a strange thought? Africa had 500 years of huge Christian history…until the Muslims invaded. 
Anyway, it’s been good stuff to hear, even if some of it is over my head. The school actually puts all of the chapel services online, so you can watch them if you want. I strongly recommend watching the opening message Chuck Swindoll gave us back on January 14, as well as the message on January 15. If you check them out, let me know what you think. The link is: http://www.dts.edu/media/chapel/
Well, that’s enough for me. Time to go study! Miss you guys!
