/karen/

Five down, two to go

Saturday, 19 November, 2005

I was quite worried about yesterday's History of Christian Mission (HCM) exam. Mike is a very nice lecturer and I enjoyed aspects of the way he teaches, like his use of the Socratic method and the way that he gives you the opportunity to reflect on the ideas you've been learning about in class (a rare thing at Bible college). However, there were certain things that were frustrating about his lectures. Firstly, sometimes he would forget to finish the lecture he started the week before. Secondly, sometimes he would skip over whole sections of his outline, saying, “You don't need to know that” which would be fine if you didn't really need to know that but then you come to revising for the exams and you look over the past papers and realise that maybe you did. Thirdly, he assumes that you will do reading outside of class to fill in the blanks which, at Bible college, is completely unrealistic given the current workload.

I think the main problem is the disparity between Mike In Class and Mike the Academic Who is Going to Mark My Essays and Exams; it completely messes with your expectations. And so, faced with the prospect of another Mike exam for HCM, I was pretty apprehensive.

HCM is a very valuable subject though. I have to say that I didn't go into the Diploma of Bible and Missions with an enormous desire to learn about missions. A lot of people do—a lot of people do the Diploma because they're interested in doing mission work overseas—but I'm not interested in overseas mission. Just for your information, the Dip B&M is comprised of the following subjects:

1. Greek 1
   [or if you decide not to do Greek, you do Evangelistic Apologetics]
2. Old Testament 1
   (covers just about the whole Old Testament plus stuff about canon and the transmission of the Old Testament, etc.)
3. New Testament 1
   (Mark and Romans)
4. New Testament Survey
   (everything else in the New Testament that's not covered by New Testament 1 or Biblical Set Books)
5. Biblical Set Books
   (James, the Pastoral Epistles, Revelation and Numbers) [if you're a straight BTh or BD student, you have the option of doing Hebrew instead of Biblical Set Books]
6. Biblical Theology
7. Doctrine 1
8. History of Christian Mission
   (covers the history of missions from the early church to the present—2,000 years) [BTh and BD students do Church History 1 instead. I think they only go up to the 4th century]
9. Mission Foundations
10. Pastoral Ministry 1
11. Cross-Cultural Communication
    [BTh and BD students do Pastoral Counselling 1 instead of this]
12. Women's Ministry Studies 1
    (comprises Women's Chapel and Women's Chaplaincy groups) [for the girls only. Guys don't seem to have to do an extra subject]
13. World Religions and the Gospel
    (Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism) [BTh and BD students do Philosophy 1 here]
14. Bible Reading
    (no lectures for this; you do it at home throughout the year—you have to tick it off once a quarter. If you don't, they don't let you re-enrol the following year until it's done)

(I forget where Preaching 1A fits in—B&M-ers technically aren't allowed to do it but this year the Principal gave us permission with certain conditions. I decided not to do it though—I used the extra hour to go to work at MM.)

I reckon if you can afford to take a year off to go study at Bible College, the Diploma is a great thing to do. Not only does it help you to learn to read your Bible better but it introduces you to a whole wealth of Biblical scholarship and Christian history which is good to be aware of.

Hence History of Christian Mission. As I said before, I'm not hugely interested in mission but I came to really enjoy HCM because it made me aware of how missions has been done in the past (from the pillar saints [these were the guys who spent years on end standing on top of pillars] to the monks to the Crusades [which were more massacres than missions] to William Carey and the Serampore Trio to the World Council of Churches, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the whole conciliar movement which totally changed the meaning of the word “ecumenism”.

I know now why monaticism became so popular in the medieaval period. I know now why Muslims hate the west so much. I know now why there are problems with each of the principles of accommodation, contextualisation and indigenisation need to be treated carefully. I know now why people get apprehensive when you start talking about social justice as being part of mission. And I know now why the mention of evangelism provokes so much guilt and wrong thinking in our contemporary Christian culture (a lot of it stems back to Donald McGavran who came up with the Homogenous Unit Principle and his strategy of Church Growth).

Anyway, God (and Mike) was kind to me. I had only studied

1. The conversion of Constantine and mission in the early church;
2. The missionary monks;
3. The Crusades;
4. The Reformers;
5. William Carey and the Serampore Trio;
6. Indigenisation (John L. Nevius and William Wadé Harris);
7. Donald McGavran;
8. The Conciliar Movement

and I still managed to answer 5 questions fairly decently. They were:

History of Christian Mission

1. Discuss the significance of the conversion of Constantine for the growth of the Christian church.
2. Describe the context and methodology of ONE medieval missionary and the significance of his work in the conversion of England OR Europe in the period up to 1000 AD.
3. To what extent can William Carey be rightfully called “the father of modern missions”?
4. “The greatest tribute to John L. Nevius is that the Nevius Plan is the most frequently cited factor in the outstanding growth of the Korean church.” What were the main features of the Nevius Plan and why did they have such an impact on the growth of the church in Korea?
5. What has been the contribution of Donald McGavran to contemporary mission thinking and practice? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the principles of Church Growth?

Now it's just Biblical Theology and Doctrine 1 to go ...

Twitter

Blinks:

Blog archives: ----------- May, 2012 April, 2012 March, 2012 February, 2012 January, 2012 November, 2011 September, 2011 June, 2011 April, 2011 March, 2011 February, 2011 January, 2011 December, 2010 November, 2010 October, 2010 September, 2010 August, 2010 July, 2010 June, 2010 April, 2010 March, 2010 February, 2010 January, 2010 November, 2009 October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009 March, 2009 February, 2009 January, 2009 December, 2008 November, 2008 October, 2008 September, 2008 August, 2008 July, 2008 June, 2008 May, 2008 April, 2008 March, 2008 February, 2008 January, 2008 December, 2007 November, 2007 October, 2007 September, 2007 August, 2007 July, 2007 June, 2007 May, 2007 April, 2007 March, 2007 February, 2007 January, 2007 December, 2006 November, 2006 October, 2006 September, 2006 August, 2006 July, 2006 June, 2006 May, 2006 April, 2006 March, 2006 February, 2006 January, 2006 December, 2005 November, 2005 October, 2005 September, 2005 August, 2005 July, 2005 June, 2005 May, 2005 April, 2005 March, 2005 February, 2005 January, 2005 December, 2004 November, 2004 October, 2004 September, 2004 August, 2004 July, 2004 June, 2004 May, 2004 April, 2004 March, 2004 February, 2004 January, 2004 December, 2003 November, 2003 October, 2003 September, 2003 August, 2003 July, 2003 June, 2003 May, 2003 April, 2003 March, 2003 February, 2003 January, 2003 December, 2002 November, 2002 October, 2002 September, 2002 August, 2002 July, 2002 June, 2002 May, 2002 April, 2002 March, 2002 February, 2002 January, 2002 ----------- Amusement Anime Canada/USA 2005 Comics/graphic novels Craft Depression Depression Talk 2006 Divorce Dreams and nightmares Forgiveness Gender Hong Kong 2007 Links Love and relationships Melbourne 2005 Melbourne 2006 Money Moore College MTS Notices Photoblog Pregnancy, birth and parenting Quotes Reading Recipes Reflections Scribbles St George Girls High Story of my life Talks The Arts Victoria 2008 Web geekery Writing ----------- Current archives: ----------- September, 2010 August, 2010 July, 2010 June, 2010 May, 2010 April, 2010 March, 2010 February, 2010 January, 2010 December, 2009 November, 2009 October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009 March, 2009 February, 2009 January, 2009 December, 2008 November, 2008 October, 2008 September, 2008 August, 2008 July, 2008 June, 2008 May, 2008 April, 2008 March, 2008 February, 2008 January, 2008 December, 2007 November, 2007 October, 2007 September, 2007 August, 2007 July, 2007 June, 2007 May, 2007 April, 2007 March, 2007 February, 2007 January, 2007 December, 2006 November, 2006 October, 2006 September, 2006 August, 2006 July, 2006 June, 2006 May, 2006 April, 2006 March, 2006 February, 2006 January, 2006 December, 2005 November, 2005 October, 2005 September, 2005 August, 2005 July, 2005 June, 2005 May, 2005 April, 2005 March, 2005 February, 2005 January, 2005 December, 2004 November, 2004 October, 2004 September, 2004 August, 2004 July, 2004 June, 2004 May, 2004 April, 2004 March, 2004 February, 2004 January, 2004 December, 2003 November, 2003 October, 2003 September, 2003 August, 2003 July, 2003 June, 2003 May, 2003 April, 2003 March, 2003 February, 2003 January, 2003 December, 2002 ----------- Bible Books Concerts Exhibitions Graphic novels, comics, manga Movies Music Musicals Series Talks and lectures ----------- Twitter archives: ----------- May, 2012 April, 2012 March, 2012 February, 2012 January, 2012 December, 2011 November, 2011 October, 2011 September, 2011 August, 2011 July, 2011 June, 2011 May, 2011 April, 2011 March, 2011 February, 2011 January, 2011 December, 2010 November, 2010 October, 2010 September, 2010 August, 2010 July, 2010 June, 2010 May, 2010 April, 2010 March, 2010 February, 2010 January, 2010 December, 2009 November, 2009 October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009 March, 2009 February, 2009 January, 2009

More /Karen/ ----------- Blog About me Testimony Favourites Wishlist Contact me ----------- Writing ----------- Articles Mixed Poetry Prose

Hippocampus Extensions H/E Ben Shots fired Sermons

Feeds

• Full posts
• Full posts and del.icio.us feed
• Excerpts only
• del.icio.us feed only
• All comments

Social media

• Flickr
• Goodreads
• Last FM
• LibraryThing
• Listal
• Pinterest
• Ravelry
• This Is My Jam
• Twitter