By J. Michael Shannon
It will deepen the student spiritually. Most seminaries now are placing great emphasis on spiritual formation. For some time critics have been saying that seminaries are only interested in the intellectual aspects of religious and ministerial studies. This is no longer the case.
It will also deepen the well intellectually. There are books one would never read and thinkers one would never know about apart from the seminary. Knowledge is not all we need, but it is the foundation of wisdom.
It broadens the preacher’s horizons.
Classroom discussion, course assignments, lectures and books will take students beyond the borders of where they have been. They will interact personally and through reading with a wide variety of people from a wide gamut of perspectives. They might even find themselves disagreeing with some of those perspectives: there is nothing wrong with that.
Advertisement
It will lengthen a person’s influence.
Networking has been a buzzword for the business world for some time now. Having a good relationship with professors will enable the student to use their gifts in a wider circle. Students might be recommended to ministry opportunities that might otherwise have been unavailable. There is also the opportunity to network with peers. Here are people who may be able to bless one’s ministry some day by coming to do seminars or sermons at different churches. The opposite is also true.
While credentialing and academic status is not all there is, there is a benefit to the student. The education received will give him or her the opportunity to be able to bless and teach others in the academy.
So a seminary deepens, broadens and lengthens. This is a good and noble work to do. I know there are some who claim that it takes three years to get through seminary and three years to get over it. Every student needs to place the seminary experience in the context of real world problems and congregational issues.
Take note that the word seminary comes from a Latin word that indicates “a place where seeds are nurtured.” The seminary is a seed house, not a cemetery. I know — I have seen seeds grow and flower there. ❖
J. Michael Shannon is Academic Dean and Professor of Preaching in the Seminary of Cincinnati Christian University.