Hello all:

Well, I started classes this week. Not quite what I expected.

I am taking three classes: History of Christianity, The Bible as Literature, and Introduction to Crime Analysis.

The Intro to Crime Analysis class is easy. I’ve worked in Criminal Justice and Public Safety for a while, so none of it is new to me.

The Bible as Literature, on the other hand, I’m having a tough time with. The class, in a nutshell, is looking at the Bible as Literature through the lense of German Higher Criticism. The text (and the instructor) make the assumption that the Bible is uninspired, written totally by humans, and that the author had many points in mind, including religious ones, when they wrote the text. I’m having a hard time seperating my beliefs from the class, and I am struggling. However, I did get some good comments from the instructor on our discussion (its all online) so maybe I’m getting the hang of it. We’ll see. I know one thing, I’ll be glad to be finished with this one, and its just week one. Higher Criticism of the Bible isn’t my ball of wax…

I’m not sure yet what to make of my History of Christianity class yet. It is my only class that I am taking in a classroom, and I missed the first session because I was at the Symposium. I spoke with the professor over the phone and she seems very friendly. I started reading the text last night for this class, and found that the writers are fairily secular, and its very odd reading a text book on the History of Christianity when they question the diety of Jesus.

I’m definatly taking all of this “learning” with a grain of salt, but hopefully it will be helpful to me later as a follower of Christ.

-Clarke