Thursday, September 15, 2005

Ethics

This semester I have four required classes and am allowed to take one elective.  Though taking an ancient language (Greek or Hebrew) is not required to graduate, many of my classmates have chosen to take Greek - many being urged by their advisors or even required by their bishops to do so.

On the counsel of many people I trust, I chose not to take Greek.  Truthfully, how much can one really learn in just a semester? Plus, any good concordance would be able to supply me with what I need to know for a sermon or research purposes - especially the software concordances.

So, I searched the course catalog for an alternative elective.  I found Ethics 113: Individuals and Communities. The course description is as follows:

An examination of individualism and how it affects communities.  Particular attention will be paid to its affect on the Church, and the Church’s alternatives and resources for shaping the self.  Readings will be taken from classical and contemporary sources.

This seemed like a dream come true!  A practical course that deals with a real world problem. And, not just a real world problem, but one of the biggest problems facing the church today.  Ok, so maybe that’s my opinion, but still!

Here’s the bad news: THE CLASS WAS CANCELLED due to LACK of ENROLLMENT.  We only needed 6 (yes, six) people in the class for it to go, but we couldn’t get that many.  Can you believe that?!?!  I have an entire class full of people taking an ancient language that they’ll never learn in one semester and will only be able to use on the rare occasion that they want to quote the Greek in a sermon.  So maybe they get a richer reading of the New Testament because they can read some of it in its original Greek, but how on earth does that affect their ability to lead a congregation? 

How is it that the Individuals and Communities class isn’t a REQUIRED class? Shouldn’t everyone leaving seminary have a good understanding of how individualism affects communities?  Don’t we want our clergy to have practical skills for combating the individualism that is threatening the demise of the church?

The real bummer is that the class is taught by an adjunct professor, so it is unlikely that it will be offered again anytime soon. Drat.

Posted by julie in 03:34:41 | Permalink | Comments (4)