OMG!!! The last blog has finally arrived!!! Now let us discuss course goals and how well they were relayed this semester. Honestly I have learned a lot about biblical studies and how much it takes it to be a biblical scholar. I think that overall my class somewhat struggled with this part of the course goals. I think that when writing the blog they may have been able to grasp some level of expertise, but within the classroom setting I am not sure how effectively we absorbed the information presentation. I am simply basing this off of the discussions that came about during class time. I often got frustrated when our class got sidetracked and we began to talk about other things besides the lesson plan. I was sincerely interested in many of the lessons and I feel like I missed out on some information because of this. I think that the goal of providing the class with tools to effecting read the Bible in an academic and critical manner was achieved. We were provided with a wonderful text book that made the “complicated” stuff seem so simple. The Bible for Dummies was very useful when I would read bible passages not only for this class, but in personal spiritual growth. I believe the writing the blogs improves many people’s writing style. I know for me personally I helped me to catch errors quicker and gain the ability to convey certain messages in an appropriate way. I am grateful for this necessary lesson! Finally, one of the key bullet points to this class was the need for world improvement. I would have to say that for the people that honestly went about their service projects many improved the world in more ways than one. We all, as a class, made baby steps that will soon turn into giant steps. This is because we wrote letters addressing the issues, performed community service, and relayed messages about world issues that many people may be victims of or know nothing about. I think that ultimately it is up to classes like ours to make such changes. If everyone can say they changed one person’s life the better we have accomplished our goals in my opinion.

The dispute between the ideas of Paul and James is one of great relation to our projects that we implemented as a class. Paul was more the idea of faith and James was more the idea of works making us good Christians. I am of the belief that these two ideas should be intertwined when it comes to many of life actions. When my classmates and I all did our respective service projects were can never be truly sure that our work will affect the lives of someone for the positive. When it comes to factor of not knowing we must rely on our faith on our Lord and Savior. Our prayer is that he continues to allow good to happen in the lives of people entrapped in the problems of this world. The only source of this hope is faith! So both Paul and James contribute a great deal to the over idea of being good Christians.

What was my favorite part of theology you ask? I would have to say actually planning and doing the service project. I had a lot of working with the girls and though at times things may have gotten loud the over turnout was great. I am excited and sad to host my last girls group at Fischer for the year! I honestly think that I got the most out of the doing the project. In addition I also liked the textbook very much because as I stated in one my blogs I used this text even when not looking answers in regards to theology 1120 questions. I even brought it to church once and ended up not using it, but the fact that I brought it meant that it was somehow becoming intertwined with my life. This amazed and I was extremely excited to learn so much about the Bible. The worst part of the course would have to be the lecture because I was not able to grasp much information during the time period. The small sidetracking that occurred was not that big of a deal, but it was difficult to grasp the lesson for the day because of the constant switch from slide to slide. In addition I was hoping that the PowerPoint’s would be posted on Blackboard, but they were not. So if you happen to miss a complete section of his lecture because of some confusion they are not available to view at a later date. I believe that this course should most definitely be part of the core curriculum at Xavier University. It aims to focus in on the mission of this great institution. Ultimately we are called to be leaders and servants in a world that is in need of these in unimaginable measures. Go to http://www.xula.edu/ mission /index.php to get a better understanding of Xavier’s mission and why we as a theology class are upholders the mission. This course provided endless opportunities to learn about the psychology of learning, human development, and even some social psychology. I was able to apply various theories from class and this improved the way that I served. In addition I think that as a doctor you are put in place to serve and this project was exactly that, as previously stated. I was able to meet new people and that invaluable as well! After writing 926 words in this blog, I now believe that I have improved my writing skills, my communication skills and most of all I matured because I did what our society should be doing. I am thankful for this opportunity and at the end of the day writing these blogs was not all that bad, of course it just took time that seemed nowhere to be found. Thanks again to my classmates for their words of encouragement and thanks Dr. Homan for opening many eyes! P.S. I AM FINALLY DONE!!!! YAY!!!!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Week 15: Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.