How to Stay Christian in Seminary E-Book

David Mathis

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 82

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Seminary is dangerous. Really dangerous. The hard truth is that many seminarians enter pastoral ministry feeling drained, disillusioned, and dissatisfied. But the problem isn't with the faculty or the material. Rather, the most perilous danger to the soul of the pastor-in-training is the sin residing deep within his own heart. Drawing on their years of pastoral ministry and seminary experience, David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell take a refreshingly honest look at this oft-neglected—yet all too common—experience, offering real-world advice for students eager to survive seminary with their faith intact. In seven short but challenging chapters, the authors remind readers of the foundational role of the gospel in the life of ministry, equipping them with the keys to grow in their faith while making the most of their education.

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“How to Stay Christian in Seminary should be placed in the hands of every first-year seminarian. It provides a much-needed balance as they navigate the beautiful but treacherous waters of a seminary education. I plan to use this powerful little book with great profit for my students in the years ahead.”

Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Mathis and Parnell here contribute to a small but important stable of books that everyone thinking about attending or already enrolled in seminary should read. Studying theology is not an intellectual game, nor is it simply what you have to do to receive credentials. It is, rather, the project, both art and science, of living to God in intelligent, affectionate, and obedient response to God’s Word. The seminary is no ivory tower but a crucible in which Christian wisdom and spirituality are tested and refined—not only, or even primarily, by exams, but by the vital tests of everyday life. How to Stay Christian in Seminary alerts students to the real curriculum that undergirds degree structures: the pedagogy of the triune God that aims at forming the mind and heart of Jesus Christ in students and disciples.”

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“For seminarians who have heard seminary will dull your faith, here is great advice packed into a small space. Don’t let the size of this book fool you. It is filled with solid-gold counsel.”

Darrell L. Bock, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement, Howard G. Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership and Cultural Engagement; Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

“David and Jonathan are wrestling with a serious problem here, and they give biblical advice that is full of grace and full of Jesus. Very concise, too, and that, too, is a virtue. Anyone thinking about going to seminary will benefit greatly by spending some time with this book.”

John M. Frame, J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

“This book makes me angry and sad—because I wish it had been written years earlier. As I read it, I can see faces of people I love who wrecked their lives in seminary, and I wish I could go back in time and hand them this volume. Some of them lost the faith. Some lost their families. Some lost their integrity. The Devil wants to bring down ministers of the gospel, and he usually erects the demolition scaffolding in seminary, when we’re too occupied with Greek flash cards to see the shadow of the pitchfork on the wall. This book, by brilliant men of God, can help you lay out a war plan. Read it, and fight.”

Russell D. Moore, President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention

“Written by two men fresh from the trenches of theological education, this little volume is sure to help the new seminary student navigate the pitfalls of misplaced priorities, overcommitment, undercommitment, and decentralization. It is full of grace, truth, and wisdom, all the while keeping Jesus right at the center of everything. I dare say it may even help to soften the crusty interior of those of us who have spent more than a few years serving in the context of theological education for the church.” 

Miles V. Van Pelt, Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages; Director, Summer Institute for Biblical Languages, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

“I am exceedingly grateful to David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell for writing this helpful book. They touch on an issue of great concern in theological education, and on a topic of great concern to me personally. So much so, I wish that every seminary student in every seminary in America would read this insightful book and apply its teachings to their lives.”

Jason K. Allen, President, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and College

“This is a book I have composed in my head many times, but never actually wrote down. Now I discover David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell actually wrote it down, and did a better job than I would have done. It is a guide to not only survive but to thrive in seminary (or any college or graduate program where you study theology).”

Don Sweeting, President, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

“Seminary students are called to live all of life before the face of God with application to their lives and future ministries. This devotional way of living means drinking deeply of both gospel grace and gospel truth with humble awareness of their dependence on the Holy Spirit inside and outside of the classroom. I highly commend this insightful book as must reading for present and prospective seminary students to gain this biblical perspective on seminary training. I would encourage seminary students everywhere to re-read this book at the beginning of each semester and pray that God would use this resource to help them take hold of Christ and his heart for their seminary experience.”

Mark Dalbey, President and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology, Covenant Theological Seminary

How to Stay Christian in Seminary

Copyright © 2014 by David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Tyler Deeb, Pedale Design

First printing 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4030-1 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4032-5 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4031-8 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4033-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mathis, David, 1980–

    How to stay Christian in seminary / David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell.

       1 online resource

    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

    ISBN 978-1-4335-4031-8 (pdf) — ISBN 978-1-4335-4032-5 (mobi) — ISBN 978-1-4335-4033-2 (epub) — ISBN 978-1-4335-4030-1 (tp)

1. Theology—Study and teaching.  2. Spiritual life—Christianity. I.Title.

BV4020

248.8'92—dc23

2013036839

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To Megan and Melissa

CONTENTS

Foreword by John Piper

Introduction: Seminary: Life or Death?       David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell

1

Know Your Value of Values

Jonathan Parnell

2

Be Fascinated with Grace

David Mathis

3

Study the Word for More Than Words

David Mathis

4

Push Your Books Aside and Pray

Jonathan Parnell

5

Love That Jesus Calls the Weak

Jonathan Parnell

6

Be a Real Husband and Dad

Jonathan Parnell

7

Keep Both Eyes Peeled for Jesus

David Mathis

Conclusion: Be a Christian in Seminary       David Mathis

Recommended Reading

Acknowledgments

FOREWORD

BY JOHN PIPER

This book is by two men who did stay Christian in seminary. Really did. I have taught them and worked beside them for years. I love them and their vision. They are lovers of Jesus, lovers of the Bible, lovers of the church, lovers of the lost, and lovers of their wives and children. They fought for passion in all their studies, and God has given them their heart’s desire.

My experience in seminary was very different from the sad stories I hear. I loved it. I flourished. I exploded, in fact. I could not get enough. Pursuing the knowledge of God and his word was not boring or deadening. Knowing more did not mean loving less. Just the opposite. If the wood of theology was dry, it burned the better. More facts about God meant more flame for God. More propositions, more passion. More sight, more savoring. I am eager for you to have such an experience. I think this book will help.

If there is anything I could underline, it would be this: cry to God day and night that he would open your eyes to see wonderful things in his word (Ps. 119:18). In other words, seek to experience every hour of study as a supernatural event. Everyone knows study is natural. Unbelievers can do it. What makes the difference is whether you can say with Paul, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). You do work. But if you are crying out for him, God works. And his work is decisive. That makes all the difference.

And never forget the stunning fact that the Bible is the word of God. Peter says the writers were inspired (2 Pet. 1:21), and Paul says the very writings themselves are inspired (2 Tim. 3:16). Never, never, never stop being amazed that the Bible is the communication of the Creator of the universe. It tells us things we cannot know any other way. To study it and proclaim it is an unspeakable privilege. And best of all, it is through the word that God himself comes to us and shows himself to us (1 Sam. 3:21).