Australian pastor, Rory Shiner has responded to a variation of this question. He’s specifically given his views on how to spend your last year at theological college.
There’s some stuff I agree with in Rory’s comments but there are a few areas I would differ from him on. Perhaps that reflects my starting point which is that I think many pastors would benefit more from in context vocational training. Having said that, recognising that theological colleges have their place, what would be my advice to those going to theological college?
First, I’d agree with Rory that you should read as deep as you can. I’d say, go deep and wide. Use the opportunity to read outside of your comfort zone. I think there’s benefit in going back to older texts but I wouldn’t be so legalistic as to say that you should avoid stuff in this century or the last. I’d avoid the esoteric as well.
I would agree that it is better to get a low mark in a hard course than a high mark in an easy course. However, don’t assume that this course will be easy and that hard, especially in final year. If a course has been designed as a third or fourth year course, then it will have had to meet certain criteria to be considered academically rigorous enough for the external examiners.
Use the opportunity to study things that you know you wouldn’t be inclined or motivated to without the scaffolding and accountability of tutors, fellow students and assessments. For me this meant using the time to get to know Greek and Hebrew. That will be true for most. Let’s face it, you can probably read John Owen any time and many of us happily would. I wouldn’t worry too much about missing out on Aquinas.
I’d access as much of the practical stuff you can too. For me, this meant using dissertations to handle practical pastoral and ethical issues rather than spending a year looking at one obscure sentence from an obscure puritan in order to satisfy the requirements for originality. And, there’s the key to getting the best out of a dissertation. As far as you can prioritise usefulness over originality. I would lap up those courses about leadership and pastoral care , provided they are taught by experienced pastors and leaders, either still in active ministry or with recent experience.
Finally, don’t just think about what you are going to learn. Think about who you will be learning from. I was blessed whilst at theological college to have the opportunity to learn from people like Mike Ovey, Chris Green, Peter O’Brien and James Robson. Not only was I learning from their wisdom, knowledge and experience but I was spending time with them and learning from their character too. Choose courses because you want to spend time with and learning from those men and women. Choose your theological college on the same basis too.
All of this should inform not just the students but the seminaries too. If you are responsible for such things make sure that the modules you provide are useful and get the very people in to teach that your students will benefit from being around.
Faithroots 