Wow, I am actually getting a post in here before the month is out. We are five weeks into the semester and I think that it is actually shaping up to be the best one ever. I have had four quizes in Greek and scored 30/30, 24.5/30, 27.5/30, and 28/30. I never scored that well last year, which is why I am trying it again, and I actually know what the heck is going on. This feels amazing. I can actually sit in class, follow the lecture and translate what I need to. The other classes are going well too, although, I do not have weekly quizzes to gauge my performance by like in Greek. I feel like I am doing well in the other courses though. I am accomplishing most of the reading, following the lectures and taking comprehensive notes and have an overall understanding of whats going on. I am nervous for the next couple of weeks though, I have multiple midterms or first exams in about two weeks. I expect to do very well on them, but I am still nervous about it.
Christin and I are doing well. It's kind of strange that when I am working harder on school and spending more time on it, the time that she and I are together is actually less, but better. Neither of us are stressed about whether or not I should be working. Alright, who am I kidding, when did I worry about getting something done? Christin is a lot less stressed about me getting everything accomplished, because she sees that I actually am getting things done. Overall, this semester is working out much better. Christin is an amazing, patient wife, and I am blessed to be able to have her as mine.
The annual Lund Lectures at the Seminary started yesterday. A professor from the U.K. spoke for roughly two hours about the connection of Romans 9-11 with the Wisdom of Solomon. Two hours of speaking to basically, as far as I can make out, conclude that grace is a gift, not a reward, bestowed on whomever God chooses. I know that there was more there, but I have not studied enough to really follow all that he spoke about yesterday. I sometimes sit at school and think to myself, are we over analyzing something that is not ment to be so stinkin difficult. Apparently this has been the nature of Biblical studies all along. The centuries have shown that humanity has been struggling with all types of aspects of Christianity, the Bible, and Jesus. I know that it is also no different for the Jews before us. They have whole books on the discernment of how to keep the law, and yet, it is still debated by some today. And what I am finding is that even learning a dead language or two is not going to really help the situation within my own understanding. It may help some, but I am still working with translating from one language into English, which is quiet frankly, barbaric in its conveyance of emotion and thought. I know that I am missing intentions of the authors when I try to ascribe an English word to an originally Greek thought or even worse, to Hebrew. The depth is not there. I know that earlier theologians working with an understanding drawn from living at that time, also struggled and wrestled with these concerns. This is not to say that I am not going to continue my studies, just that it is a reality check that I most likely will not gain some momentus insight that will change the face of Christianity as we know it, through my humble understanding of a dead language.
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