Hob's SemBlog

That's about that...

2007-06-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

from the minutes of the Spring meeting of the Presbytery of the Northwest: REMOVAL OF MR. NEWTON FROM UNDER CARE - On motion the recommendation of the [Candidates and Credentials] committee was adopted that presbytery remove the name of Mr. Hobart Newton from the list of men under care. On motion at the request of Mr. Jambura his abstention was recorded.

Prayer Req.

2006-09-09T11:01:00.000-06:00

If you read my main blog, feel free to skip down to paragraph 2, but for those who don't: First day of classes this year, I get a call from the Property Manager, the owners of our house have put it up for sale. So in addition to all the pressures of work/school/homeschool, we have to get the house ready for sale. Yesterday was supposed to be devoted to Hebrew--have failed one quiz already,

Oh, fer cryin' out loud!

2006-09-06T10:43:00.000-06:00

One of the first books I bought after becoming Reformed was that big blue paperback edition of Calvin's Institutes--the Beveridge translation. Ohh, it was great. Big, hefty, relatively cheap. Could be used as a slightly softer alternative to a rock for a pillow when camping (pretty sure a friend did that). The 19th century English made you feel like you were reading a classic. Then I got

"A minister must know the original languages"

2006-08-24T11:57:00.000-06:00

A minister is called by God to preach His Word. Yet, few preachers fully do this. God's word was written in Hebrew and Greek [footnote: There is also some Aramaic in the Old Testament]. Translations are not the Word of God, they are the word of fallible men. "But!" some would say, "a translation is the Word of God inasmuch as it agrees with the original text." That is a legitimate statement.

Beginning of the Term

2006-08-23T13:57:00.000-06:00

Is today. Thankfully, no classes for me. That starts tomorrow at 7:30 am (!!!) Reason #4 why I should be a residential student: class times are more reasonable. Have Greek I (again), Hebrew II, and Reformation Church History in front of me. I'll be very honest. Very nervous about this semester. Got the feeling it's do or die time. And I'm not thinking the "do" is that likely.

It's Textbook Arrival Day!

2006-08-16T10:23:00.000-06:00

The day that removes the pain of "Textbook Ordering Day"...w00t!

Fall '06 is coming...

2006-08-03T14:55:00.000-06:00

...and the question on everyone's mind is...will I actually post anything? Stay tuned. Aug 23rd is right around the corner.

End of Term Updates

2005-12-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Oops. Been a bit since I updated here. If anyone besides my wife reads this, please let me know--just leave a comment. Easier to take the time when I know there's an audience. Okay, Greek. Um. Let me just put it this way. You can read about that next fall here :) Hermeneutics. Term paper was a couple pages short, but I think anything else would've been stretching things, padding. I hate

Ouch

2005-10-20T12:24:00.000-06:00

Tried to take the mid-term last week, but between my crazy schedule and a nasty cold, wasn't able to. Today, in what would've been the normal class time I took it (we're on fall break now). Not feeling that it was incredibly successful. Probably not even close. Taking a test 1 week after you study for it is not something I'm going to do again. :<

At this moment

2005-10-13T11:34:00.000-06:00

I'm NOT taking my mid-term for Hermeneutics. Why is this noteworthy? Because the rest of the class is taking it RIGHT NOW. Actually started about a half-an-hour ago. I've yet to receive the exam, and the prof is off in New Zealand. No body at the seminary knows where the exam is, but they told me they'd look and send it to me if they found it. I checked with my mentor thinking, maybe they'd

I live

2005-10-04T09:52:00.000-06:00

Pretty sure I passed. It wasn't pretty tho'. Certain things I'd spent a lot of time studying dropped right out of my mind as soon as I started writing, but I think I held on to enough of them to make it. Some material I didn't spend quite as much time on seemed to stick better. So that's a bit frustrating. More than a bit, actually. Well, life goes on--no Hermeneutics this week, mid-term

Greek Mid-Term Tomorrow

2005-10-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

I say this in all honesty...if the mid-term had been on the date originally scheduled (9/29) I would have failed. But, Dr. Dyer re-scheduled it for tomorrow. How will I do now? One instant I'm feeling okay, possibly even confident. The next I'm feeling "I'm doomed...as doomed as doomed can be y'know?" (please read that with Ed Grimley's voice). Time will tell..................

Yay!

2005-09-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

Got the word today that I passed (not wonderfully) my OT Survey test. Phew. Three more credits down.

Update on classes

2005-09-15T10:03:00.000-06:00

Well, in the spirit of being better about keeping you informed, here's the summary of my progress this term:WOW, there's a lot I'm supposed to know now that I just don't.Hermeneutics is going well, pretty much. I'm pretty close to being up on my reading, only being slowed by taking the best notes I've ever taken while reading. If I push just a little more, I'll be in fine shape for the Mid-Term

Minor victory over my own stupidity

2005-09-08T07:49:00.000-06:00

I'm rusty when it comes to taking notes, I noticed that very early on last year. And over the 'net my classes are hard to hear, so I'd miss a lot. Naturally, that really bugged me. So last Spring I bought some software that would allow me to easily record the classes. About the same time, the professors never heard me during roll call, etc. My headset was pretty thrashed last year, and I was

Excited

2005-08-31T11:26:00.000-06:00

Really liking Greek class so far--the professor actually involves us Internet students in the class--most check to see if we're there and then move on. Granted, he could talk louder (a lot), but I can put up with that. Wrapping up my first homework--parsing and translations. My parsing was a little rough, but nice. The translations I'm loving--simple little sentences, but I've been able to do

Just in the nick of time

2005-08-24T14:31:00.000-06:00

Both classes start tomorrow. 3rd best argument against distance education: a 9:30 am class there (a decent time to get underway) equals a 7:30 am class here. Bah. The last of my textbooks arrived today, A Preparatory Grammar to New Testament Greek by Sid Dyer. Scanned through the first few chapters and found the following under "Accent Marks." Some grammarians emphasize the rules of

Take Two

2005-08-22T15:24:00.000-06:00

Just took my Old Testament Survey Entrance Exam. As reported, last year I just barely failed, so they wanted me to take it again, rather than go through all the hassle of having a distance student take this class. Pretty sure I did better--left 2 questions unanswered and there were about 6 questions I guessed at, but the rest I felt pretty confident about (if not downright cocky--"name the

tick, tick, tick...

2005-08-17T10:28:00.000-06:00

Textbooks are on the way, one syllabus in hand (one hopefully coming soon), classes start next week. Am looking forward to it. Think the workload will overwhelm me, but by the grace of God, it will be good for me.

Update on History Grade

2005-08-03T10:51:00.000-06:00

Earlier, I'd reported that I was less than thrilled with my grade. Well, after having a couple of emails lost in transmission, I've gotten the news that he accepted those missing assignemtns, and my grade is up where it should be. Very happy now. 21 days 'til Fall Term. Eeep.

Next Term...

2005-06-15T14:40:00.000-06:00

Taking Hermeneutics and Greek I. Think I'll be doing both classes via video confernce, which'll really help me stay on top of things.

End of Term Wrap-Up

2005-06-15T14:27:00.000-06:00

hit me yesterday that I hadn't really descirbed the end of the semester events... 1. Finished my paper--I wasn't entirely satisfied with it, and during the writing frequently wished I'd tackled something a bit more narrow. For example a critique of Hodge's views/presentations on the office of RE (by the end of it, I couldn't believe I was reading the same man who's Systematic and Commentaries

History Grades

2005-06-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

Well I just received my first ever grade from GPTS. It drives my wife crazy that I haven't received the others yet, but it doesn't bother me--I figure as long as I'm not on academic probation, I'll get my degree--and they'll surely let me know if I'm on probation. Still, it was nice to get some feedback on my final and my paper in Presbyterian History. I lost some points on the paper due to

Home Stretch

2005-05-04T12:25:00.000-06:00

1. Had a good convo today with my debate partner, neither of us is as ready as we should be, but we're in okay shape for next Tuesday's face off. 2. Am having a hard time plowing through my history paper...am really wishing now I'd made the focus of it critiquing Hodge's view on the Ruling Elder. There's a lot there to tackle. My own fatigue (unusally high the last two weeks) and my kids are

Fighting the Good Fight Reading Report

2005-04-19T10:47:00.000-06:00

Heart really wasn't in this report, took me 3 days to push this out...not sure why. But it's done now...that's the important part, w/o futher ado, here's my report on Fighting the Good Fight: A Brief History of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church "The OPC's identity is bound to her origins. In other words, the OPC was born a certain type of church. This means her identity is not tied so much to