Ryan BurnsWhat is brotherhood? One definition I came across is, “the feeling of kinship with and closeness to a group of people or all people.” I would like to venture to say that brotherhood is necessary in seminary and generally, in life. As a second year...
I’m writing this article so I don’t have to do Greek homework. The worst part is I know I’m procrastinating. Actually, that’s not the worst part… I have put my Greek homework off for the whole week. Now that I have that confessions off my chest, we...
If you’re a seminary student, then chances are you are always looking for ways to increase the effectiveness of your study times. This effectiveness can be played out in multiple ways: through better organization practices, memorization tips, useful...
Mark WardThe High Definition Commentary on James has just been released.Here’s what I like about the idea of the High Definition Commentary, which focuses on the field of “Discourse Grammar”: this field (and this commentary) does for a somewhat unfamiliar...
Organization is an important skill for seminary students. In order to be organized, you will need every tool possible to help you manage your life well. Here is a list of my 13 favorite organization apps for seminary students: Evernote: Let’s be...
Paul BurkhartAbout five years ago, I did my first year of seminary. I took a break after that year and have now returned to a different school to continue. Recently, I stumbled upon an old journal entry I wrote on the last day of my first semester. I was a...
We’ve been talking a lot on this site about various mobile apps and web services you can utilize for seminary, but at the end of the day, many of us still have some sort of desktop, laptop, or some other “real” computer which will...
Logos StaffThis post is by Josh Westbury, a scholar-in-residence at Faithlife. Instructions are a vital part of everyday life. Imagine driving to a new place without directions, or baking an intricate dessert without a recipe, or—heaven forbid—having to put...
When it comes to the “theological education” aspect of seminaries, there are several different philosophies. Here are three: 1. Conviction Mindset One school of thought says that you go to a school that shares your convictions (or is close enough)...
As part of my two-year Internship process for my seminary, each semester there is a particular Christian Spirituality practice we are to do regularly. We have done the Ignatian Examen and the Daily Office. This semester, we are doing an ancient...
Before I came to Seminary I was a big fish in a little pond. In my hometown I was spiritual for my age, and I was already working at the church. I had no problem in any theological debate, and really, there weren’t many to be had in my small...
There are around 100 new students this year at my seminary who are seeking a Master’s Degree in Divinity. Many of them have concentrations in theology, leadership, apologetics, chaplaincy. So many in fact, that I am the only new M-Div student this...
Perhaps you have heard repeatedly about the importance of having a mentor during seminary. Perhaps you are at a seminary that requires it. Or perhaps you believe that mentorship is overrated and really isn’t beneficial. Regardless of where you stand...
Joseph SiacuncoIn reading the title of this article you may be thinking that I have the perfect marriage and have maintained a well-balanced life during seminary. Well the truth is that hasn’t been always case and oftentimes struggled with balancing life and...
Jacob CeroneYou could tell I was one of them. The hole-punched cards hanging from a steel ring on my belt loop gave me away. I was an ancient language student. The cards were my flashcards, and I didn’t go anywhere without them: to class, to the student dining...
My mom, an avid reader who often is in the middle of four books at the same time, once passed on some counsel to me: Don’t read good books, only great ones. The advice is both challenging and inherently futile; for how can you know if a book is...
Dating while you are in seminary can be a challenge. It looks different for each couple no doubt, with two people involved there is an endless amount of factors to what your relationship looks like while you are in seminary. Are you both in school...
I’m terrible at organizing. Well, that’s not quite right. I can come up with brilliant systems of organization, but I often just never implement them. This bad habit has followed me throughout my life. It was easier when school consisted of clearly...
This post is by Josh Westbury, a scholar-in-residence at Faithlife. In addition to being a Hall of Fame baseball player, Yogi Berra is perhaps remembered most for his pithy witticisms, affectionately known as “Yogi-isms”. These short sayings often...
John Calvin famously opened up his Institutes with a profound set of lines about the close intimacy between knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves. He did not start with Scripture or hermeneutics, but anthropology. In the Protestant focus...
I do these weekly Study Guides for our church home group leaders. I read a bunch of commentaries on the sermon text, and condense the scholarly thoughts into a 2 page verse-by-verse commentary our leaders can use to help answer people questions if...
I recently found myself looking, back through A.W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy and was reminded just how good of a book it is for seminarians to read every now and then. In a sermon preached by Tozer on God’s Holiness, he tells the...
Our daughter, Emery, was born on February 6th of this year. We’re finishing up our first year of seminary. Naturally my wife and I were the recipients of about as much advice as you can stomach. Everyone seemed to have their two cents, and if every...
We’ve talked before on this site about how seminary has changed. The days where all you need is a Bible, notebook, and a library card are over. There is a whole world of resources available, means to access them, ways to organize your time at...
By Rebecca Dobyns In seminary, Greek is always the subject everyone winces about. I have heard more “I’m sorry”s or “Have fun with that”s about taking Greek than about any other subject, except perhaps Hebrew. Granted, much of it is in jest, and...
Learning theology is one of the main purposes and joys of seminary. But through the course of your education there, you’re likely to have many of your proper theological convictions challenged, shaped, and changed. And yet, even as we’re going...
By Noah Myers Being out of college for three years before I started seminary it took me a bit before I could get back into the groove of schoolwork, online classes also proved a new challenge. All of that to say, I’ve learned a couple lessons...
The languages of the world are often represented in a family-tree diagram in which “parent” languages such as Proto-Slavic branch out into “child” languages such as Russian, Polish, and Croatian. Just as in real-life human lineages, the parents may...
I was somewhat surprised, after I posted about Jesus’ use of the diminutive κυνάριον in his delightful conversation with the Syrophoenician woman (Matt 15:26–27), to have several people make comments like this one: Was the historical Jesus really...
Denise J. MurphyFor our little family it is the inevitable season of attack, the month before moving our family of five across Country to Seminary. There are the weekends packed of visiting family, not living in our own home, my husband working in a separate state...