We have another month or so of classes left, and then finals, and I’ve officially given up. It’s definitely a case of academic boredom and senioritis (even though I STILL have one more year after this). I’m only interested in, and do the reading for, one of my courses (Men in Ministry) and the others….well, I’m trying to think about final projects and how to just be done. And both Sarah and I are already thinking about next semester. Next semester, I’ll be taking:
- Presbyterian History and Polity: the one course I could care LESS about. I’ve been trying to figure out ways to get out of it, but it’s just going to have to happen. The worst part is that it is a full 3-credit course down here at Columbia, whereas I could get it ‘taken care of’ in a week at Princeton in the summer (but it will conflict with my CPE). I figure there are only two real purposes for taking a course like this; first, to pass the polity ord and second, to know the Book of Order so good that you know exactly how much you can get away with.
- Paradigms in Practice of Evangelism, with Steve Hayner, former President of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship: my favorite part of his syllabus is the part lists “Evangelistic Moment” as one of the course requirements for 20% of our grade. He writes, “Share the Gospel either with a small group or with an individual and give an opportunity for a person or persons to give some response.” Awesome. But there is some good reading, including Guder, McKnight and George Hunter’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism.
- Pastoral Care of Couples and Families: taught by the same professor who is teaching my Men in Ministry course, I’m very excited for this class. Primarily because I really like the professor, and also because it will give me a chance to continue to try and figure out what really excites me about pastoral care.
- Youth & Young Adult Ministry with Rodger Nishioka: probably won’t be a whole lot new after having classes with Kenda Dean, but it should be a good course and Rodger is supposed to be a great prof.
Anyway, as for this semester…sorry colleagues and professors, but I’ve given up. Hopefully next semester will be better…
