...boy, were we wrong! So, when we read "Reading Week" in the middle of October on the Academic Calendar, we did mental high fives.
But, as we perused our syllabi and all our due dates, we gradually realized that it was nothing like a Fall Break and that we would be unable to go visit people or Niagara Falls or even just experience what the bourgeoisie refer to as a "staycation". Alas, this was not our lot in life.
First and foremost in our minds was our four Early Church essays and quiz to be turned in and taken by Thursday. The class is excellent and the questions fair, and the essays only a page. Easy shapeasy, right? Have you ever tried to write all your thoughts about Ignatius of Antioch's historical context on a single 12-point font, 1 inch margin page? I didn't think so. Sadly, it was fairly easy to fit the place of women in the early church on one page...and that was even with the added business of having to support your claim with reference to the
Didache.
We thought about posting all of our assignments for your perusal, but we will pick and choose because we don't want any pfeiferphiles to become pfeiferfoes. Pictured above is Greg, chagrining as he attempts to put his finished essays in the dropbox online only to find that the internet has gone out...again. More on that little problem later.
By the by, Greg highly recommends
The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom by Alan Kreider. It it a fairly small book, with ridiculously small font, but which packs a lot of information on the nature of the church and the changes she underwent as Christianity became the religion of the empire.
Noel, pictured above, immensely enjoys Early Church, perhaps a little too much. But, she was also pre-disposed to the idea that this would be her favorite class at Seminary. In any case, doesn't she look so studious and intellectual in this picture? If you'd like to see her answer to one of the "essays"-a creative flyer, click
here.
And about this time, they recalled the word study due for BI600 (endearingly called this because nobody ever remembers the real name and thus far, it seems strange to have a grammar class in seminary)...and in addition to the Word Study, an Exam on the first half of the class. This means, the entirety of a "little" book called "Greek for the Rest of Us" and all the English and Greek grammar your brain can hold, and some that it can't, for that matter. Pictured to the left are Noel's lifeline, her flashcards and the Greek book sprawled on their dining table in receding light to accentuate the feeling of dread which accompanies them. Please be lifting up the exam which happens Monday, the 25th, and for especially Noel's memory to be entirely alert. Greg had 5 semesters of Greek and is already a grammar guru.
We also have a book review, reflections and our regular reading assignments as well as 22 hours of work each week. So, we're starting to feel the pressure big time.
Are you wondering how on earth we survive all this chaos?
