seminar

I was a bit nervous going into the seminar Friday. I typically think of myself as a people person, but when it comes to class projects, sometimes I feel inferior enough to just not participate. I was in a group of boys..er, men... who all seemed to have a good grasp on the Biblical text (and some of them are a bit intimidating) and I really felt like I would have nothing to contribute to the letter. The first time I spoke up, they listened to and respected me and showed appreciation for my attempt. From that point on, I really felt like I was a part of this group - like we all worked together. I was really proud of everything we accomplished, despite whatever flaws it may have had, because we came together in a really unexpected manner and had one long letter to the Dystopians. I feel like everyone contributed in some way or another and the differences in the group proved to be our strength.

Pauline Seminar Application

The thing that struck me the most about the Pauline seminar was that I didn't know near enough about God's word. Facing a future as a missionary in an area that is extremely hostile toward Christians has forced me to face my inadequacies. More often than not, I won't be able to walk around with my Bible out in public, sharing the Gospel out in the open. However, if I take advantage of what I've learned and the time I have left before hitting the field, I can soak up as much of God's word as possible. With His word hidden in my heart, I can reach out to those who are starving for the message of Christ without endangering them or myself.

Seminar Reflection

I thought the seminar was a great expierence. I was really nervous about how the whole thing was going to shake down, what with work dynamics and the project as a whole. I went in feeling extremely un-prepaired. After getting into the group, I was really excited because I thought our group worked very well together, we didn't really run into any tension or differences, we got distracted at times, but as a whole we worked well together, encouraging and helping each other rather than tearing each other down. I am not sure how other groups went, but I thought it was an awesome testament to the people in our group at how flexible our group members were to the task that was given to us.

I also learned that I need to study the word a great deal more. I know scripture pretty well, but citing its source is a problem, something that I was really challenged on after doing this project.

Abbi

Seminar Reflection

I think the seminar went very well. I learned a lot. I have never thought about trying to write like Paul, so it was interesting trying. It was interesting to learn from Wade of all the weird grammar things Paul used that was ok in Greek but when translated into English are not acceptable and then putting them into our letter. It was also interesting to learn today Paul’s favorite books of the bible. I knew Paul never really used the book of Job in his writings but because the book of Job dealt with the issue so well, (and because it was fresh on our minds from OT Poetry,) it just seemed like we should use it. I don’t think our group used the Psalms at all. I also learned that I need to know the Bible a lot more and my arguing skill are not that great. Another interesting thing is to see how much effort we put into the letter and then to realize how much Paul would have to work on the letters he had written. Paul was a really smart guy!

Justin Lowe

REFLECTION of the seminar

WOW!!! I went into this having no clue whatsoever as far as what to expect. I really did come out of it knowing, even before dinner that it was going to be a great experience. I have to give props to my group- I havent had a lot of chances to sit down with a lot of them and work together that was fun!!! I learned a lot from them and about them and I think we made a really good team. It was almost amazing to see how much I DID know and how much I REALLY didnt know... I struggle a lot with the arrogance ministry majors get tagged with.. and what I seen is the exact opposite.. I think we were all very humbled from it.. I know i was. It was very hard for me to put my bible down saturday!

Ode to the Dystopian Council

To say that this experience was unique and special does not give it credit. Despite the group dynamics, time constrainsts, and differing opinions we accomplished something to be proud of.
Looking into the task from the Pauline process gave writing an entirely new complication. It would have been relatively easy to write something from our perspective and era, but to think in ways prior to New Testament composition and prior to modern thinking was a hurdle at best.
I was encouraged in the way that our group responded to the problems of the Dystopians and that knowledge that they had of the text and time. It comforts me to some end to know that these men and women will be leading the church of the twenty-first century.
I'm glad I was able to be a part of it and gain the experience and receive the inspiration.
Peace out

Mr Bill Lee Faber

Paul's gifts and the church

As I think about Pauline literature, I stand in awe. How could anyone write so well? As I sat in the class room hearing the groups read their epistle, many things went through my mind. I thought towards the final moments of our groups’ editing of our work, “Our letter sounds really good.” Then as I heard other groups’ readings, I became skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my group and thought they did an excellent job, but some of the letters were better than ours. Listening to the other letters and working in my group caused me to think of individual gifts and talents amongst our class and how they work together to accomplish God’s purpose(s). Sometimes I wish I could communicate as well as others, but then I have to realize the Spirit gives gifts as He wills for His reasons. Paul obviously was a gifted communicator and as Dr. Foster said in class one day, Paul truly is an intellectual. But we (specifically I) must not forget that in the kingdom the Lord sees Lydia’s gifts, Titus’ role, and the other faithful as great in the kingdom.

Comments on the Pauline Seminar

Overall the seminar experience friday night was better than the experience from Life of Christ. There seem to be better organization and thought put into the assignment. The one area where improvements might be made is in the area of roles for the individuals involved. It would be more fair is specific roles could be assigned for the participants and those who would fill the roles could be decided by vote within the individual groups. Doing so would allow those who are timid vocally but possess valuable skills to fully participate in the project. My group in particular contained a bit of a survival of the fittest type of environment in the beginning and may have made some uncomfortable. I believe we overcame the problem, but I have know doubt that there was valuable input missing.

I say all that to say this. If their were several authors of Greek letters typically and their were a bunch of Pauls in the room, they must have encountered some of the same problems. I recognized the difficulty in taking a topic that needs to be addressed and then trying as a group to address the problem, not just verbally but on paper. Giving input and trying to put that input into words that are clear and concise is not the easiest task in the world.

I would also like to say that I enjoyed working with the guys in my group. I had an opportunity to meet some young men who I may have never met otherwise. I also learned from the input from those around me in the aspect of understanding how other ministry majors think.

Suggestion for future seminars. The students of a particular class could write a commentary on a specific piece of scripture. It would be interesting to see how students interpret as a group and how their theology would influence the outcome.

Pauline Seminar Reflection

This is my second time to encounter a Dr. Foster seminar, and just like the first seminar in Life of Christ, I realized how little I understood about the biblical text. The one thing that I appreciated the most out of the seminar was the group that I worked with. Most of the people in our class I am familiar with in some way, but it was joy to work with people that I really did not know anything about. The seminar helped me to better undrestand the organization of Paul's letters and his writing style. The thought and the heart that Paul poured out in each letter must have been great in order to show so much care and concern as he did in his letters. But even then, I think that you can reflect away from Paul and even to other letters written in the New Testament. Each letter contains so much emotion. Paul was gifted in the area of speaking to people. He was very able to speak in the area of letter writing. I feel that this seminar gives me a new perspective on who Paul was and the construction of his letters.

Do not know as much as I thought...

Dr. Foster pointed out alot of things that I did not know today in class. What seemed to interest me the most was the books of the old testament he said that Paul quoted the most. I had no idea that it was those three books. I have read my bible like I am suppose to, but I realize I do not study it like I should. He read some where around Acts 16 and pointed out that it mentions the Holy Trinity. That is something I probaly should have caught myself, but I did not. Sometimes the truth hurts and it sure did hurt when he told the truth that most Christians do not study the old testament like we should. I am one of those people that love to stay around the Gospel's and Paul's works, but we all need to see the whole picture of the bible.

Our group

I really did enjoy the project on Friday. I’ve never really tried to think and write like Paul so it was interesting to put myself in his shoes. It was difficult to try to answer the questions about the disaster without creating a new theology. We didn’t want to assume something about the characteristics of God that we did not already obviously see in the bible. Our group only used one computer and that was difficult for us to everything together in the amount of time that we had. I also thought it was challenging to think of Old Testament passages to use in our letter. It seemed allot easier to quote Romans then anything in the OT that would pertain.
Stephen Foust

Complexity of Letter Writing

I think that the seminar illustrated the diversity of opinions that exist within Biblical scholarship, even within a group of individuals who hold similar values and beliefs. We know that many Pauline epistles were composed by groups rather than exclusively by Paul. The task of composition would be complicated by differing viewpoints. Some of Paul's companions were Jewish and others were Gentiles. While we wrote to an impersonal non-existant group of believers, Paul and his companions often had detailed knowledge of the recipients. The issues and personalities of the parties must have made composition a very tedious task. In the same way, our group faced a difficult task. Eight different people have eight different perceptions of Paul's epistles, eight different sets of memorized scriptures, and eight different systems of theological thought. Despite obstacles, we were able to synthesize our thoughts into a single letter. I can only imagine how much more difficult it would have been to synthesize differences, deal with the issues, and allow the Holy Spirit to overcome personal prejudices. I believe that divine inspiration is certainly evident within the Pauline Corpus.
In Christ,
the other Paul

Dystopians

I thoroughly enjoyed the seminar this weekend. Dr. Foster mentioned how are group consisited solely of males, but I think it worked for the best. Nothing against the ladies, but the members of our group colaborated well together. The point in class today about the various authors involved in the letter writings was new to me. I always pictured Paul writing these in solitude. This started off as a challenge for us. The areas we would attack were in agreement, but the order in which we would aproach them wasn't. I had no idea that this was probably an issue in Paul's time as well. One other thing we got caught up on was trying to make our letter sound King Jameish. This probably wasn't issue for the biblical authors, but writing in a retro sense it was a challenge for us. This is a lesson that should be taken fom this. We sometimes like to interpret solely form our modern translations, but we must remember that the wording isn't as important as the meaning of the text.

Like Playing Batman

I felt that the seminar was tremendously effective in getting us all in the mind of the times. We honestly have very little idea what it was like to live in those times, yet for a brief six hours, we placed ourselves in the first century to write a letter to a group of people we were supposed to know. It was similar to playing Batman as a kid, except for a grade. I was tested by the seminar: I had to call up memory of scripture; I had to speak up to make myself heard; and I had to work in cooperation with people (which just is not my style). I believe the hardest part of the seminar was forcing myself to get into the context of the time and write to a first-century church. I discovered one thing that challenged me greatly: I am not familiar with Biblical history and the dates that go along with Biblical events. I see it now as a test of my Bible knowledge, and it is a challenge to me to cultivate a greater understanding and memory of the Scripture. God used it to test me and make me aware of my shortcomings.

Zach Pyron

I had the job of "faithful scribe" in my group during friday's project, and having that position caused me to think of two different things concerning Paul and the letters he wrote.

One, whether Paul wrote the the letters physically or he had a scribe, and i am guessing both are possibilities, there was much at stake. i mean, i had spell and grammer check, and still as chase was reading saw many a mistake, granted, paul probably wasn't under the parameters of fa six hour time limit, i think that the importance of the lack of error is emmence. Though these letters were divinly inspired.

Two, though i was working almost constantly, it was awsome to watch my team interact as if we were disciples of paul and try our best to encourage and help these "people" in his stead. thinking WOW paul wants us to take on this matter!

Jesus Words in Paul's Writtings

I was told today in class that Paul rarely quotes Jesus directly. He is one of the first pillars in the church and he did not have a New Testament to work with. It makes me feel weak. This man hears divine words from the Lord and recieves everything he knows about the faith he valiantly defends simply through the Holy Spirit. He did not have Jesus words in front of him to dwell upon; he had to ask the Lord directly to find his way. I also thought about why we put so many quotes from stories like Job in our presentations when Paul rarely, if ever, used those lines. I realized that this is a simple reflection of our church. Paul's "church" was the Holy Spirit and the Torah. Of course, he would use the scriptures that he was most familiar with. We used the scripture we were most familiar with. We are taught from the New Testament 80% of the time or we get the main points of the Old Testament. I am not too certain about the content of Deuteronomy, but I could tell you the whole story of Joseph, Job, or David. It has been emphasised in my spiritual up-bringing to mimic the strenghts of these men. I ignorantly assumed Paul would teach this way.

Commentary on the Dystopian epistle

I cannot speak for everyone, but I thought that the seminar on Friday was truly outstanding. It is one thing to learn a set of notes and to have the ability of intillectual regurgitaion, but to put myself in the hypothetical mindset of Paul during the trial dealed with in the project was quite another. This project took more than empty memorization, it required a true understanding of the Paul's mind as well as the creative ability to apply that to a foriegn situation. I thought it was interesting to observe and attempt to mimick the grammatical tendencies of Paul and the majority of Greek litterature as our group sought to use a lot of participles, run-on sentences, and sentences with many prepositional phrases. These are things that I had previously been taught, but the importance of Paul's writing style became abundantly more meaningful to me through this seminar. As our group began the task of writing our own epistle, it dawned on me in a new light that my ability to interpret scripture is not based soley on my knowledge of language, historical facts, or other parts of scripture (all of which are important), but my ability is also connected to how well I know Paul the person. What was his personality? What gave him joy or riled him up? What is his preferred style of argumentation? When we examine scripture, we often push these types of personal questions to the side in exchange for a systematic approach, good illustrations, or earth-shaking aphorisms, but it is these questions that give life to the text that we study. The idea that was reitterated to me through this seminar was my need to know Paul because no piece of litterature is fully utilized lest its author is fully understood.

Chase

A new appreciation.

I have a new appreciation for Paul and the absoluted knowledge it took for him and the others around him to write letters to these individual churches. I am amazed at the way Paul put things in context in a way the recepients could understand. It took us the entire amount of time allowed to write just the small fictional letter that we wrote. I can't imagine writing a letter with great magnitude like Romans with my small amount of knowledge. I guess I just always imagined Paul sitting down to write a letter and maybe an hour or two later he was finished. I never took into account the amount of time and detail that Paul put into every letter. The seminar really gave me a new appreciation for the knowledge of my fellow classmates, but especially of Paul.

Steven Price

Random thinking

I have a random thought, maybe this is inappropriate but I thought I would throw it out there to see a response. Why is Jesus , in some religions, just a prophet and not an abomination, to go with that why is Paul not even a question of reality. I think it goes along with what Dr. Foster said in class that Paul is more considered as the ground breaker for Christianity. Maybe this is just practical reasoning but Paul gives. This is just a random thought. But I feel there is such a significance to Paul.

Master Minded Paul

After experiencing the seminar Friday, I really realize how much thought and time would have to be put into writing a letter with the equality of Paul's. It was really challenging to write in a Pauline mind set on everything and like pointed out in class today referencing to the Old Testament like Paul would have was very difficult as well. I really did enjoy it for the most part though and really liked how we came together in a group unity, it took putting all of our minds together to come up with something that would work, and I really thought the people in my group did a fantastic job, it isn't always easy to agree on things when you have so many ministry people in the same room together at times, but again we were up to the challenge and came together as a team and accomplished the task. The whole class did a great job from listening to the other group's letters and I would have loved to hear some of their discussion.

Master Minded Paul

After experiencing the seminar Friday, I really realize how much thought and time would have to be put into writing a letter with the equality of Paul's. It was really challenging to write in a Pauline mind set on everything and like pointed out in class today referencing to the Old Testament like Paul would have was very difficult as well. I really did enjoy it for the most part though and really liked how we came together in a group unity, it took putting all of our minds together to come up with something that would work, and I really thought the people in my group did a fantastic job, it isn't always easy to agree on things when you have so many ministry people in the same room together at times, but again we were up to the challenge and came together as a team and accomplished the task. The whole class did a great job from listening to the other group's letters and I would have loved to hear some of their discussion.
Big BRo James

Master Minded Paul

After experiencing the seminar Friday, I really realize how much thought and time would have to be put into writing a letter with the equality of Paul's. It was really challenging to write in a Pauline mind set on everything and like pointed out in class today referencing to the Old Testament like Paul would have was very difficult as well. I really did enjoy it for the most part though and really liked how we came together in a group unity, it took putting all of our minds together to come up with something that would work, and I really thought the people in my group did a fantastic job, it isn't always easy to agree on things when you have so many ministry people in the same room together at times, but again we were up to the challenge and came together as a team and accomplished the task. The whole class did a great job from listening to the other group's letters and I would have loved to hear some of their discussion.

Pauline Project: A lesson in biblical theology

Last Friday's project was a good lesson in biblical theology! As Dr. Foster's instructions pointed out, we were to think and write like Paul thought and wrote. This is the basis of biblical theology: thinking of passages in their specific context, but also considering works by specific authors. For example, Paul has a different theology than John. Not that these two are in conflict, but passages can best be understood in the light of doing biblical theology. It is only when we have practiced excellent biblical theology that we can start making a few statements systematically. The Pauline project hopefully helped us all strive to understand theology in a Pauline way. Peace.

Wade Drury

The Letter to the Church at Dystopia

Last Friday my friends and I of Group 4 embarked on 6 hour journey. The experience was exausting yet enlightening as well. The eight of us were given the task of composing a letter to a group of people who were experiencing true sorrow and chaos and wanted answers to their problems. The whole process of composing this letter was a challenge. Trying to think as one would in the first century wasn't particularly an easy thing to do. Working with seven other people proved to be difficult at times when it came to providing answers or resolutions to the situations addressed in the letter. Each of us have different perspectives, view-points, mind-sets, and personal life experiences that reflect the way we interpret some issues. However, the joy of the experience was the coming together of our group to hypothetically meet the needs of the church at Dystopia. I discovered through this process my unfamiliararity with the biblical text. This disturbed me and has motivated me to become more knowledgeable of God's Word. I also realized the thought and time Paul must have given to the letters he wrote. I'm sure he prayerfully composed the letter in a wise and strategic manner. He had to be careful communicating his mood (do I be firm with them? let them know I'm angry? or do I be gentle?), his personal view, and his message. With these, he also had the privelage but pressure of being responsible to God of what he writes and teaches. Overall, this experience challenged me and raised my awareness in important areas.

Well, how do you like that?

The events captured in Acts 16: 28 are amazing to me. Paul and Silas choose to follow God, to leave the idea of an ordinary life, and go all over the place spreading the good news of the gospel to the gentiles. Well, what do they get for their efforts? A demon possessed slave girl harasses them. How do you like that? They decide to help her out, despite of her actions, and are dragged into the marketplace, falsely accused, stripped of their clothes, and beaten. How do you like that? I tried to put myself in their shoes, but it just is not happening. I probably would have lost it as I was being falsely accused. , they continue to be optimistic. Later in the dungeon, they are chained up in shackles, and they begin to sing. Singing in a time like this? How do you like that? Sometimes I feel like cursing when I get something negative that I do deserve. Finally, the guys avoid their chance of escape that has miraculously happened to save the jailors life. How can I get so mad and discouraged from meaningless little while Paul and Silas went through this without complaining. How did they maintain their integrity in this time even when they deserved escape? They have truly practiced complete patience. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 It is my goal now to try hard not to sweat the small stuff, and compared to these guys, everything I have ever faced is small stuff.

Implementation of Paul's Letter Writing

The most significant things that I learned while doing the Pauline seminar project were the implementation of Paul's letter writing style and the format that he followed. We did not have to worry about the style of his letter writing because we had already learned it in class and through reading. The group was able to discuss the purpose of the letter and was able to concentrate on the content of the letter.

The group brainstormed on Biblical ideas for the content. We focused on the way Paul approached his audience, on the people in his audience, and on his way of accomplishing specific goals.

Paul always spoke with a purpose and directed his comments to a particular group. The round table discussions of the group helped to formulate the content and made the execution of the presentation flow smoothly. I appreciated the group's knowledge of the Bible, the Greek culture, and the Greek language.

Vicky

A good group

I am, by choice and by nature, a loner. I do not like working with groups. I was not looking foward to working with my group. I was planning on trying to take over my group and doing everything my way. Luckly, I got a good group that I did not have to be a jerk and take over. I am thankful for my group. This was the first group that I have ever been in that was a group of equals. I was most likely the last of the equal. Strange.

Challenged

Fridays seminar was really good. To be honest I was dreading the project and was a little bit afraid of it, but once we got in there and got started it flowed well and time flew by. I thought about how easily a group of people could have just got together and wrote out a letter, similar to Paul’s, said that it was from Paul and that it was inspired. It is just amazing how God can just have His hand on everything to make sure that only what He wanted in would be put in to the cannon. Another thing that was both challenging during the project and is now a personal challenge is truly hiding God’s Word in my heart. I was really challenged to know scripture better because I do not know it as well as I thought that I did. But it is one of many things I must work on.

Matt Justice

Inspired or not?

In the project we wrote during the project on Friday it was interesting just how much the letters seemed to sound like a Pauline letter. It made me think of many of the letters and books that were written in the same time period of Paul's letters that were deemed as not being inspired and what line was drawn to determine whether or not a book was inspired? I realize that each of the books were prayed over carefully, but I still wonder from outside appearances what makes a book inspired and if more inspired books turned up if they would be included in the modern cannon? These are all just logistical curiousities, but they make me wonder even as I understand the cannonization process that took place of the small details of that same process.
peace.....Ira R.

Paul's caring nature

I found this weekend’s seminar to be a very good experience. It was challenging to have to form arguments using scripture without the use of the Bible. Trying to do that while arguing like Paul was even more of a challenge. It made me realize how incredibly smart Paul was in constructing his arguments and how much time Paul must have put into each individual letter. He had to make each one so individualistic since each had to deal with such unique circumstances. Paul’s ministry was very personal. He extended himself so much to make sure that everyone’s needs were meet and done so fully. I hope that one day I am able to be as wise as Paul in forming arguments for my faith and piety and also being caring enough to reach all those who need help and to do it the best way possible. Paul didn’t halfway do his work. He did the best that was possible. Since I serve the same God, I must do the same.

Travis Adams