Hob's SemBlog

Notes, comments, thoughts on my studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
so my friends/family/supporters/whoever can keep tabs on my progress, and nag me to keep on top of things.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

And so, it begins...

Had my first class today in History of Western Philosophy. Wasn't bad (except I'd remembered it as a 2 hr class and it was a 3 hr...not a big deal, but when you're ready to hear "see you next week" and you hear "top of the hour, let's take a break"...well, your disposition gets skewed.

But on the whole decent class.

Hour 1: Going over syllabus, etc. Didn't tell me much I couldn't have read.

Hour 2: Apologetic for the course--can/should a Christian study Philosophy--isn't it "vain" (Col. 2)? Standard lesson on the topic, nothing revelatory to me, but handled well.

Hour 3: Overview of Chapter 1 The Greek Philosophers by W. K. C. Guthrie, "Greek Ways of Thinking." Ahh, finally! Meat! I'd read over about half of the chapter the other day, found it intriguing. This overview just whet my appetite for more. Hoping to carve out a couple of hours today to get into this book. If I am struck with any insights, I'll post 'em here (which was half of my reason for starting this)

Did this class over the Internet with both an audio and video feed. The video feed is fairly pointless: too slow and not clear enough. The audio was tolerable--but when the prof was answering a question he focused more on speaking to the question-er than to the class, and the mic didn't do a great job of catching that. Hopefully I'll get better at discerning what he says as we go along.

H. C. jotted this down on 2:41 AM. (( 2:41 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Allrighty!

I'm an official, fully convocated seminary student now.

Which makes me a Pip-ette, or something like that...

Have much to say, but not the energy to say it. The weather out here--135% humidity or so, is really draining....more soon.

H. C. jotted this down on 11:32 PM. (( 11:32 PM 0 comments

Monday, August 16, 2004

I LOVE seminary!!! :-D

Couple of weeks ago I got a DVD-ROM/burner for my computer--for the DVD classes.
Last week I got cable internet--for the video conferencing classes.

This week I look over the textbook list and note 2 things:

I have (and have read) about half the books I need for this semester.
I've got a good chunk of the books for the other classes, and otherwise I'll be required to buy a bunch of books I've been meaning to get for years.

too much fun....

H. C. jotted this down on 10:52 AM. (( 10:52 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

new url

okay, the SemBlog is up on my new digs...first things posted to my own domain. Thisis mostly a test post to make sure everything works the way it should.

H. C. jotted this down on 2:56 PM. (( 2:56 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Countdown ...

Had my first session with my academic advisor. 1st words out of his mouth, "I'm exempting you from Rhetoric." Well, okay, if you insist! 3 credits down--I knew my bachelor's would finally pay off!

Headed back to Greenville itself for orientation, etc. on Aug 23-24. When I go back I will take the OT Survey test to see if I need that. Will try the Greek I test in the Spring. The advisor wants me to start out slow, too, given it's my first semester and all my other responsibilities. It's nice when things like that are unanimous. Intro to Reformed Theology and History of Philosophy if I pass the OT test. Otherwise it'll be Intro to Reformed and OT Survey. Am very nervous about the test. If it was Greek or even intro to Ref. Theology or Ante-Nicene Fathers I wouldn't mind so much...just not looking forward to failing that test. "Boy, you obviously haven't read your Bible enough..."

The orientation includes discussions of 2 books: The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory and How to Read a Book by Charles Van Doren & Mortimer J. Adler. Amazon should be getting me the Adler/Van Doren book this week (sounds halfway interesting from the reviews on the site). Got the Gregory book a few years ago to help w/homeschooling prep. It's an educational manual written in the late 1800's, updated in 1930-something. Boring as all get out. I think it'd make a great essay or two. But a whole book just seems overkill. From what I can tell, I agree with everything he says. Just think a lot of it doesn't need to be said. :)

Anyhow, classes start on Aug. 25, will keep ya posted. Hopefully even post a note or two from GPTS itself.

H. C. jotted this down on 11:32 PM. (( 11:32 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Blog Update

Okay, stumbled through it, but finally have comments enabled again. Still don't like the way it looks in Internet Explorer, but refuse to waste any more time with it. Sorry IE users. May I recommend getting a better browser? (not just so this looks right, but for better browsing in general)

Next post will be about GPTS status..

H. C. jotted this down on 2:33 PM. (( 2:33 PM 0 comments

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