Seminary Online Open House

Last night, I went to an online open house at Wesley Theological Seminary last night.  I got the invitation in the late afternoon, and I thought, I should probably do this.  I'm not sure why I thought that.  After all, I'm already working on my application.

I was expecting it to be more of a virtual tour of the campus with a presentation of some sort.  Instead, it was a Zoom meeting with special guests.  A first year student was our special guest for the first half hour, and for the last half, we heard from an academic dean who also teaches a pastoral care class.  I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the first year student.  The professor has been at Wesley for 18 years, which I see as a good sign.  He talked about the difference between conversation in a pastoral care setting (a slower pace, careful and considered), conversation in daily life (not deep), and conversation in a Zoom meeting (more like ping ponging comments).  

What most heartened me about his presentation is that he talked about the seminary's approach to the classes that go deep into the Bible.  He talked about the different contexts that would be considered throughout the course of the class, and by extension the course of seminary study:  the context of the world in which the text that was written, the context of the world of readers, and the context of scholarship.  I was glad to hear that Wesley doesn't insist on the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy.

It does occur to me that those kinds of questions might be ones I should be considering, but I am just so thrilled about the Arts and Theology focus and the fact that the seminary is Methodist, which is much closer to Lutheran theology than many traditions.  Years ago, when I was first wondering if there could be a seminary with an arts and theology focus, I came across a program at Fuller Seminary.  That seminary has an online option, but I have a sense of their conservative theology, and I know that won't work for me.

I was pleased to see the diversity of the people on the Zoom call--almost all of us thinking about seminary, with a person or two who has already committed.  I was most happy to see that they are not all just out of undergraduate school.  I'm not opposed to studying with students who are in their 20's, but I don't want to be the only person at midlife in the room.  And I'm at the far end of midlife--I'm not 40 years old anymore (I'll celebrate my 56th birthday in July).

While the webinar wasn't what I was expecting, in a way, it was much more useful.  I don't really need a virtual tour of the campus or the library, although I would have enjoyed it.  But I already know that I'll love those things.  I was glad to get a chance to see that I will also love my classmates and my professors.