Thursday Review -- The Paper Chase Meets God

I recently read, The Close: A Young Woman's First Year at Seminary, by Chloe Breyer. Now, I have never been to seminary -- but I have been to law school. There is a seminal work on life in law school called, One L. (The movie based on the book was named The Paper Chase.) So, I was looking forward to reading what I hoped would be the seminary equivalent. After all, The Close was written by Chloe BREYER, as in the daughter of Justice Breyer.

I must confess that I was disappointed. One L does a splendid job of two things. First, it gives a pretty fair look at what life is really like as a first year law student. Second, it takes the reader along on the journey that turns a normal human into someone who thinks like a lawyer -- which is the real goal of law school.

Chloe Breyer is an unabashed, knee-jerk, New England liberal. I'm a good Democrat, and she is way too reminiscent to me of a lot that is wrong with the Democratic party. I really don't want to know what some of our more conservative ring members will have to say about her. Even I had to get past her perspective on life, politics and the value of a good protest.

The book opened with a brief explanation of what drew the author to seminary. She clearly feels a connection to the mysticism and wonder of spirituality. She chose an Episcopal seminary General Theological Seminary in New York City, because it was supposed to be good at spiritual development. I was really looking forward to watching that side of the story unfold. That is where I found the book disappointing.

The book does provide what appears to be a pretty decent look at what life is really like in seminary -- struggles with Greek, daily chapel, more struggles with Greek. What I didn't see, is any real walk down the spirtual development road.

Of course, maybe I missed the boat from the beginning. I am not completely stupid. I have figured out that America's seminaries are not turning out legions of spiritually mature Saints ready to change the world by faith while leading radically different lives. In the last chapter the author seems to realize that too.

This book is not, I hope, the seminarian's answer to One L. Nor is it a spiritual journey that will make you yearn for your own mountaintop experiences. It is, however, a pretty fair look at the nuts and bolts of seminary life -- or, at least, as far as this Lawyer can tell.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOk@aol.com

Seminary Reflections: Read any good books lately?

So what have you been reading lately? I’ve been reading God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations by Jackson W. Carroll for my Church Leadership and Administration class. It’s a very interesting read, mostly communicating the results and reflecting upon the massive Pew and Pulpit study of US pastors. I found one chart particularly interesting.

Most-Read Authors in the Mainline Protestant Tradition
(as reported by what pastors deemed the “three authors they most often read”)

1. Henri J.M. Nouwen
2. William Willimon
3. Frederick Buechner
4. Max Lucado
5. Eugene Peterson
6. S. Lewis
7. Marcus Borg
8. Lyle Schaller
9. Philip Yancey
10. Walter Bruggemann

A few things jump out. First, of course, there are no women on the list (though Barbara Brown Taylor just barely missed it). Second, most of these authors write about ministry or spirituality rather than heavy theology. Third, many of them are getting on in years -- which makes sense regarding the list -- but it also begs the question: who will be on the list ten or twenty years down the road? This all got me to thinking about the many books I’ve read at Columbia Seminary. Curiously, of those who made the Pew and Pulpit list, I think I’ve only been assigned Bruggemann and Borg to read for class -- and both of those very small pieces, not whole books. So, it looks like there’s a rather large difference in what I read in seminary and what I may read as a pastor (curiously, Carroll reports the Roman Catholic priests surveyed read much more theology than protestants).

I guess it makes sense that preparing for ministry requires a different reading list than doing ministry, but I wouldn’t have predicted such a clear shift. In fact, I think a lot of pastors out there would really love to read what we’re reading in Columbia classes, they just don’t for whatever reason or another. So here, in no particular order, are the top ten books I’ve read for class at Columbia Seminary:

• Chuck Campbell, “The Word Before the Powers”
• Wendy Farley, “The Wounding and Healing of Desire”
• Justo Gonzalez, “The Changing Shape of Church History”
• David Lose, “Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching in a Postmodern World”
• Shirley Guthrie, “Christian Doctrine”
• Daniel Migliore, “Faith Seeking Understanding”
• Charlie Cousar, “Galatians”
• Pauw and Jones, “Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics”
• Marilyn Robinson, “Gilead”
• Leif Enger, “Peace Like a River”

Boy, that was a tough exercise! I’m already feeling bad for all the great books I left out. Man, there’s been a lot of good ones (and I really do love Calvin, the Book of Order, and Book of Common Worship, but I count them as given). So, what’s your favorite book from seminary, or your favorite author now? Of if you’re not a pastor -- bless you -- and, please share your favs as well.

image by lusi