I am very excited to teach two classes this Fall. The first class is Methods of Biblical Interpretation which will meet Tuesday nights from 7 to 9:45 p.m. In this class we will learn together how to read and understand the Bible. We will also learn how to take the teachings of the Bible and apply them to our daily lives and to our calling to serve God. This means, first of all, learning how to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It means, secondly, learning how to use practical “tools” to take any passage of Scripture and discover what God was trying to say in it. We will be learning from one of the best textbooks in the universe-Grasping God’s Word (3rd edition).
The authors, Duvall and Hays, have created a “five-step journey” that makes interpreting the Bible exciting and relevant. Learning from this textbook for the last three years has had a huge impact on my own personal Bible study. It has enriched my teaching and preaching at Windsor Park Church. Students in previous classes have often said, “Why have I never been taught this way of studying the Bible before?” And, “Why don’t we teach this in our churches?” Hopefully, students who finish this class will now be equipped to help other people learn how to study and live out the teachings of the Bible.
The second class is An Introduction to Christian Thought. It will meet on Thursdays from 7 to 9:45 p.m. This will be the first time that I teach this class. I am both excited and a little bit nervous! In many of our Bible classes at Stark College & Seminary, we study different sections of the Bible. In this class, we will take all of the teachings of the entire Bible and answer some important questions: What does the entire Bible teach to us . . .
about God (Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit)?
about how we know about God, reality, and Truth?
about what it means to be a human being in God’s creation?
about the main problems human beings face?
about God’s solutions to these problems?
about our purposes in God’s plans for the new creation?
about what it means to be a Christian-a Spirit-filled member of the church?
about humanity’s search for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty?
We will do lots of discovering and thinking out loud together as we read from the Bible and two fantastic textbooks. The first book is a very brief outline of Christian theology by Wayne Grudem. The second text is a set of stories written by N. T. Wright. In my opinion, Wright is the most helpful New Testament teacher from the last 50 years. By the end of the semester, I hope that we can say with confidence what a Christian thinks about the most important questions of life. Furthermore, I hope that we learn how to share with other people, in a few words:
Who it is that we believe in as Christians,
What we believe as Christians, and,
Why we believe these things as Christians.
This article was written by Professor Grover Pinson. Professor Pinson is the pastor of Windsor Park Baptist Church. He graduated with his M.Div. from the Logsdon extension at SCS.