finally!

tomorrow i start my senior and final year of seminary.

it has been a long trip, including transferring schools when i realized that i had chosen the initial seminary out of fear (basically), and i needed to be somewhere else.

since i'm still more or less heading towards a ph.d. if i ever get focused enough, i'm doubling down on the biblical studies courses this year.  most requirements are out of the way, so i can take all the fun text-heavy courses.

also, i'm going to be a hebrew ta again!  despite the added time and stress, i really, really had a lot of fun last time, so i'm excited about this year.  i get to do way more teaching here than i did at the other seminary, so i'm excited about that too.

i keep getting told "not to count on" the way things were, that there is a "new normal," which basically means (as far as i can tell) that my parents' generation has decided that they don't really want to pass on all the advantages they had in terms of things like tenured, or even full-time professorships, or full-time pastoral appointments, and that i should plan to mostly support myself and be bi- or even tri-vocational.  so this year, besides classes, i'm a seminarian-intern again at a local church and a hebrew ta, which i hope will someday transfer to being a part-time member of a pastoral team and an adjunct professor, which, honestly, i'm not too upset about as a career prospect.

i do think it's important for academics to be involved in a local church, because i refuse to believe that the average person is nothing but a butt in a seat.  every christian academic is living proof that there are people in every church who are interested in feeding their mind.  i think it would be a shame and a waste to have spent years in seminary and getting a ph.d. and not make myself available to a local church.  but also, being crunched in a tire tread "where the rubber hits the road" can be such a valuable experience for an academic and an amazing resource for academic study.  it is in the day-to-day workings of a church where theory and theology and interpretation get worked out.

also, i'm not horribly terrified of only being a part-time pastor/priest.  i feel a primary call/gift to teach, and i would much rather work on a team of other pastors/priests than be solely responsible for a congregation.  i never conceived of myself as a full-time pastor, so the prospect of not having an appointment available doesn't deter me from seeking ordination at all.

so yeah.  one more year of seminary and then... who knows?  ordination?  another master's degree (th.m., m.a.?) to focus a little more?  we'll see what doors open.