Is Seminary Highly-Competitive?

Perhaps you are blessed with a blissfully content heart that enables you to attend seminary for the purest motive of simply learning. You shrug your shoulders at a C+ and praise God that your friend pulled off an A. When someone else’s sermon leaves yours in the dust, you are giddy with excitement that that person has such tremendous gifting for the glory of God. You love losing arguments because you realize you just gained a new perspective. If that’s you, you can click on another headline because this article will leave you a bit disillusioned and maybe a little shocked about the depravity of your classmates! Because you see, there is a vast majority of us who have yet to be freed from the unrelenting compulsion to compete.

Is Competition Godly? I’ve been exploring that recently and have decided that there is Selfish Competition (which seeks its own), Godly Competition (against the forces of evil), and Neutral Competition (two or more parties agreeing to engage in recreational competition for the sake of a common goal, such as exercise or stress relief).

Academic Competition in Seminary?

But does academic competition belong in seminary? Yes, we are called to compete against laziness, to compete against procrastination, to compete against ungodliness so that we might show ourselves a workman approved, rightly dividing the word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15). But are we called to compete with each other?

How many times have you sat in seminary classes and listened to people argue? More often than I care to recount. Yes, we’re called to pursue truth, and I’m the first to engage in some exhilarating theological debate. But the goal is truth, the goal is a new perspective. Sadly more times than not, what’s bubbling up beneath the surface is not a passion for God’s truth, it’s a gnawing desire to be right. We are desperate to prove our own point, to validate our own position. In a word, to win. In our journey of theological training, we simply hate to lose.

What about those of us plagued with the ability to receive academic awards and honors? Do we relish the thought of receiving honors, being ranked highly in our class, being named the recipient of a distinguished award? Is this appropriate for those of us who have devoted our life to serving the cause of Christ, the Humble King?

I suggest that where selfish competition is present, we are missing out on the essence of our seminary education. We are called to esteem others better than ourselves, to rejoice in the success of others, to care more for others than for self. If we don’t walk circumspectly, our seminary classes will be nothing more than a fleshly competition for earthly “success.” Nothing could be farther from our goal.

My own prayer is that God would purge my heart of selfish motivations for honors, awards, accolades, and applause. Root out that gnawing desire to be right. With eyes peeled for his smile and ears perked for his praise, I pray to lay aside fleshly competition, and truly study for His pleasure. Even if it means losing a little along the way.

Seminary Meme Winner - Chuck

Note:  Chuck, please use the contact form so I can get you your prize.   

Congrats go out to Chuck (aka, Chuckles, Chucklebunny, Chork, Chubbs, Charlie Bucket, Bucket, Bucket-Boy) who was the winner of our April Seminary Meme Competition. For answering 6 simple questions, tagging 5 other people, and being the name Just a Gal drew out of my Windies hat, Chuck gets to go on a $100 spending frenzy at Eisenbrauns.

For the inquiring minds in the group… here are Chuck’s answers (oh, and if you wanted to know, he attends Asbury Seminary):

What class do you think has most impacted your spiritual life?

Wow…so far, probably OT720 Biblical Archaeology. Getting to dive into the physical remains of the Old Testament world has been amazing for helping me digest the biblical text.

What seminary professor has been the most influential while in seminary?

Gah…I think this is really a tie between Dr. Richter and Dr. Dongell, though I’m tempted to lean toward Dongell.

What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced in seminary?

Adjusting to being back in school full-time while my wife works full-time to support us. There have definitely been moments of tension there.

What has been the greatest reward you’ve experienced in seminary?

Primarily, being connected with an amazing local congregation in which to worship. This has been a huge time of refreshment and spiritual renewal for me.

What are your plans after seminary?

I’m hoping to go on to PhD studies somewhere (right now looking at Notre Dame) for Early Church studies/Patristics.

How many times have you been asked question #6?

5,636,220,184 times. Exactly.

Again, congrats to Chuck and, of course, MANY thanks to our generous sponsor Eisenbrauns!

Seminary Meme Competition

Update: For some reason Technorati and Wordpress are not picking up all the links from everyone’s site who is participating in the meme.  For this reason, please drop a comment on this post after you’ve filled out the meme so we can ensure that you are entered into the comp.

This month’s competition at Going to Seminary is a good (and easy) one. The best part though is that one of our site sponsors, Eisenbrauns, has offered to supply this month’s prize… a $100 gift certificate to their online bookstore!

So, how can you win the $100 gift certificate? Easy:

This Seminary Meme is part of a competition sponsored by Going to Seminary and Eisenbrauns. If you’d like to be entered, simply answer the 7 questions below and tag 5 other people. You’ll also need to post this paragraph (links included) with your answers as the links will be tracked back to your blog and will count as your “entry” into the competition. On April 30th, 2008, one blogger will be selected at random to win a $100 gift certificate to the Eisenbrauns online bookstore.

Please feel free to modify the question so as to make it appropriate to your situation as a pre-seminarian, seminarian, or seminary graduate (example given on first question).

1. Where do (will/did) you attend seminary?
2. What class do you think has most impacted your spiritual life?
3. What seminary professor has been the most influential while in seminary?
4. What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced in seminary?
5. What has been the greatest reward you’ve experienced in seminary?
6. What are your plans after seminary?
7. How many times have you been asked question #6?

Tagged (almost everyone who has ever left a comment on Going to Seminary): Jeff, Tyler, Shaun, Chad, Jon, tlange, Sovann, Julie, Chris, Jake, Paul, Jason, Terry, Anthony, Mark, Ryan, Jeremiah, Chris, Ben, Nick, Paul, Eric, RC, Raymond, Deb, Shari, and Andy

48 Hours

We’re starting to see some people get into the iPods of March competition. Jeff, from deTheos.com has posted some flyers on campus and sent me two pics. Sad as it may be (no offense Jeff) but he is, at this point, going to collect the “Most Creative” points as those flyers are the most creative thing anyone has done so far.

Lets just say that, as it stands, it is still anyone’s game. Also, remember that if you win you can choose the cash option. $150 is always a nice bonus. Think of it this way… if you spend an hour doing some of the stuff mentioned on the contest post and win the competition, then it is like you got paid $150 an hour. That is about what the average pastor makes… right?

iPod Contest Update - Standing and Cash Option

With 6 days left in the iPods of March competition we have a very open field. It is truly anyone’s game at this point. Currently the points standings are (this is sad):

1st place currently has 6 points
2nd place currently has 5 points
3rd place currently has 2 points

That means, if you want to win an iPod nano, it is REALLY easy. Also, if you’re not interested in the iPod, I will offer you the option of getting the cash value of any of the prizes via paypal. ($150, $50, $25).

The iPods of March Competition - Win an 4GB iPod Nano

This year there is no need to “beware the Ides of March.” In fact, quite the opposite! This year you can look forward to the Ides of March to find out if you are the winner of a brand new 4GB iPod Nano from Going to Seminary… or other cool prizes:

1st prize - 4GB iPod Nano
2nd prize - 1GB iPod Shuffle
3rd prize - $25 iTunes gift card

Just as Rome was not built in a day, neither will this competition be won in a day (unless you’re really good). This one will take some effort, which is why I’m dropping the coin for the cool prizes. So, here are the rules:

This competition will be run on a point system. On March 14th the person with the most points wins. Winners will be announced on the Ides of March (the 15th).

So, how do you get points? Points will be awarded for various tasks you complete - see below. For some of these I will need you to report your activity to me, so I am trusting that no one will cheat or lie (seriously, that would be very uncool).

The Point System:

1 Point - Post a link to Going to Seminary that has seminary related words as the link text. (1 point limit PER DAY)
EXAMPLE:
- This is a cool site about going to seminary. (1 point)
- Check this out. Visit here. (0 points)

1 Point - Create a Going to Seminary flyer and post it somewhere on your campus. (1 point per flyer - 10 point max)
- for this one you need to email me (justaguy [AT] goingtoseminary [DOT] com) and let me know how many you posted and the name of the campus on which you posted them. You are welcome to use any graphics or images found on Going to Seminary for your flyers

3 Points - Add a Going to Seminary badge to your site (scroll down to get the code)

5 Points - If you email me a picture of your flyer hanging somewhere on campus (picture phone images are fine). Please include the name of the campus

10 Points - If you make a verbal announcement before the start of a class about the website (email me the name of your seminary and the class in which you made the announcement).

15 Points - Get your seminary to include a link to Going to Seminary on their next mass email to students (most seminaries have a regular email to students with announcements and events, etc). I’ll need a copy of the email to confirm

20 Points - Get your seminary to post a link to Going to Seminary on their website.

25 Points - For the most creative way you get the word out about Going to Seminary. (I reserve the right to give away more than one of these if you all get really creative)
Example:
- Getting a Going to Seminary tattoo
- Make a Going to Seminary t-shirt and wearing it to class
- Stand on the street corner with a banner with the site URL on it
- Get a skywriter to write the URL over the sky above your seminary
- Get creative… Get the points.

50 Points - The big daddy… Get a seminary (or, heck, anyone) to become a site sponsor.

So, there you have it. Go get some points and I’ll start tracking the results.

Share the Semiary Love - WINNER

Well, the first contest put on by Going to Seminary has come to a conclusion on this St. Valentines Day.

As you may or may not know, we’ve been running a contest to see who could drive the most visitors to the site and over the past couple weeks we have seen hundreds of first time visitors pass through the pages of our humble site.

So, to everyone who joined in on our little game, thank you. Hope you had fun…

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… the winner is:

Benjamin Myers of Faith & Theology

To the victor goes the spoils of a $50 gift card to amazon.com and a brand new copy of A Reader’s Greek New Testament (book courtesy of Bible Geeks Gone Wild… thanks Shaun).

Honorable mentions for their efforts (and some link-love to show our appreciation):
Diary of a Seminary Student
Disruptive Grace
Outside is Better
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
deTheos

Keep an eye out for our next contest coming up in March. If “i” can convince Just a Gal to let me drop the coin, “i” think “i” might even up the prize value to something “i” think you might really like… but more on the pr”i”ze next month.