Surviving Seminary
by Zachery Maloney
Being in seminary creates a number of tensions in one’s life, namely in the area of time-management. How do we balance various commitments? Balance is not really a word that we find in Scripture, though it certainly seems like a spiritual concern. If we’re all honest, most days end up imbalanced. The seminary student must accept the fact that the challenge of finding balance will never disappear, even beyond graduation. This not only applies to those in seminary, but any person in a season of waiting or study.
In this essay, we’ll examine how students can survive spiritually while in seminary. While it may seem strange that seminary poses such spiritual challenges (like asking, “How do I find food in a buffet line?”), the fact that this is a commonly-reported challenge deserves a closer look. Here we’ll look at some challenges that hinder seminarians, though they are by no means exclusive to seminary students. No matter what season of waiting or preparation, we have a spiritual imperative to remain faithful, and here we will consider the shape of that faithfulness.
God & Academic Life
One problem that training for ministry has is that it unconsciously separates what we learn from who we are and how we are to act as persons in relationship with God. In theological terms, we could say this is separating orthodoxy (right doctrine) from orthopathy (right affection) or orthopraxy (right practice).
On the other hand, we can emphasize one at the expense of the others (the problem of isolation). Balance is important. Often theology students focus on right doctrine while ignoring their affections and actions. While we should be prompted to “deepen our roots” in our studies, the focus on other areas of the Christian life should not be ignored.
In order to avoid isolation or separation of these three aspects of our personhood, we must consider how God actually created us to operate. Leroy Forlines identifies four basic relationships that human beings are created for:
(1)Relationship with God;
(2)Relationship to other people;
(3)Relationship with the created order; and
(4)Relationship to oneself [1].
Learning involves all of these areas, and therefore touches our entire humanity. It’s easy to disconnect information from personhood. The result is that we lose sight of how spirituality includes the intellect, emotions, and conduct. The Gospel is not just a set of constructive ideas or thoughts, but rather it centers upon a person: Jesus Christ.
Students of the Word must guard themselves against limiting the Gospel to just a set of concepts. Paul David Tripp notes “danger is afloat when you come to love the ideas more than the God whom they represent and the people they are meant to free” [2]. This is why the seminary student needs the local church. The local church provides guidance and accountability. Being involved in a local church is just as important as learning in the classroom.
Seminarians forget that the academics are for serving our heart and the church. These truths are wood for the fire of the heart. They are what drive the engines. David Mathis points out, “You want to make the mind work to serve the heart work” [3]. In other words, I still study and do my assignments in order to receive good grades, but not grades alone. I now want to speak with clarity and precision on the deity of Christ because it is for His glory!
Completing assignments is a good example of this. At the beginning of the semester, students receive a syllabus with various assignments listed. Syllabi might include book reviews, theological reflections, and research papers, all of which will have deadlines, instructions, and rubrics for grading. The question is no longer, “What can I get by with?” but rather, “How can I honor Christ the most in this assignment?” [4]. The seminary student must make his mind and heart work together in order to serve the greater work of the Kingdom.
Prayer & Academic Life
One of the keys to surviving spiritually in seminary or any season of waiting in life is to not put the main things on hold while preparing for the next. Far too often, prayer is the discipline that is ignored. Post-its, impending deadlines, and tuition payments should remind us of our dependence on God, and compel us to approach the throne of grace. We should remember why we are called “little children” in Scripture (cf. Mt. 18:3). We are little ones because we depend on God. Prayer is a wonderful stimulant for reminding us how much we need God.
When we forget our dependence on God and the guidance we need, we quit praying. The key is to not separate our academic studies from our devotional lives. Rather, we must approach our studies devotionally. Keep the heart and mind connected. Understand that doctrine and life are correlative, each feeding the other [5].
When this connection between doctrine and life is seen, academic study will feed our souls. However, this depends on a person’s maturity as well. As John Frame puts it, “Growth in grace will make you a better theologian, and becoming a better theologian will help you grow in grace” [6]. In essence, the necessary key to surviving spiritually in seminary is actually being a Christian devoted to spiritual growth.
Doctrine & Doxology
I really enjoy studying theology. Until recently however, I must admit that most, if not all that I was studying did not lead me to praise God. I just thought they were ideas that I needed to know in order to restate for a test. I soon realized that Jesus is both revelatory and redemptive. Now I study theology in hopes to take every thought captive to Christ’s lordship (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).
It most assuredly starts on the level of thought, but we should pray it affects us on a heart level as well. Take for example the doctrine of election. Notice the way Paul responds to this doctrine below:
Romans 11:33-36 – “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Paul understood something very important here. God is infinite, and we are finite. Yet this is far from an excuse to not study theology. Francis Schaeffer comments on this when he says, “We do not come to true spirituality or the true Christian life merely by keeping a list, but neither do we come to it merely by rejecting the list and then shrugging our shoulders and living a looser life” [7]. Doctrine and theology flow from God’s nature. For us to say we don’t want to study it, for whatever reason, is not only lazy but also rebellious against God Himself.
Scripture is written in a way that accommodates our finite ability to comprehend. Otherwise, our attempts to study God would be more ridiculous than a first grader’s attempt to study how cellular respiration works. So we shouldn’t treat these doctrines as burdens, but rather as guides for our entire lives.
Paul understood that God is always more than we say. In the same tone, Jonathan Parnell says,
I fear many imagine God as far too small. Even if you say the right words and articulate good doctrine, if you are not somehow overcome by his greatness, it’s probably because you have domesticated him. Accessibility to information about him has inoculated you to his grandeur . . . the very fact that we know that God is incomprehensible is itself an evidence of what he has graciously let us comprehend [8].
Parnell points out that some make the mistake of domesticating God due to the “accessibility of information.” Learning God’s ways requires us to beware of this danger.
Closing Thoughts
No matter our seasons of life, whether as a seminarian, pastor, Christian College student, or a believer in a season of training or study, our response to studying Scripture should be awe-filled worship and adoration of God. We must determine within ourselves to not be known simply by our academic prowess, but rather focus on how what we are studying can liberate the human heart.
We must never treat God’s Word as a mere academic assignment. We must spend as much time in prayer so that the information we are studying turns into intimacy with God. This will only help us, as we grow more mature in our faith. May our efforts echo David’s prayer, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Ps. 119:18).
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[1] F. Leroy Forlines, The Quest for Truth (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, 2006), 140.
[2] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 42.
[3] Midwestern Seminary, Panel Discussion on “How to Stay Christian in Seminary,” http://www.mbts.edu/video/march-4-2014-panel-discussion/. accessed 7 March 2014; Internet.
[4] I am indebted to my Christian Ethics professor, Dr. Mark Liederbach, for this insight. He is professor of Theology, Culture, and Ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He often puts a moral dilemma into the ethical formula Stated Belief + Actual Practice = Actual Belief for examination. This proved very beneficial for my own understanding of epistemology and authority. Liederbach’s thought has been featured elsewhere on the site as well. You may listen to a Forum interview with him entitled, “Christians & the Environment,” here.
[5] John Frame, “Studying Theology as a Servant of Jesus” http://www.frame-poythress.org/studying-theology-as-a-servant-of-jesus/. ; accessed 15 March 2014; Internet.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1971), 6.
[8] David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell, How to Stay Christian in Seminary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014) 43-44.
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About the Author: Zach Maloney is the Pastor of Christian Education at Tippett’s Chapel FWB Church in Clayton, North Carolina. He is a 2012 graduate of Welch College. He is also a graduate student in Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His academic interests include systematic theology, Christian ethics, and evangelism.
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