Hey all! This is Josh writing from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Sorry that it’s taken so long for us to get this up and running, but I’m glad we did because I miss everyone a lot and wish that I could be with you all right now. As much as I wish I could be there, though, I am learning a lot here at seminary and it has been a very good experience so far. The classes I’m taking are Greek, Hebrew, Theology, and History of Christianity…all of them have been very interesting. Hebrew has been the toughest so far, I think, mostly because it is a very different language from what I’m used to! But it’s going well and I think that I’m getting it, even though it’s not my favorite thing to be spending time on. The professors in my other classes have all been very amazing. Theology is always interesting for me because there’s quite a bit of philosophy involved and if you know me well then you know how much I love philosophy! My Greek professor is a fascinating guy; if you look in your Bible you might be able to find his name as one of the chief translators, Grant Osbourne. He’s very good at Greek, and I know that he’s done work in the NIV and NLT, so I’m very blessed with the opportunity to study under such a brilliant, God-loving man. And finally, my Christian history professor, Dr. Woodbridge, is another very good teacher. He told us a story a few weeks ago about how he got a call from Lee Strobel once asking if he would be willing to do an interview for his new book The Case For Faith. So if you know that book, you’ll find Professor Woodbridge’s interview about how Christians should address the major historical issues that are often held against Christianity. I read that book a few years ago and never imagined that I would be studying under one of the people interviewed! It’s very cool!
Then we also have guest speakers come in occasionally who are amazing. Last week Walt Kaiser was here to speak at Chapel. If you don’t know him, he’s a very well known Old Testament scholar. He used to be a professor here at Trinity, but then he went to teach at Gordon-Conwell (another seminary near Boston) and eventually became the President of that seminary. Anyway, he was talking to us about the importance of feeding our fellow Christians with the Word. He said that many Christians today do not spend nearly enough time in the Bible as they should, and pastors often do not help because they do not elaborate and draw out of the Bible enough of what they should. So he encouraged us to stay rooted in the Word in all that we do, and to make sure that we are sufficiently feeding God’s people with the bread of life. He was also a very funny man, at least to us seminarians! Since he’s an Old Testament scholar, he told us about how many of his students ask him if he knows anything about the New Testament. Of course, the New Testament is secondary to the Old Testament in his eyes, but he responds to students who ask him questions like that by telling them that he loves the New Testament…it reminds him a lot of the Old Testament! Maybe only I think that’s funny, but that’s ok:)
Anyway, I’m very excited to have gotten to start this blog up. I’ve never really done this before, so I hope I’m doing it well! I pray that all is great for the student ministries of Central; you all should respond to these or hit me up on facebook sometime! I miss you and will write again soon, and hopefully be able to see you all in a few weeks when I’m home for a bit.
