This past quarter was brutally spread thin. I’m afraid one of my classes in particular got the sore end of the deal. I thought it was going to be easy review for me and much of the class time was, but then we had a stickler TA who bombarded our exams with extensive loss of points. It was one of those reality shockers when I thought I just lost maybe a couple points on one of the essays and instead two of the essays were just all slashed up. It is also a shocker because the professor is the embodiment of mercy, grace, and humility. I guess the TA represents judgment and wrath, for me at least.

I already don’t like taking exams, but when there is added pressure, I tend to freak out so much about detail that I overwhelm myself. I bring myself to the point where, come exam day, I question every answer I make as I imagine a bloodthirsty grader wielding his big fat red pen and joyously finding every little bit I’ve left out. It makes me a slow test taker. And it makes me wonder if these tests are really generating solid learning. I think I’ve decided not to give my students exams, at least the same kind, if I ever make it to the other side of this education alive. Don’t get me wrong. I love the professors I’ve had here and the classes are good. I think my major problem is that we’re on the quarter system. Everything just gets so jampacked and stressful. Fuller does also have a problem with huge survey courses with 70-80 people in them, that’s a little unpleasant.

Yet I still learned a lot this quarter! And over my break I hope to cipher some of that learning in written form onto my blog. Many of my assignments towards the end of the quarter would be perfect for blog adaptation, but I was just too busy. Over my break, then, I’ll be posting sections from my women in ministry paper, reflecting on Bockmuehl’s book, and throwing in some research exercises from NT research methods (like the season-appropriate translation of κατάλυμα in Luke 2:7 . . . Mary and Joseph weren’t turned away from an inn, folks!).

I have naturally set myself with too high expectations for my break. My priorities include studying Greek nearly full-time, reading the first volume of Meier’s A Marginal Jew series, preparing Bible studies for my church-based internship (see this and that book I’m using), and maybe reading one of the books required for next quarter. All of that within three weeks. Oh, and I’m preaching a sermon at church on December 31st. It’s my first time preaching since being a chaplain in college five years ago. For the curious, next quarter I’ll be taking:

• NS532: Paul and the Law with Donald Hagner (Elective)
• OT506: OT Exegesis: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings with Jim Butler (OTBE)
• CH500: Early Church History with James Bradley (CHA)

Finally, I hope to get a new look for my blog. I don’t like how narrow the space is for my text and I’m going to see if I can make it look a little spiffier. So I’ll be experimenting on a test blog for that.