Weekly Email: May 18, 2026
We are now in Week 7 of the Spring 2 term. This week I want to share some reflections on the foundation your seminary work is laying right now, and also highlight a great resource available through our library.
In this email:
- Student Tip: Learning the Foundations
- Program News: Get Research Help from the Library
Student Tip: Learning the Foundations
In July 2019 I bought a Fuji X-T20, my first "real" camera. I was going back through some of the photos from that first month the other day, and most of them made me want to facepalm. At the time I thought they were good.
There's one photo of a bench where it's painfully obvious I was trying to apply leading lines, and plenty of others where I just blew out the background because I could and thought that made it a good photo. Most of those shots were me unlocking something I couldn't do with an iPhone, being a little too proud of it. One rule at a time, applied stiffly.
In photography, the rules are made to be broken, but you have to fully understand them first. I didn't know that yet. I had to learn the rules as rules before I could use them any other way.
Sometime during my second year of seminary I started teaching some classes at a rehab and homeless center here in Louisville. I remember distinctly realizing, while I was teaching, how much I had absorbed from that first year. The foundation was being laid. I didn't see it until I was putting it into practice.
You have Bible software, commentaries, and AI at your fingertips. If seminary were purely about information, you wouldn't be here. The point is not the content you collect. It's what the content is doing to you while you wrestle with it.
Seminary is hard work. You know this. I know this. Everyone in the program knows it. But the work is doing more than you can see right now. The reading you can't quite finish. The paper you're rewriting for the third time. The lecture you're trying to stay focused through. That's the foundation.
You won't feel it forming. You'll see it when you're putting it into practice. It may be next week. It may be ten years from now. The hard work you're putting in won't be forgotten.
Program News: Get Research Help from the Library
Short one this week. Did you know you can schedule a phone call or Zoom meeting with the research assistants in our library? They are a great resource when you're working on a project or paper. If you haven't utilized them yet, I encourage you to check them out.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
- Current Week: Spring 2, Week 7 (May 18-25)
- Summer Term Begins: June 1-July 26
- Fall 1 Term Begins: August 3, 2026
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