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| New Suit! (Now he looks like a preacher!) |
One of the subjects
that I am taking this Semester is Biblical Hermeneutics, which is a fancy name
for interpretation. For this subject we are writing two papers. One paper will
be on an Old Testament passage, and the other on a New Testament passage.
The difference with
these papers is that we are writing them in stages. Our Professor describes it
as an apprenticeship. It's not something that the Seminary has done before, so
it is experimental in some ways. The aim is to produce an in-depth 'deluxe' exegesis
paper. I'm already really enjoying the process.
So far we have
chosen our passages and provided justification as to why we think this pericope
(segment of text) is a complete unit. This involves reading the books through,
making notes, and deciding on a passage. We then look at various commentaries
to get a feel for the background of the book, and look at exegetical
commentaries to help us in justifying our choice.
One thing that it
has immediately made me more aware of is the treasure trove that is in God's
Word. There is so so much more than meets the eye when you start looking more
in depth at a passage. Thankfully my language skills are coming along and so I
am beginning to appreciate more and more what lies under our English
translations. The word plays that occur in Hebrew are lots of fun. You also get
a better appreciation when reading the NT as to how the authors use the Greek
language.
I have chosen Judges
3:12-20 for my OT passage, and I am looking at Philippians 2:12-18 for my NT
passage. I hope to be able to share some thoughts with you as I go along.
I am due to take my
first Chapel on March 27th. Hopefully I can provide you with an audio copy. I
am also due to preach my first sermon in the US for preaching class on April
the 16th, although this may be earlier.
We have handed in
our preferences for our Summer Internships. There are some exciting
possibilities. I can't share any details at present, but will let you know once
we know.
As part of the
process of getting ready for being able to preach in the URC I need to take a
licensure exam with the Consistory that I am under here. Below is a link to a
PDF that has the URC Church Order, with a section on licensure exams, for those
interested. (It's Appendix Two)
Blessings,
Albert
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