Life in Seminary (1)

INTELLECTUAL FORMATION

It is a necessary protocol (especially among mainline churches) for one who intends to embark on a full-time pastoral vocation to first obtain a theological degree. Such a prerequisite assumes that one is only qualified to shepherd a church if one first receives theological education.

Yet, does theological education solely mean intellectual formation, or does it include spiritual formation (and other dimensions of formation) of the students as well? At least from my observation of the seminary I am studying in, it means the former. Perhaps my observation comes primarily from (my perception of) the lecturers' view of their role in the life of the students. Most lecturers view themselves only as lecturers, having only one responsibility: to impart knowledge to the students. They do not see themselves being responsible of the spiritual and physical etc. formation of the students, hence, are rather unconcerned of the daily struggles of the students.

Even as lecturers do impart knowledge to the students, they impart mainly facts, which can be found in books and other literatures. Many do not guide students through a critical thinking process nor provide insightful wisdom from the knowledge being imparted. Hardly do the students receive things beyond books, such as pastoral experience or scriptural wisdom.

Furthermore, students are constantly bombarded by countless assignments, resulting in many being unable to research comprehensively and digest adequately the relevant information. Inevitably, one may complete the assignments in the given time frame without being truly informed. Well, some lecturers might say that they are already giving very few assignments to the students, meeting the bare minimum requirement of the seminary. True. Unfortunately, students need to complete few assignments from each lecturer, and the total workload can be quite scary and unrealistic. Other than that, some perhaps due to poor time management, but there are many who are forced to hand in a cut-and-paste product due to their inability to keep up with the pace set by the lecturers (assignment deadlines).

After 3 or 4 years of theological education, many enter into pastoral ministry with tons of knowledge but are clueless of what to do with them, for no one has taught them how to translate these knowledge into action. Yet, the church assumes that they are theologically educated and expect them to provide direction and vision for the church. What can they do? They throw away all the knowledge that they obtained in the seminary and seek wisdom in Christian popular writings and church models, which are often not theologically sound and heavily influenced by secular wisdom. Such is the reality.

Even if the seminary desires only to be responsible of the intellectual formation of the students (which I disagree), perhaps the lecturers themselves need to constantly reexamine and refine both their teaching methodology and their pool of knowledge, and hopefully be able to impart insightful and reflective thoughts and applications to the students during lectures.

To be continued...