Once the New Year passes, activity picks up at Greenville
Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Students and faculty flood the classrooms
for week-long intensives in a variety of areas during our Winter Term. This
year, the Seminary offered five intensive courses in the opening weeks of the
year.
Dr. C.N. Willborn took our first-year students on a
whirlwind tour of Presbyterian Church History, beginning with Calvin, continuing
with Knox, charting the development of Presbyterianism in Scotland and America,
and including his famous walking tours of Columbia and Charleston. A number of
friends of the Seminary joined the class “in the field” as Dr. Willborn led the
group to sites of special significance in the history of American
Presbyterianism.
Pictured above, Dr. Willborn with his students before heading out to the eastward parts of South Carolina; pictured below, Dr. Willborn shows his students a collection of manuscripts handwritten by nineteenth-century American Presbyterian James Henley Thornwell, longtime pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC, and professor of Columbia Theological Seminary.
Prof. Breno Macedo taught Introduction to Homiletics to a
group of second-year students over the span of two weeks. This course
culminates in sermon delivery by each student from an assigned text from 1
John. Highlighting the integrated approach of our instruction, these students
have already translated 1 John in their Greek class that they finished last semester.
Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. annually provides what can only be
described as a “master class” in Reformed Worship. Rich in theological depth as
well as practical applicability, this course prepares students to think
biblically about corporate worship, and to prepare “bulletin-ready” orders of
worship that could be used in a congregational setting. We are working on
making this course’s audio lectures publicly available, and Dr. Pipa is finishing up a book
project based on the course as well.
Dr. Ian Hamilton flew in from Inverness, Scotland to lead a weeklong
seminar entitled Reformed Pastor. Drawing from books by Charles Bridges,
Sinclair Ferguson, Richard Baxter, Thomas Murphy, William Still, and more, Dr.
Hamilton pointed the students to Jesus Christ as the proto-typical Reformed
pastor. Like Christ, biblically faithful pastors must have a vibrant personal
piety, multi-faceted preaching ministry, and serve as a model of Christian
grace and integrity to the church.
Pictured above, the faculty and students of Reformed Worship (Pipa), Reformed Pastor (Hamilton), and Introduction to Homiletics (Macedo)
Finally, Dr. Ben Dunson (pictured right, below; with Dr. L. Michael Morales) visited from Reformed Theological
Seminary’s new campus in Dallas, TX to teach a New Testament Biblical Studies
course handling the books of Hebrews through Revelation. This course is
designed to equip students to explore and articulate reading strategies for
Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation, understand the central
theological themes and contexts of each of the letters, and grasp how these
letters contribute to our overall understanding of biblical teaching.
Our Spring semester begins on Tuesday, January 23rd.
Please keep our students in your prayers as they prepare to launch into the new
semester. Ω
