Social Media & the Church Conference
Just wanted folks to know that my alma mater, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. is hosting a conference this summer entitled, “Social Networking Media in Congregations: Possibilities & Practicalities.” Here’s the info. After a brief glimpse, it looks worth checking-out for sure. I’m glad to see Columbia’s new president, Steve Hayner, is giving a keynote address. Steve knows his stuff, and I’m proud that the one leading Columbia was on Twitter before it was cool.
"It's All Sermon Prep to Me"
When I was in high school and chatting with a teacher about our churches, he said “I don’t think I could ever respect a pastor who didn’t know Greek and Hebrew.” That statement stuck with me. Heck, it probably kept me going through some rather challenging times in both my Greek and Hebrew courses.
For a few years now, however, I’ve been wondering how much credence my teacher’s comment really has. I preached about forty sermons in Scotland two years ago without my Greek or Hebrew resources over there (I opted to take golf clubs, not books 
). I didn’t get too many complaints from church members about my lack of declining Greek nouns or parsing Hebrew verbs.
Now, though, I have my Greek and Hebrew books on my new pastor’s study bookshelf, but I haven’t been inclined to pull them out. Sure, I could check out a perplexing phrase in a text if I really wanted to, but I just rarely ever want to. So I wonder, what’s the rub: am I a sermon writing slacker or reality claiming time-manager?
The point, I suppose, is not that one uses Greek and Hebrew in one’s exegesis necessarily, but that sermons are well planned and delivered, deeply grounded in the word and call others to do the same. I’d never want to intimidate someone with knowledge of Biblical languages (what little knowledge I have), or put someone off with a flippant Greek or Hebrew remark in a sermon. On the other hand, I wonder what was the point of all those sweat and tears in Greek, Hebrew, and exegesis courses? Maybe they were supposed to teach me how to think, and did that. But how, also, might my sermon direction change if I took the time to read the original language each week?
When I have a conundrum, I often try to solve it with technology. The problem is, technology isn’t always the answer. (I don’t want to become like another Adam and blame my Weight Watchers struggles on the lack of iPhone app.) I do wonder, though, if investing in a good Bible translation program might provide me the added boost to work more with the original language? If you think so, what program for my Mac would you recommend?
And, in any sermon prep discussion I always wonder: and how might I involve our congregation more in the exegesis?
image by Renaudeh
What use is a M.Div. ?
As my friend Brian put it, I’m now a “ seminarian* ” — the asterisk means I’ve completed all my courses but not yet graduated. Commencement is next Saturday, May 16. So as I look at it, I have about a week to reflect on this whole Master of Divinity thing before I get the paper that acknowledges, officially, that I have in fact mastered all things divine (Or as Megan looks at it, I have a week to pack.)
As the situation has it, I have the fun of task of searching for non churchy jobs with a M.Div. degree on my resume. For you pastor types out there, this may not seem difficult since we pastor types tend to think the M.Div. is a pretty tricky generalist degree that takes at least three years to earn (sometimes four depending on the seminary and denomination). Those lawyers spend three years and get a Juris Doctor, but we can spend four and get a piddly masters! That means the M.Div. is a big worthy respected masters degree. And on the one hand, that’s right. The M.Div. covers a huge amount of ground and is a formidable masters degree.
Let’s consider. In the last four years I’ve taken classes in Greek and Hebrew; read and practiced the latest in counseling methods; taken multiple courses in public speaking, rhetoric and public relations (we call them “preaching courses”); learned to analyze systems and communities; studied conflict management; investigated a variety of budgets large and small; gained a boatload of critical thinking skills; and learned to be more self-aware than, I dare say, most other masters degrees require.
Sure, the M.Div. as a generalist degree is very broad and very handy for life. I haven’t for a minute ever regretted my studies at Columbia, and Columbia Seminary especially has proved a darn good place to undertake them.
On the other hand, however, the M.Div., because of its generalist nature, does not really translate well into much outside the church. Sure, it sets a solid foundation for many activities, professions, and contexts, but it doesn’t quite order great respect in the marketplace. The M.Div. feels like another liberal arts degree — I loved to earn it, but I’m left with a bit of a let-down feeling when flipping through job postings. I think: I know I could do that job and that job — well, in fact — but the letters after my name don’t exactly back that up. The M.Div. is a hint in the right direction for many positions, maybe a wee nudge towards an interview, but it’s not a key that will magically open any door outside a church.
So as a seminarian* I’m really looking forward to graduation and earning my Master of Divinity degree. One day, perhaps, I’ll frame it and put it on my office wall. In the meantime, I’m wondering a lot about what that office wall will look like: a cubicle? a delivery truck? a church study? a classroom? an evergreen? Maybe plain old plaster or sheet rock.
So if you’re a would-be employer reading this, wondering if I’m qualified for your position even though I have an M.Div., simply ask me and I’ll explain. My studies included lessons in persuasion as well.
Transcendentalism Meditation
Mark Twain is supposed to have said, “If history doesn’t repeat itself, it at least rhymes.” Though we didn’t quite put it that way in my American religion history presentation this week, there sure are lots of rhymes between Transcendentalism and contemporary American spirituality.
So to refresh your memory, Transcendentalism was lived-out and interpreted in many different ways by the thinkers of its day, but we can describe it at least as a uniquely American response to Romanticism influenced by the religion of Boston (particularly Harvard Unitarians) in the early 19th century.
You’ll probably remember the big names are part of Transcendentalism — Emerson and Thoreau — but there were also plenty of smaller folks we don’t remember today but who influenced thoughts of the day.
So what what was Transcendentalism? Briefly: A group of religious freethinkers who embrace a religious liberalism.
And according to Horatio Dresser, a later fan of spiritualism, it included broadly speaking
- individual aspiration after mystical experience or religious feeling
- the valuing of silence, solitude, and serene mediation
- the immanence of the transcendent–in each person and nature
- the cosmopolitan appreciation of religious variety as well as unity in diversity
- ethical earnestness in pursuit of justice-producing reforms
- an emphasis on creative self-expression and adventure-some seeking
I’ve not taken any courses myself, but I’m going to posit that my seminary’s certificate programs in spiritual formation do all the same things as Dresser’s description of transcendentalism.
Through Columbia’s courses on spiritual formation students go on meditation retreats, walk labyrinths, take classes on creation, seek to understand “neighbor” in the broadest form, consider how to act justly, and emphasize self-expression beyond papers for the classroom.
And, to put it awkwardly, Columbia is by no means the most transcendentalist of seminaries.
So go read some Twain — and maybe some Thoreau — and consider if you have a Transcendentalist within.
image by win john
Links for CTS Lunch and Learn: "Blogging for the Kingdom"
Wednesday, March 25, I’m teaching “Blogging for the Kingdom” at Columbia Seminary, a Lunch and Learn for faculty and staff. Below are some links we’ll be exploring during the session. Comment, if you like, and leave other links to blogs doing ministry. If you are around CTS, feel free to join us (faculty, staff, student, friend, whatever) — and bring a laptop to share if you can — 12:30-1:30 Ellis Room.
Lunch and Learn Instructions:
To the Lunch and Learn participants: explore these blogs — or any other blogs you find — consider how they are doing ministry. Don’t necessarily read in order, or decently, or restrict at all. Go, now, hurry up, click away and don’t freak out, the Holy Spirit has wifi access, I promise.
- CTS Student David Park: Next Gener.Asian Church
- The Christian Century Blog Network, CC Blogs
- My Montreat
- Bruce Reyes-Chow’s Blog, dad, husband, pastor, moderator, geek
- Adam Walker Cleaveland’s blog, Pomomusings
- Fidelia’s Sisters, The Young Women Clergy Project
- Tribal Church
- Tensegrities, a blog by Mary Hess a professor at Luther Seminary
Seminary Reflections: Read any good books lately?
The following is cross-posted from my column at Presbyterian Bloggers.
So what have you been reading lately?
I’ve been reading God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations by Jackson W. Carroll for my Church Leadership and Administration class. It’s a very interesting read, mostly communicating the results and reflecting upon the massive Pew and Pulpit study of US pastors. I found one chart particularly interesting.
Most-Read Authors in the Mainline Protestant Tradition
(as reported by what pastors deemed the “three authors they most often read”)
1. Henri J.M. Nouwen
2. William Willimon
3. Frederick Buechner
4. Max Lucado
5. Eugene Peterson
6. S. Lewis
7. Marcus Borg
8. Lyle Schaller
9. Philip Yancey
10. Walter Bruggemann
A few things jump out. First, of course, there are no women on the list (though Barbara Brown Taylor just barely missed it). Second, most of these authors write about ministry or spirituality rather than heavy theology. Third, many of them are getting on in years — which makes sense regarding the list — but it also begs the question: who will be on the list ten or twenty years down the road? This all got me to thinking about the many books I’ve read at Columbia Seminary. Curiously, of those who made the Pew and Pulpit list, I think I’ve only been assigned Bruggemann and Borg to read for class — and both of those very small pieces, not whole books. So, it looks like there’s a rather large difference in what I read in seminary and what I may read as a pastor (curiously, Carroll reports the Roman Catholic priests surveyed read much more theology than protestants).
I guess it makes sense that preparing for ministry requires a different reading list than doing ministry, but I wouldn’t have predicted such a clear shift. In fact, I think a lot of pastors out there would really love to read what we’re reading in Columbia classes, they just don’t for whatever reason or another.
So here, in no particular order, are the top ten books I’ve read for class at Columbia Seminary:
* Chuck Campbell, “The Word Before the Powers”
* Wendy Farley, “The Wounding and Healing of Desire”
* Justo Gonzalez, “The Changing Shape of Church History”
* David Lose, “Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching in a Postmodern World”
* Shirley Guthrie, “Christian Doctrine”
* Daniel Migliore, “Faith Seeking Understanding”
* Charlie Cousar, “Galatians”
* Pauw and Jones, “Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics”
* Marilyn Robinson, “Gilead”
* Leif Enger, “Peace Like a River”
Boy, that was a tough exercise! I’m already feeling bad for all the great books I left out. Man, there’s been a lot of good ones (and I really do love Calvin, the Book of Order, and Book of Common Worship, but I count them as given).
So, what’s your favorite book from seminary, or your favorite author now? Of if you’re not a pastor — bless you — and, please share your favs as well.
image by lusi
Top Ten Things to Know When Considering Seminary
Cross-posted from my column at Presbyterian Bloggers.
10. Seminary is not church camp; if you want to relive camp’s glory days volunteer at camp.
9. Greek may be as difficult as you’ve heard, but it’s worth it. Some people even think learning Hebrew is fun!
8. You read a whole bunch of books other than the Bible.
7. Unless you want to date a seminarian, it’s a killer on the love life.
6. Seminary is about disruption and putting a stronger faith back together again, not just cementing your current understandings.
5. Pastors don’t make much money and an M.Div. isn’t marketable beyond the church.
4. Consider several seminaries; like ice cream, they have have their own flavor.
3. If you love God, love people, and love the church, seminary may very well be for you but Jesus loves you just as much without an M.Div.
2. If your idea of a great dinner conversation includes mention of the Trinity, predestination, or a distinction between the gospel writers, seminary may be just what our God ordered.
1. If you’re seeking a degree that will change yourself and empower you to change the church, sign right up.
….more?
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