PETER BECK: "The Most Important Thing I Learned in Seminary"

I met Peter Beck at the annual Evangelical Theological Society conference in San Antonio, TX a few years ago. At the time, he was finishing his PhD at SBTS. A fellow historical theology student, his primary subject of study was Jonathan Edwards. His dissertation topic was Edwards's theology of prayer. When we met I was struck by Peter's kindness, demonstrated in his willingness to interact with an awkward fledgling historical theology student like myself.

Recently Dr. Beck was called to be an Assistant Professor of Religion at Charleston Southern University. He also started a blog called Living to God. His latest post entitled "The Most Important Thing I Learned in Seminary" is excellent. I encourage all you current and recovering (I say this with deep affection for my seminary studies. I wouldn't trade them for the world.) seminary students out there to check it out. Here's an excerpt:

Seminary is a great blessing. I made lasting friends. I grew in my faith. I learned much about God and His word. I also learned a lot about myself and human nature. Here’s a few of the things that I learned along those lines:

1 - Doing all things for the glory of God includes studying.
2 - There are a lot of very smart people out there.
3 - There are a lot of very lazy people out there.
4 - Numbers 2 and 3 often apply to the same people. Thus, number 1.
5 - Some people think they know everything and insist on proving it.

But, the most important thing that I learned in seminary about myself was that I don’t know everything. The more I learned the more I realized that I had so much more to learn. As one friend put it, “the more I learn, the dumber I feel.”