A Season of New Beginnings

Today marks an interesting, if somewhat non-intuitive, point in my journey here at Princeton.  As we began class last Thursday, today marks my first complete week of my first academic year in seminary.  I know I will feel more relief about this completion at the end of the work week Friday afternoon, but now seemed a good time to take stock and reflect on a few items.​

Class Time!

​View from the back of Stuart 6 - the classroom where I have almost every class.  NOTE: The "ghost" images are because this is a panorama created from a bunch of individual photos - moving people cause "ghosting."

​Having now attended at least one (in many cases several) session of each class I am taking, I am starting to develop an understanding of what things are going to be like this semester.  For those of you playing along at home, here are the courses I am taking, along with a brief discussion of what we will be dealing with (at least as far as I understand it at this point!).

Introduction to Early and Medieval Church History

One of the basic, foundational courses at PTS, this class traces the origins of the Christian faith from our common heritage with the people of Israel to just prior to the Reformation.  We will be discussing the major events that have shaped the church, from the discussion of how the scriptural canon came to be (why are the books in the Bible, in the Bible?) to how did various councils impact the foundations of our faith.  So far, things have been quite interesting, with a mixture of lecture, primary source readings, and a massive textbook.

Introduction to Old Testament Studies

This is another class that almost every entering student takes their first semester.  It is a whirlwind tour of the Old Testament, from historical discussions to text study.  We are reading a very interesting book by James Kugel, How to Read the Bible​, which discusses the challenge of Old Testament interpretation based on recent discoveries (within the past 200 years) concerning historical and documentary evidence.  For example, it seems quite clear now that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) were not written by Moses (as has been the traditional teaching of both the Jewish and Christian faith for a very long time), but rather were combined from at least four different authors (quite possibly five if not more) over several hundred years.  I am very much looking forward to learning more!

Introduction to New Testament Exegesis

Exegesis is a word that I wasn't familiar with until sometime last year as I was researching seminaries.  ​It refers to the "critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially scripture."  Essentially, exegesis is when you take a passage of scripture and examine it from a variety of perspectives.  You consider the text in the cultural and historical perspective of the work, how it relates to other sections of scripture, and the various elements of the passage.  Exegesis, is in essence, a deep study of a section of text with the goal of developing the fullest possible understanding of that text.  On, and by the way, the text we use is in Greek.  ​

Introduction to Christian Worship & Worship in the Presbyterian Tradition

These are actually two courses, the first being eight weeks covering the wide range of traditions in Christian Worship.  Obviously this will be a very quick survey, but one I'm looking forward to.  We will be focusing on the major elements that comprise Christian Worship across many traditions.  The last four weeks of the semester will be focused on ​the Presbyterian Tradition in particular.  I am now a proud owner of several books on Presbyterian polity.  Very exciting.  More exciting is being an owner of The Book of Common Worship, which is full of wonderful worship resources!

Speech Communication for Ministry

It has been a long time since I was in a speech class that I wasn't teaching, but ​to be completely honest I am quite excited for this class!  It is going to be great to learn about speaking in a ministry setting from a wonderful professor - not to mention simply being fun.

Work!

​Almost everyone at PTS has at least one part time job to help pay the bills, and I'm no different.  In between studying, lectures, and sleep I work with two different offices here at PTS.  My "main" job is working with Educational Media Support.  Basically, I staff a media support kiosk in our main classroom building and help out if someone is having trouble with a projector or microphone.  We also run the sound and video systems during daily chapel services.  The nice thing is that a lot of the time we aren't needed during the day, so I am able to get a lot of reading done for class.

​My Sexton name tag.  I feel quite official!

My other job is less often, but a bit more exciting.  I am part of the Chapel Office Staff serving as a Sexton.  What that means is when there are events in the chapel besides daily worship I help make sure things go smoothly.  I make sure the doors are open, lights are on, microphones working, that sort of stuff.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to help with a worship service for a conference on campus, it was quite interesting!​

​The nice thing about both jobs is that they are very flexible with hours.  There are many evening and weekend events that you can volunteer to work, but they aren't required.

In My Free Time!

​So, I don't have a ton of free time, but in the little I do have I am planning to be a part of two campus organizations.  The first, I am very proud to announce, is the PTS Chapel Choir and Seminary Singers!  The Chapel Choir is open to most any interested student, but Seminary Singers is an audition-only ensemble that performs at special events, as part of worship, and also serves as the pool for the Touring Choir (which performs at events across the region).  There are about 20 people in Seminary Singers - and after our first rehearsal yesterday I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing group.  Between the two choirs (and three hours of rehearsal) we learned three very challenging spirituals for a concert - next week.  The pace is amazing, but the groups are wonderful.  Beyond that, Martin Tel (the director of music) is one of the most amazing individuals I have worked with in my life.  More on this to come!

Additionally, I will be participating in events with the PTS Oratorical Society.  This group hosts speeches and debates on theological (and not-so-theological) issues throughout the year.  It looks like I will be dusting off my debating skills, as I have already been informed that I will be on the roster!​

​The quad at Princeton Theological Seminary.  The view is from a personal favorite bench, from where I have read many pages already!

In closing, things are going well.  I am blessed with amazing professors and preceptors, good friends, and an amazing community.  I know there will be many challenges over these next three years, but quite simply it is a joy to get to know our Creator God more and more each day.​

Until next time my friends,​

Peace and Joy!​

Chris Miller2 Comments