I’ve been on a bit of a book buying spree lately. Most recently, because I traded in some Aeroplan Miles for a $50 gift certificate from Chapters. Man, after 8 weeks of crazy 10-hour days work, I’m glad to just have some time to unwind and relax. Not that the books I bought are for light reading. But eh, this is how I choose to pass my time. Pretty soon, though, I shall be going on even more buying sprees, as I purchase my textbooks for the year. I’m really looking forward to that. Until then, I hope the 6 books I bought in 2 weeks will be enough to keep me occupied.
- The Uncensored Bible. Written by a coupla wacky Biblical Scholars, it presents alternative theories (none that are theologically controversial, I don’t think) or explanations of some things in the Bible some of us might just take for granted. For example… Was Eve really made from Adam’s rib? Well they make a pretty convincing argument that actually, she was made from man’s “Penis Bone” hahahaa.
- The God Delusion. Yes, I am reading.. or well, going to read a book by a Darwinian Atheist. But hey. Why not? Shouldn’t we also find out what the other side has to say about us? Besides, according to Wikipedia, the book has “spawned an industry of religious responses. According to the Amazon.co.uk website, the book led to a 50% growth in their sales of books on religion and spirituality (including anti-religious books such as The God Delusion and God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) and a 120% increase in the sales of the Bible.” I find that HILLARIOUS!
- Fifteen Stars. A Biography of 3 of the most famous World War 2 Generals, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Marshall.
- Red China Blues. Is a book I heard about on CBC. I dunno, it was kind of just an impulse buy.. well not really an impulse buy cause I actually delibirately searched for it. But yeah, after watching the interview on CBC with the author, Jan Wong, I just wanted to read it. It is her autobiographical account of moving back to China in the 70’s as a Maoist.
- Beijing Confidential. Kind of a part 2 to Red China Blues. It expands on one of the stories Wong told in that book, about a classmate who wanted help to get to America. But of course, a “starry eyed Maoist”, Wong reported this classmate who later disappeared. The book tells about how she went back to China to look for her.
- A Case for Christ. I’ve been meaning to get around to reading this book…
Hmph. Well, yeah, I’m looking foward to getting through this. Call it my warm up for all the reading I have to do in University. Oh on that note, I also plan to get through the entire New Testament before Mid-Terms. *And* to read through Joseph’s New Testament text book. Oh man, I should really mention that… I’ve made alot of changes with my programs at school. Here’s the basics…
The biggest switch is my programs. Now I am doing… Honours Bachelors of Art with a Major in “Christianity and Culture”, and Minors in History and Political Science.
What this means is that I only have to take 1 300-level Political Science course to finish that Minor. And, this year, I’m taking only Christianity and Culture courses. They are…
- SMC200Y1, Christian Imagination (Progam Prerequisite)
- SMC203Y1, Christianty and the Secular World (Program Prerequisite)
- SMC206H1, Christianity and Music
- SMC363H1, Music and Liturgy
- SMC418H1, Biblical Studies in the New Testament
I’m amused that I have classes from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year. I wish now that I had taken that Greek language class, or French language class, cause then I woulda had classes from all four years.. haha, maybe next year.
Anyway, I have 3.5 FCEs this year, which is just enough to maintain my status as a Full-Time Student. With these courses, I am on track to finish my Bachelors in 2010… I plan to take 2 FCEs this coming summer, and 3 FCEs next school year, which again, is just enough to maintain my Full-Time Student status. That’s really important so that I can continue to mooch off my parent’s insurance. Oh and of course I don’t have to pay for my banking yet.. Go BMO and free Student Banking! Haha.
What’s next after this then? Well It’s looking like an MTS for me – A Masters of Theological Studies. I’m not sure where I want to take it, but for sure I do want to continue it on to the end… A Ph.D, or a Th.D. That means I need to choose a good school, either stick with UofT, or go to the States somewhere. Or hopefully to a really good Bible School like Heritage Seminary… Anyway, here’s one scenario of how that could look like…
- 2010-2012, Masters of Theological Study at Knox College or Wycliffe College.. Basically at UofT
- 2012-2013, Masters of Theology (Th.M) at Harvard University… Yes, that’s right!
- 2013-2020, Doctor of Theology (Th.D) or Ph.D in Theology back at UofT
There are 2 problems with this scenario though. The first is the first degree, the MTS. It’s what they call a “Basic Degree” program, which is kind of at par with something like a Masters of Divinity. The second level, the Th.M, is the important one, which is the “Advanced Degree” that is required to get into any Doctorate degree program. But it’s while some Th.M program allow MTS students to be enrolled, others require M.Div.. Problem is, I really don’t want to get an M.Div. The key distinction between and M.Div and MTS is that in M.Div, you study Greek or Hebrew.. what they call “Research Languages”. Obviously these are really important if you want to get into the academic study of theology. So. What this means is that if I want to take MTS instead of M.Div, I need to either do Greek or Hebrew next year, or do it while I’m doing the MTS.
The second problem is the fact that I might *not* get in to one of the UofT Colleges. We’ll see how much I can raise my GPAÂ this year, but based on last year, it’s going to be a serious struggle. What this means is that I could end up in a not-so-well-known Bible School, like Heritage, as I mentioned, but while I wouldn’t mind that at all, it would really jeopardize my chances of getting into a decent Th.M program, and then later on a Th.D.
Bah but of course that’s a few years away still right? We’ll see how things go this year… On to my new books.