Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Have I said I am going to theological college next year?

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Matt Stone

2006-11-10

Hmmm. I think I hinted about it but can’t remember if I have spelled it out yet. I’m going to theological college next year. This evening was the open night at Morling College. After discussing my situation with Brian Powell I think I’ll probably opt for the Graduate Diploma in Divinity. Leaves the option open of upgrading to a Master of Divinity without the scary prospect of committing right now. I’ll sit on it a week or so though before making a final decision about which course. Yikes! This is so out of character for me, diving into an institutional setting, but that’s were God seems to be directing me at this juncture.

And by directing, I do mean that. God is finally being clear. I was so angsty about what to do about my job situation the other week, whether to accept an offer I had on the table or whether to tough it out where I am at present or whether to seek a third option. I just didn’t know which way to go. Prayers were going seemingly unanswered. Then, about two weeks ago, God nailed me. I had to go to college. Part time if that was all I could handle for now, but I was going. Once I accepted that everying else fell into place. It became clear that I should accept the new job offer, and everything after that has confirmed the rightness of the decision. We sorted out the car situation and tomorrow I’ll become the owner of a Mazda 3. It’s all coming together. No doubt there’s further challenges ahead but I am more at peace now than I have been for months.

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8 responses to “Have I said I am going to theological college next year?”

Nigel

2006-11-10

Shalom
All the best

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sally

2006-11-10

that is so cool Matt- and full time study is certainly the way to go I’m on a dispersed programme at the moment and its just too much. Brave step though – prayers and blessings
Sally

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Matt Stone

2006-11-10

Oh no Sally, don’t get me wrong, this is only part time I’m talking about for the moment. Full time is way too daunting a prospect for me to jump in straight away. What, with the whole issue of supporting a young family and me being one of the most anti-institutional evangelicals you’re likely to come across, full time institutional life is just too surreal for me to seriously consider for just a few months ahead. I am giving myself 12 months of part time study to decide on whether full time study is what God is calling me to. If, at the end of 2007, I feel called to go deeper I’ll convert the Grad Dip Div into either a Bachelor of Ministry or a Master of Divinity. But that’s by no means assured – at least that’s what I keep telling myself – but it freaks me out that God is smoothing out the road. See, I don’t know where I’ll end up – I’m not cut out to be a regular pastor and no one gets paid for doing the edgy stuff that interests me – how can I make a career out of that? I was convinced for years that what he wanted of me was to operate in a ‘tent making’ capacity. Now God’s asking me to bungy jump into the unknown – I’m trying the little bridge first!

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Dana Ames

2006-11-10

Not that you should have a big head 🙂 but I think you will have a few things to teach those profs as well….
Which school?
Dana

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fernando

2006-11-10

All the very best with this!
FWIW, I did two years part-time before diving in full-time. It was tough and lonely. Mind you, I didn’t make many friends as a full-timer either, but that’s another story.
They might encourage you to give up the blog but I hope you don’t. I’ll be fascinated to read the way you interact with the material and curriculum.
Also, when you get there, get your hands on a few volumes of Church Dogmatics – it’s a pretty small club of people who have read Morling’s copies of those. 😉

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Matt Stone

2006-11-11

Dana
Heading off to Morling College. I want to maximise the learning so I’m planning to focus on those subject areas where I’ve got less experience. Don’t think I’ll be taking Philip Johnson’s class in alternate religious movements for instance (there’s still heaps I can learn from him but not in this setting) and likewise I have doubts about the value of some of the mission and apologetics subjects since I’ve already done so much in terms of field work, self-directed study and dialogue with other missiologists and apologists. May take Mike Frost’s course on evangelism at some stage but am feeling a little hmmmm about that too (I’ll have to chat to Mike about what he covers in the class and how suited it is for people with allergies to production line evangelism).
Learning Hebrew though, that could have some value, not only with apologetics conversations (see recent goddess post for instance, need I say more) but also with my researches into the Kabbalah and critical contextualization of the Old Testament for post-moderns. For starters, though, I want to kick it off with Foundations of Christian Counselling. The crossover between psychology and spirituality is quite extensive in the contexts I move in and I am hoping this will give me a context to work through some of the theological and practical issues.
Fernando
They can encourage all the like with the blog but bite my bum would be the only conceivable retort. Not that I think that’s likely. I mean, no doubt there will be some who’ll have grave concerns with it, but with people like Mike up there I trust I’ll have some backup. Anyway, I’m used to being an illegitimate bastard child. Truth is I’ve been warned that the more likely issue from me will the anti-Catholic leanings of the conservative set. This gentile’s not going to be circumcised that easily though.
I am curious as to how I am going to interract with the curriculum too. With counselling subject for instance, what makes counselling Christian? Will the syllibus engage with the insights of Jung and will there be an exploration of a foundational Christian theology on dreams and the unconscious? Will there be any serious critique of deliverance ministry style counselling? Many of the more dysfunctional people I have encountered in my journey have been plagued by visions of ghosts. Will there be space for dealing with some of this and how to handle it better? What about the apologetic value of sound Christian guidance in the resolution of marital disputes and other life traumas? These are all quuestions that come up for me.
Matt

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Dana Ames

2006-11-11

Well, it sounds like you are getting some good questions together already. A couple of people on the Wrightsaid email list I belong to are associated with Morling college, and they have some of the best things to say, especially one Ian Packer. As to your retort about your blog- LOL!
Best to you-
Dana

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sally

2006-11-11

ok matt, just glad you feel able to jump… see you on the way down!!!

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