Mail Call - 5

21 August, 2018

Adam Baumann
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
2018 Summer Greek


4 - 17 August, 2018

The final test was on the 16th.

Passed the test.  Passed the class.

Is there anything more to say than "done?"  Except this isn't the end, other than the end of the beginning.  Classes proper starts on the 4th of September.  At that point, this goes from trying to learn a skill necessary to start to the "real deal."  What I've been doing hasn't, technically, been seminary.  It's been pre-seminary work.

Now, I've and my fellow summer Greekies have been, as some of the second-year seminary students would say, survived our baptism of fire.  Summer Greek was our boot camp, and Dr. Nordling was our drill instructor.  The drill was tough.  The marches were grueling.  The standards were set high.  And we not only survived, but succeeded.

A couple professors said that guys who pass through the Summer Greek tackle translations better than the pre-sem guys.  Why?  Because there is something to having struggled together.  The camaraderie.  The support.  The program is built to take "average Joe layman" (or "average Jo laywoman") and teach them the equivalent of four semesters of university-level Greek in 10 weeks.

Summer Greek at CTSFW is meant to teach.  I've heard it said that the equivalent program at CSL "weeds out the weak."  I don't think that's true, but I know for certain that everyone at Fort Wayne, both professors and students, want the guys studying summer Greek to succeed.

And now comes some much needed respite.  Two weeks before the Fall Quarter starts.  Church History, Liturgics, and Greek Readings and in my immediate future.

Onward.